Degraded download speed almost every night

@XfinityJamesC​ I will do that this morning. After the initial post here, I decided to call Xfinity customer service and eventually transferred to higher tier support where they opened a ticket. It was slight better than online chat where they would try to convince me to upgrade to higher download speed which will not solve the issue. Unfortunately, the issue persists, I took a snapshot of the Xfinity speed test last night showing I was getting 99mbps and we were seeing frequent video buffering with various streaming services (see more info in this thread). I guess I will just keep asking for credit until they actually fix the issue.

@EG​ To this day, Comcast has not resolved the issue. Below is a snapshot of the Xfinity speed test taken last night (12/26/2024) and I was getting around 99mbps which explains frequent video buffering with various streaming services. And recent Xfinity speed test as of this morning I show ~800mbps so it's an indicative the neighborhood infrastructure cannot support high demand at nights.

Thank you for keeping us updated about this, @user_4a1oy2! 99 Mbps is too slow for any connection speed. Please feel free to message us if there's anything we can do to investigate this.

Greetings @XfinityVianney

Indeed after receiving a call from Customer Service, I kept my tech appointment scheduled since they assured me my modem wasn't the problem (I do have my own, and I know I'm bottlenecking my performance by not upgrading to new equipment).  The tech came out and checked a few things, and decided to replace a cable splitter in my apartments cable box (which probably hasn't been replaced in years).  That seemed to solve the issue, and I haven't noticed any significant drops/degraded performance since.  I'm back in the normal 260-340mbps I use to be getting.

I tried asking the tech about the "network enhancements" in my area, and why my performance was suddenly degraded since that time despite having the same equipment which isn't damaged/broken.  He only suggested that work on another customer's lines can sometimes effect another's, but that having a cable splitter with unnecessary/unused splits (4) can weaken the signal versus having less (2 now).  Maybe it was just getting old?  Who knows.  I still don't really understand, but I'll try checking my device's event logs next time if this happens.

For now, we're good.  Thanks for your reply!​

Wonderful, I am so happy to hear that tech visit helped with the connection issues. Our techs are truly the best at getting any issues you are having resolved. While we have you here now, is there anything else we can assist you with regarding your account?

I want to follow up on this - I did send a direct message to Xfinity Support back in December however I never got a response. That says a lot about customer service. With recent speed upgrade mainly the upload speed I see my upload almost double in speed however there are some information about standard service vs enhanced service. The latter would provide upload speed up to 150mbps which I am not getting. How do I tell if standard or enhanced service is provided in my area?

As for problematic download speed at night, it persists but has improved only slightly. I get around 200-400mbps at night and occasionally streaming will start buffering.

I look forward to the day when fiber is deployed in my neighborhood, I will dump Comcast immediately due to lousy customer service, having to renew 12-month agreement, slow speeds at night. 

What model of modem are you using?  Only a limited selection are capable of "next gen" upload speeds.  If you don't have one you top out at about 40mbps on the highest plans.  It's kind of buried in the support pages.  Here's a link to the device info page.  https://www.xfinity.com/support/devices/  Click on the "All Compatible Devices" box to see a list of modems that support higher upload speeds.  It's right at the top.  Also, if you happen to have a Netgear CM2050V... mine has a locked upstream OFDMA channel now, so it's looking like maybe they've fixed the bug and might turn it on soon.  It's not on the approved list yet, but that upstream OFDMA channel is what's needed for faster upload.

Sounds like you might be on an overloaded cable segment.  Too many people sharing bandwidth.  If you're in a house or smaller building it's Comcast's problem.  A lot of larger apartment and condo buildings were wired for cable decades ago, and for those often the building owner has to redo the interior wiring. 

This information is helpful. Thanks.

Update on the Internet service - I got new modem, Hitron CODA56, and had no issues with activating it however I noticed the upload speed remained the same so I decided to chat online with customer service rep. He proceeded to tell me that he will send in a request to "advanced" team to activate higher upload speed and it would take about two hours. The rep proceeded to tell me to consider going to next speed tier and the upload speed would be double so I thought it was worth the extra cost but I asked him for assurance (twice) that my area is eligible for 1100/300 and he confirmed (twice) so I went ahead with the upgrade. A few hours later, I checked speed test it looked the same so I decided to chat with a different online agent. That agent, I guess, made some tweaks (sent signals to my modem). The speeds improved slightly but upload speed was the same. The rep decided to schedule a tech to come out here.

Earlier today, the tech came here and I explained to him he wanted to check the modem and eventually he admitted while the node is upgraded but the infrastructure still needs to be upgraded and he doesn't have a specific timeline. I then mentioned that the speeds, mostly download, are severely degraded in the evenings and he acknowledged the neighborhood is at capacity (I live in a single-family house) and they are aware they need to upgrade the infrastructure. He said in the mornings it is usually around 46% and just before noon it is 99%. While I appreciate him being transparent Xfinity needs to realize the neighbors and I are paying customers and should be getting what we pay for. I guess I will just keep calling customer service for credit every month because I am not getting what I pay for until they get their act together and actually upgrade the infrastructure. I imagine I am not alone with the bandwidth issue.

Not sure if this will get Xfinity support's attention. I mentioned earlier in this thread, I did DM to Xfinity support back in December and never got a response.

@XfinityBrianH​ I did in December and never got a response so why would it be any different this time?

@XfinityBrianH​ I just did and for the record my download speed for this evening shows 30mbps when I should be seeing around 800.

@user_5j5jkb​ you'd be better off sending a DM to Xfinity Support as mentioned earlier in this thread or call Xfinity customer service. Furthermore, you should do what I am doing - do speed test via Xfinity web site at regular interval and take snapshot of the result and put it in Word document or something similar; and at the end of the month, you should contact Xfinity and ask for credit because you are not getting what you are paying for. Do this as long as you don't get expected speed test result until they get their act together and perform necessary infrastructure upgrades. I'm mulling about whether to bring this attention to state attorney or FTC. It's unfortunate some people are ignorant they don't realize issues with streaming, connectivity and such do not mean there are issues with service providers, it is the internet provider that is the culprit.

@EG​ Thanks for the heads up. @user_5j5jkb you'll need to do what the guidelines specify or call Xfinity customer service.

By the way, I'd like to mention there was a brief outage yesterday afternoon while I was working, I lost internet connectivity and soon I received SMS from Xfinity assistant that there was unexpected repair to address network performance and it indicated expected resolution about 2.5 hours later. A few hours later I got a follow up SMS from Xfinity assistant letting me know that the repairs were done and I did a speed test and at the time I got around 300mbps (it was done in the late afternoon and would be degraded further into the evening). Unfortunately, looking at my account, there was no mention reason for the outage and necessary repair.

@user_4a1oy2 

Quite welcome !