Those who STILL have cable - and Atlantic Broadband --

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Was anyone able to upgrade to anything? What do you typically pay per month?
Having ABB hasn't really changed ANYTHING with us, but they keep bragging awesome speeds and I am definitely not getting it.
 

Merlin99

Visualize whirled peas
PREMO Member
Was anyone able to upgrade to anything? What do you typically pay per month?
Having ABB hasn't really changed ANYTHING with us, but they keep bragging awesome speeds and I am definitely not getting it.
I agree 100%. Switched from DSL because I was having to reset the modem every hour or two, ABB is exactly the same.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Yeah - well. I was going to give 'em a call. I mean, it's been, what, a year already? Something like that. And for at least six months, I was still using the Metrocast website to pay them - or excuse me, ABB's site which was Metrocast's EXACT site with the labels changed.

I just know with all the bragging of their Internet speeds - I might want to get in on that.
 

Dupontster

Would THIS face lie?
I have ABB and I just did a speed test and got 93.43Mbps on the download and 5.27 on the upload. I thought that was pretty good or am I just out of touch?
 
My DSL is 1 meg down and about 500k up and I pay as much for that as most of you pay for cable internet. My needs are pretty simple, so I can work with the speed. After all the frustration stories I've heard about cable service, I'll just stay here until something better comes along. Or I move.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
The very best I can get is about 33 Mbps. And that's with using my router as a passthrough.
I don't know if there's any attenuation by doing that, but that's what I have. I'm not yet going to
yank out the router to test coming straight from the modem.

I have however, considered getting a better router, but mainly because since we now have dozens
of wi-fi enabled devices, it might be worth my time to up it a little. But it might not matter if I'm not
getting enough juice out of the wall.

I'd say 93 Mbps is pretty damned good. Most of the time, my stuff is in the high teens.
 

Dupontster

Would THIS face lie?
Mine was slow as hell.. I contacted ABB and they sent a guy out. He checked everything and changed a few things and it was still slow. Mid 30's Mbps. He installed a new modem and it jumped up to over 90 and has been there ever since..
 

David

Opinions are my own...
PREMO Member
There are a few things you need to check to be sure the problem isn't with your equipment.

1) Be sure you've got the best cable modem you can get. I had an old one that could only bond 4 channels. When I upgraded to a modern modem, it made a big difference.
Your Internet network is only as good as your modem. And two of the most important measures of a modem are speed and performance, which are dictated by the number of channels it has.

Channels are like lanes on a highway. The more cars on the road—the more traffic—the more congested the channels. Traffic jams are the buffering and lag that you get when your modem’s not fast enough… when you don’t have enough lanes.

That’s why modems evolved to have more than one lane. And that’s accomplished through a technology called channel bonding. Channel bonding combines multiple channels—or lanes—to increase the amount of traffic that a modem’s highway can comfortably support.

2) Be sure you have a modern router. Again, I had an older device and it didn't support the latest wireless protocols. Upgrading made a big difference.

3) Be sure your PC and router use 1Gbs ethernet if you're hardwired.

The best way to test your real performance is to plug your PC right into the cable modem using an ethernet cable. If you're seeing a big difference there, then you need to upgrade some equipment. But again, if your modem is old and not bonding as many channels as you could with a better modem...you need to fix that problem first.

Also, if you have devices that use a lot of bandwidth --- like your DVR or Internet Streaming device --- see if you can hardwire them using an ethernet cable vs wireless. I have an ethernet cable running to my entertainment center where it terminates with a 1G ethernet switch. From there I have 8 ports to connect to the various streaming devices.
 
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TCROW

Well-Known Member
Just make sure your modem is DOCSIS 3.1 compliant and keep in mind there is no quality of service guarantee for residential customers. Bandwidth is shared. If you need guaranteed minimums, you'll need business class service.

Residential broadband by and large sucks.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
The cable modem I have is the Arris one that Metrocast gave us. My gut tells me it's probably just fine, but before I do anything else, I will test the speed right off of the cable modem. If it still is poor, I might look at a decent upgrade. Recommendations?

Also, I've always used regular Cat5e or Cat6 ethernet cables. I'm guessing there's nothing wrong with the cable.
I'd love to just hardwire the whole house, but the return on investment is poor, since there's only a few wi-fi devices
that even HAVE ethernet ports (tablets, smartphones, thin laptops etc) and quite honestly - I don't see how it could
be done without a lot more cost than I am willing to shoulder. If I lived alone, I'd just run them on the walls and floor,
but I have a family, and pets, and that's not an option anymore.

The ONE thing I have to have is fast, reliable Internet for my work. Some of the tools I use require significantly faster
connections - this week, I've had a breakthrough on getting some tools to work after a year of trying things - and all
I really did was try to optimize the speed. Right now I have my office jerry-rigged, but I need a more permanent solution.

I may well give ABB a call this week.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
I went to a friend's house who just has their Internet service - nothing else. His cable modem is like a short black milk carton. I didn't get the brand, but he says he does get download speeds in the 100 Mbps range. And that's with his wi-fi. So it may be worth uprading.
 
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