Comcast Letter Re: New Speed Increase

[VentrueJusticar]

I received a letter today from Comcast saying my Blast internet was being increased from 75 to 100.  I only need to power cycle my modem.  I realize these are theoretical max speeds and may not actually be reflected in speed tests in certain situations.

Ok, so I have a TG862G Home Gateway courtesy of Comcast and I power cycled it locally by cutting the power to it as instructed by the letter and I've power cycled it using the My Account app, too.  I took speeds from 7 different sources and my download speed actually lowered after the power cycle.  I was wondering if this is simply due to the time of day...it's evening hours when most people hit the video streaming and essentially put the greatest load on the network and expectedly speeds are going to dip?  Should I just re-run the speed tests after midnight or in the morning or tomorrow afternoon and withold concern that something isn't right?

Speedtest.net went from 90 down to 31.  Xfinity went from 90 to 56.  Netflix's Fast.com went from 83 to 53.  (Initial speed was taken around 4pmEST and second was just taken 8:30EST)

Also, I'm assuming the upload speed of 10 did NOT increase?  The letter didn't mention any change in the upload speed.

[mrumppe]

It's hard to say for sure if the modem grabbed the new config file with the reboot.  Sometimes it might take more than one power cycle to grab it.  I would verify online that your speeds show the 100x10 under devices.  I would login to the modem and check to see if you see the boot file with the word blast in the naming http://10.0.0.1 admin/password.  

[neonmasters]

Thanks for the reply. The modem is set up using "Wireless Band Steering" combining both

2.4ghz and 5 ghz SSID's.  It was how the quick setup configured it. I don't know if this is good or not?

Should I seperate them?

[mrumppe]

It's not bad but, sometimes splitting them into different SSID's can help lock your PC to 5Ghz which will be considerably faster than 2.4.  My router had beamforming / merged SSID's on by default as well but, when disabled the auto network selection things improved.  Sometimes if you're too close / too far from the AP it will downshift.  If you don't have anything like a wifi printer / nest that needs the 2.4 you can disable it completely as well.

[VentrueJusticar]

Thanks,  mrumppe, for your help.  Under Data Usage under Devices, it shows Blast Internet Service, 100, 10.  But I could not locate the boot file name and I looked all over the router/modem settings at the address you gave and logging in.  Can you tell me where it is?

[mrumppe]

With some modems the info hides in the logs instead of on the front page / connection tab.  Some modems won't tell you but, the account confirmation is a good step to check off.  

[VentrueJusticar]

I found the Logs section and while it will display Firewall logs, it doesn't display Event logs for any Time Frame selected.  

It will most likely be a moot point as I've just contacted Comcast to replace my current AR TG862G with one of the Gateway "3" models supporting xFi...hopefully that won't prove to be a mistake.  I told them to send me either the DPC3941T or the TG1682G...we'll see how well they listen.  I really didn't need to upgrade as my Gateway seems to work fine, of course notwithstanding the speed bump issues today, but my Gateway 1 isn't Dual Band Wifi and my old router that I can't use anymore at least offers that rather now dated spec.

Hopefully this whole upgrade won't prove to be problem introducing or costly.  I pay full price for everything I have, no discounts and I didn't want to pay for self install shipping or anything additional.

Thanks again for your help, mrumppe

[ComcastJoeTru]

Hello VentrueJusticar. Have you replaced your modem yet? If so, how is the speed working for you?

If you need any further assistance with your inability to reach the speeds you're paying for, I can help. 

[VentrueJusticar]

Yeah, swapped out the Gateways yesterday but it was after 4pm and I ran some speedtests and the speeds were about the same, well under the 100 but I wondered if the decreased speeds were due to network congestion?

Just now using Xfinity's site I got 84 & 12.  Speedtest.net is 80 & 12.  Fast.com is 72.  WhatismyIP is 65 & 11.  Speedof.Me is 26 & 13.

Note I have stopped everything on my network which uses bandwidth, including my PC and my phone to get more accurate numbers.

Are the lower than expected down speeds due to network congestion?  Is there anything you can see on your end to justify the anemic performance?  Just as a reminder, before I received the letter about the bump from 75 to 100, I always received the 75 down I was supposed to get using the old Gateway and it was the power cycling that caused my down speeds to DECREASE rather than increase.

[ComcastJoeTru]

Honestly,  slower speeds usually are not due to network congestion. This may be related to poor quality signal coming down the line into your modem. (Assuming you are hardwired directly into the modem when running the speed tests, as slow WiFi can be caused by so many more variables)

I would like to perform a diagnostics test on your modem and poll our CMTS for the signal readings. Please send me a private message and include your full name, service address, and account number so I can access your account.

[KatherynH]

I am having the exact same problem with my modem. I received the letter early last week and reset my modem. My speeds and connection have decreased so much that I have even replaced/switched my modem at our local comcast store. While it has gotten better on my apple tv streaming (not perfect, still freezing frames) it has completely deteriorated my phone connection. It just took me 30 minutes to download a small audio file that would have previously taken about 30-45 seconds.

[VentrueJusticar]

I can't find the "Wireless Band Steering" setting anywhere.  Is it in the Xfi app?  I logged into the Gateway and looked around and didn't see anything like it.  I only have one device using my WIFI and that's a phone so if it's on should I turn it off?

[gaxelrod]

Hi Joe,

I have done many speed tests on several different test sites since I received the letter about the upgrade from 75 to 100Mbps. I consistently am getting between 75 and 80 Mbps downstream speeds regardless of time of day. This leads me to think that this is not any kind of congestion issue, but that I am still rate-limited to around 80M at some point. I own my modem, and here is the info on it:

Model Name: SB6141

Vendor Name: Motorola

Firmware Name: SB_KOMODO-1.0.6.16-SCM00-NOSH

Boot Version: PSPU-Boot(25CLK) 1.0.12.18m3

Hardware Version: 7.0

Serial Number: 397179434042562201012022

Firmware Build Time: Feb 16 2016 11:28:04

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can get the 100M that I should be getting?

Thanks and regards,

Gary

[EG]

 gaxelrod

Have you powercycled / restarted the modem ?

[gaxelrod]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I power cycled the modem right after I got the letter and before I did any testing. My mistake for not stating that in my first post.

Regards,

Gary

[Paraniod]

gaxelrod

Try testing wired by ethernet direct to a computer. Leave out any router that may be connected.Be sure that the computer has a 10/100/1000 gigabit NIC not fast ethernet 10/100.

If using a 10/100 NIC it will look like you haven't been upgraded. (you will have to powercycle the modem, each time you change the device directly connected).

[Anon486470]

I tested my speed today, and I got 226.44 BPS with blast. I used speedtest.net