GO Verizon DSL if you can ..Metrocast has made me MAD

[faamecanic]

Well... here we are 3 months since these problems started and at 6pm EST on Tuesday 28 March here are my download speeds:

Download Bandwidth Test Results
Download speed: 99 kilobits per second


Yep...thats LESS than 100 kb/s out of my supposed 4,000 kb/s. That is also less than 5% of advertised speed.

Again I will say if any of you moving to the area can get DSL.... DO IT.

 

[Penn]

OK, that made me check on my speeds, as of right now.

I'm still at:

2438 kb/sec download

384 kb/sec upload.
After enduring dial-up for so long, I can deal with those speeds.

 

[faamecanic]

Who is your DSL through Penn (Verizon?).... those are AWESOME speeds for DSL. Found another good speed test site that tells you all sorts of info about not just speed but also connection quality... For cable you should have 70%-90% (due to it being a shared connection)... Im at 10% or less


Cool website for speed/quality checks

And tonights results as of 8:30pm

URL: http://myspeed.visualware.com/
When: Wed Mar 29 20:20:13 EST 2006
Download: 251,160 bps (251 kb/s)
Upload: 960,656 bps (961 kb/s)
QOS: 09% (should be 70% or higher)
RTT: 299 ms (Round Trip Time...for cable should be less than 100ms)
MaxPause: 869 ms (should be very small number < 10ms)

 

[Penn]

Yes, I'm on through Verizon DSL.

Earthlink offers DSL, through their company, but I understand that they lease the DSL lines from Verizon.(or so I was told)

The cost is $39.99 a month.

Sorry, but the services Earthlink offers didn't warrant me paying the extra $10.00 per month.

I'm quite happy with what I have, TYVM.

 

[Wenchy]

My QOS with Verizon is 99%.

That's the only number I understand, but I'm very pleased with my DSL.

URL: http://myspeed.visualware.com/
When: Wed Mar 29 20:49:06 EST 2006
Download: 1,533,856 bps
Upload: 136,848 bps
QOS: 99%
RTT: 53 ms
MaxPause: 13 ms
Test #: NA

 

[Dutch6]

My QOS with Verizon is 99%.

That's the only number I understand, but I'm very pleased with my DSL.

URL: http://myspeed.visualware.com/
When: Wed Mar 29 20:49:06 EST 2006
Download: 1,533,856 bps
Upload: 136,848 bps
QOS: 99%
RTT: 53 ms
MaxPause: 13 ms
Test #: NA

Download: 45.2 kbps
Upload: 23.3 kbps
QOS: 98%
RTT: 149 ms
MaxPause: 266 ms

I hate dial-up....

 

[FromTexas]

4.03 Mbps Down
366 Kbps Up

Metrocast :shrug:

 

[faamecanic]

FromTexas...

You must live in Great Mills, Leonardtown or Mechanicsville area (basically anywhere N of Great mills...count yourself LUCKY). Us schlubs that live S. of GreatMills are the ones having the crappy internet. This weekend was better until tonight 2 April

At 8:30PM

URL: http://myspeed.visualware.com/
When: Sun Apr 02 20:30:18 EDT 2006
Download: 280,320 bps (280 kb/s)
Upload: 977,776 bps (977 kb/s)
QOS: 4%
RTT: 34 ms
MaxPause: 2410 ms
Test #: NA

Dutch....for dialup thats a good connection. 98% quality of Service. and RTT (ping) 149ms is GOOD!

 

[CableChick]

URL: http://myspeed.visualware.com/
When: Sun Apr 02 20:42:35 EDT 2006
Download: 3,869,040 bps
Upload: 693,496 bps
QOS: 62%
RTT: 22 ms
MaxPause: 141 ms
Test #: 2449141


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[dems4me]

4.03 Mbps Down
366 Kbps Up

Metrocast :shrug:

I'm using Metrocast cable... and got this...

Download speed 4.00 Mbps
Upload speed 360 kbps
Quality of Service 95%
Round Trip Time 23ms
Max Pause 19ms

 

[Nupe2]

My son told me that comcast cable internet is available in my area now (C. Hall). Any recommendations? The price I've seen online is $57 per month. That seems high in comparison to what Penn is paying. I hate dialup so I'm thinking about biting the bullet for a little (lot?) more speed.

SAHRAB (spelling)

 

[Penn]

Nupe, I suppose it depends on what you intend to do with, or use the internet for.

If you're going to be downloading music or pictures, gaming, etc., then you'll appreciate the higher speeds of cable internet.

If you do that only occasionally, it's not that important. Gaming will still require higher speeds, especially if you're into gaming with others, playing the same game at the same time. If you want to be able to stay up with the constant action, that is.
DSL, with downloads between 2.3 and 2.9 megs suits my purposes just fine, plus I do like the price too!

 

[Nupe2]

Nupe, I suppose it depends on what you intend to do with, or use the internet for.

If you're going to be downloading music or pictures, gaming, etc., then you'll appreciate the higher speeds of cable internet.

If you do that only occasionally, it's not that important. Gaming will still require higher speeds, especially if you're into gaming with others, playing the same game at the same time. If you want to be able to stay up with the constant action, that is.
DSL, with downloads between 2.3 and 2.9 megs suits my purposes just fine, plus I do like the price too!

Thanks Penn, DSL isn't available here yet so cable is my only option at this point unless I just stick with dialup. I'd probably download a lot more music with the higher speed connection and I'd upload more photos too. I haven't done any online gaming but I might try Falcon 4 AF and Call of Duty 2 online if I had a faster connection. My wife likes the idea especially if it means the phone line will be free. With my son coming home from school in a few weeks , I'd really like to get it set up so we can go wireless with no appreciable degradation of service. Shared dialup is not the way to go!

 

[SAHRAB]

My son told me that comcast cable internet is available in my area now (C. Hall). Any recommendations? The price I've seen online is $57 per month. That seems high in comparison to what Penn is paying. I hate dialup so I'm thinking about biting the bullet for a little (lot?) more speed.

SAHRAB (spelling)

We had GMP before we moved (now we can't get doo-doo, and are stuck with DirectWay), and we never had problems with it, i belived ComCast bought them out?.
At the time you had to buy their Cable TV service (I think it was the expanded basic) in order to get the Internet, i dont think thats true anymore. the only thing was, the stoopid cable TV went out more than DirectTV's ever did (we even had continous service during Isabel) but the Internet service was always good

 

[SAHRAB]

Thanks Penn, DSL isn't available here yet so cable is my only option at this point unless I just stick with dialup. I'd probably download a lot more music with the higher speed connection and I'd upload more photos too. I haven't done any online gaming but I might try Falcon 4 AF and Call of Duty 2 online if I had a faster connection. My wife likes the idea especially if it means the phone line will be free. With my son coming home from school in a few weeks , I'd really like to get it set up so we can go wireless with no appreciable degradation of service. Shared dialup is not the way to go!

Did you play Call of Duty 1? I liked it (specially the Russian Campaign and the references to "Enemy at the Gates") i've been eyeballin' COD2 and was wondering if it's the same (or even better)?

 

[Nupe2]

Did you play Call of Duty 1? I liked it (specially the Russian Campaign and the references to "Enemy at the Gates") i've been eyeballin' COD2 and was wondering if it's the same (or even better)?

Yep. Call of Duty 2 is better. Some changes take a little getting used to (recovery from wounds is a big change) but overall it is a much better game. The Battle for Hill 400 missions are the best in my opinion. If you liked COD1, you'll like "2" just as well or more.

 

[Penn]

We had GMP before we moved (now we can't get doo-doo, and are stuck with DirectWay), and we never had problems with it, i belived ComCast bought them out?.
At the time you had to buy their Cable TV service (I think it was the expanded basic) in order to get the Internet, i dont think thats true anymore. the only thing was, the stoopid cable TV went out more than DirectTV's ever did (we even had continous service during Isabel) but the Internet service was always good

If I recall, it was right around May 15th, last year that GMP or Metrocast, announced that it was no longer necessary for a consumer to purchase their basic, and then extended basic cable service, in order to receive high speed internet.

Obviously, they were losing $$$$ to Verizon DSL subscribers, or, people deciding to stay with dial-up, etc., so they took that avenue, reducing the cost for the service, hoping to entice more customers their way.

I mentioned before, that I decided to go with DSL, for the service/lower price, but also because our local cable company had been squeezing money out of us for years, in order to get high speed internet service.

It used to be around $84.00 from GMP, then they reduced it to $39.99 per month.

 

[SAHRAB]

If I recall, it was right around May 15th, last year that GMP or Metrocast, announced that it was no longer necessary for a consumer to purchase their basic, and then extended basic cable service, in order to receive high speed internet.

Obviously, they were losing $$$$ to Verizon DSL subscribers, or, people deciding to stay with dial-up, etc., so they took that avenue, reducing the cost for the service, hoping to entice more customers their way.

I mentioned before, that I decided to go with DSL, for the service/lower price, but also because our local cable company had been squeezing money out of us for years, in order to get high speed internet service.

It used to be around $84.00 from GMP, then they reduced it to $39.99 per month.

Actually i think it was legislation, (by the Senate?) that changed the way Cable Companies offered/operated/forced Cable TV on you if you wanted Cable Internet

 

[Penn]

Actually i think it was legislation, (by the Senate?) that changed the way Cable Companies offered/operated/forced Cable TV on you if you wanted Cable Internet

I missed that one, but you're probably right.

The thing is - the bastages were milking us for an extra $40 to $45.00 per month, when they knew damn well they could sell it cheaper than that!

So, you have thousands of people wanting high speed internet service; the money was there - in the form of eager consumers - wanting that service, and they(GMP) had to get greedy with it.

They can keep it, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[faamecanic]

Just in case anyone thinks this issue has been fixed.... NOT!

URL: http://myspeed.visualware.com/
When: Fri Apr 14 21:17:18 EDT 2006
Download: 230,560 bps (230 Kb/s)
Upload: 992,800 bps
QOS: 45%
RTT: 32 ms
MaxPause: 716 ms
Test #: 2685414

Going on the 5th month now... supposedly they have a new CMTS, but also found out they needed new Fiber lines and basically a MASSIVE hardware overhaul/upgrade.

New ETA to complete... at the earliest last week in April...