What do the networking gurus here make of this?

[cfurlin]

I have a Comcast 150Mb/s plan. Internet only, no cable TV or phone services.

When testing my speed (SpeedTest) from a computer connected via wifi, I get around 122Mb/s, which sounds about right given the wireless connection.

Recently my speed dropped to 33.8 exactly. No fluctuations during the test, just caps out at 33.8.

I called Comcast and they ran a series of tests from their location. The support engineer they assigned to my issue told me I need a new Comcast modem. I hopped in my car and made the 40-mile round trip to pick up a new modem. Got back and installed it.

Speed is still 33.8! I call them back and they tell me someone from Comcast will need to come out to the house, so I make an appointment for the following week.

I get up the next morning and the speed is back to ~122Mb/s. I wait 24 hours and it's still fine so I cancel the appointment.

Everything is fine for roughly 3 days and then it drops back to 33.8. I call them back and make another appointment.

The next day I go into work and I'm having a conversation with my boss. I mention that I'm having an issue with my Comcast internet and she says she has also noticed a drop in her speed. Then she says, "I have a 150Mb/s plan but I tested it and only I'm getting around 33Mb/s." Sound familiar?

I could maybe understand this if we lived next door, but she lives in another city east of Seattle...in another county...60 miles away. I live a significant distance south of Seattle.

To make the issue even more unusual, I was talking to an old friend this morning (which prompted me to post this) and toward the end of our conversation he mentioned he needed to go so he call Comcast because he's having an issue with his download speed. I asked him about it and yep, 150Mb/s plan and getting 33Mb/s. He lives in Denver.

Any ideas what could be happening? I'm starting to get a few tin-foil hat thoughts about this.

 

[D.T.]

Well, clearly if the same thing is happening outside of your local network, and it's that specific, it's a problem upstream at Comcast. Even your boss who's not all that close geographically, could be encountering the same issue depending on how far upstream it's occurring. Yeah, it's tricky since you're more or less at the mercy of whatever Comcast is doing (and it's impossible to debug).

Out of curiosity, have you considered just buying your own modem? You can generally score one on sale/refurb for $40-60 depending on the model, and you lose that recurring monthly fee (pays for itself in a few months).

 

[Huntn]

I have a Comcast 150Mb/s plan. Internet only, no cable TV or phone services.

When testing my speed (SpeedTest) from a computer connected via wifi, I get around 122Mb/s, which sounds about right given the wireless connection.

Recently my speed dropped to 33.8 exactly. No fluctuations during the test, just caps out at 33.8.

I called Comcast and they ran a series of tests from their location. The support engineer they assigned to my issue told me I need a new Comcast modem. I hopped in my car and made the 40-mile round trip to pick up a new modem. Got back and installed it.

Speed is still 33.8! I call them back and they tell me someone from Comcast will need to come out to the house, so I make an appointment for the following week.

I get up the next morning and the speed is back to ~122Mb/s. I wait 24 hours and it's still fine so I cancel the appointment.

Everything is fine for roughly 3 days and then it drops back to 33.8. I call them back and make another appointment.

The next day I go into work and I'm having a conversation with my boss. I mention that I'm having an issue with my Comcast internet and she says she has also noticed a drop in her speed. Then she says, "I have a 150Mb/s plan but I tested it and only I'm getting around 33Mb/s." Sound familiar?

I could maybe understand this if we lived next door, but she lives in another city east of Seattle...in another county...60 miles away. I live a significant distance south of Seattle.

To make the issue even more unusual, I was talking to an old friend this morning (which prompted me to post this) and toward the end of our conversation he mentioned he needed to go so he call Comcast because he's having an issue with his download speed. I asked him about it and yep, 150Mb/s plan and getting 33Mb/s. He lives in Denver.

Any ideas what could be happening? I'm starting to get a few tin-foil hat thoughts about this.

They were testing out their secret throttling...

 

[USAFA2008]

Two moves ago my wife and I lived where Comcast was always the option. We had the 150Mb/s plan and were lucky to see above 40Mb/s. Even going to our own modem instead of the junk Comcast provides didn't help. According to their "network engineers" the problem was the neighborhood.

 

[cfurlin]

Two moves ago my wife and I lived where Comcast was always the option. We had the 150Mb/s plan and were lucky to see above 40Mb/s. Even going to our own modem instead of the junk Comcast provides didn't help. According to their "network engineers" the problem was the neighborhood.

They told me that as well.
They just won’t explain why I’ve been getting full speed for years and suddenly I see this massive drop.

 

[TheAppleFairy]

Speedtest rest servers are not all equal. I get low speeds on some servers and change to another one and get my rated speed. Might be worth testing on another server.

 

[USAFA2008]

They told me that as well.
They just won’t explain why I’ve been getting full speed for years and suddenly I see this massive drop.

I never got above 40Mb/s so I can't say. I did notice that when I would use Speedtest and the server was a Comcast server my speed test would be faster than when I used the Speedtest server.

Speedtest rest servers are not all equal. I get low speeds on some servers and change to another one and get my rated speed. Might be worth testing on another server.

I have noticed that when I test a Comcast speed and use the Comcast server that my speed test will be faster than when I use a Speedtest hosted server.

 

[cfurlin]

Speedtest rest servers are not all equal. I get low speeds on some servers and change to another one and get my rated speed. Might be worth testing on another server.

I generally test my speed through Comcast's XFINITY Speed Test site. If they're gonna claim a bad server, then they can fix their own server. ;-)

 

[USAFA2008]

I generally test my speed through Comcast's XFINITY Speed Test site. If they're gonna claim a bad server, then they can fix their own server. ;-)

The multiple times I had Comcast out due to the speeds they refused to acknowledge anything that didn't come from the XFINITY speed test site. Yet they still didn't have an explanation as to why I was getting 40Mb/s at best when I paid for almost 3 times that. I have never been so happy to move in my life!

 

[Tech198]

If others are having same issue, its ISP... Even if its intermittent... It could be just a coincidence, that two locations are having the same thing at the same time as well.

I have the same crap from my ISP as well... it gets it's speed back just *after* i happen to talk to them..

Now why do u think that is ... A mere apology or a "We have no idea of the problem, but we will put you in touch with someone who can help you" would seem better suited..

I'd rather that than chasing after them.

 

[USAFA2008]

If others are having same issue, its ISP... Even if its intermittent... It could be just a coincidence, that two locations are having the same thing at the same time as well.

I have the same crap from my ISP as well... it gets it's speed back just *after* i happen to talk to them..

Now why do u think that is ... A mere apology or a "We have no idea of the problem, but we will put you in touch with someone who can help you" would seem better suited..

I'd rather that than chasing after them.

How long after talking to your ISP and getting your speed back until you have to call them again?
I agree that it is the ISP if people are having the same issue.

 

[Tech198]

within 24 hours.. easily.... I would say about half a day..

i ring them in the morning, and speed is ok after, then the issue happens in the afternoon and i call them again.

 

[USAFA2008]

within 24 hours.. easily.... I would say about half a day..

i ring them in the morning, and speed is ok after, then the issue happens in the afternoon and i call them again.

That is too coincidental and I don't believe in coincidences! Where we lived I might get about a 5Mb/s boost if I called and it only lasted for a few hours.

 

[cfurlin]

If others are having same issue, its ISP... Even if its intermittent... It could be just a coincidence, that two locations are having the same thing at the same time as well.

I have the same crap from my ISP as well... it gets it's speed back just *after* i happen to talk to them..

Now why do u think that is ... A mere apology or a "We have no idea of the problem, but we will put you in touch with someone who can help you" would seem better suited..

I'd rather that than chasing after them.

Funny you should say that...

I went back and looked at when I called them and then tried to look for corresponding events with my account.

Both times I was getting close to about 75%-80% of my bandwidth cap and both times it "miraculously" fixed itself the day after my billing cycle ended and the usage data reset.

Interesting.

If this is true then my speed should go back up in about 10 days.