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Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

jeffreymartens.com

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Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#71

Post by decisiveness »

Never rely on your ISP to provide great wifi equipment. This is not something specific to Comcast. Generally, it seems residential ISPs are only on the hook for providing quoted speeds via a wired connection to their gateway.

This is why I always either disable the wifi from my ISP's modem/router combo and branch off my own wifi router from the modem's LAN or request a modem only device from the ISP and use my wifi router's LAN. The downside to the former case is that your wifi devices are now double NATed (unless you use a wireless bridge) which can be annoying if you want to forward ports (you now have to do it twice). The modem/router combo might not support disabling its LAN to act as a bridge very well.

Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#72

Post by M_Grey »

sjg007 wrote: post #11
jmartens wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are probably right about cheap equipment and incompetence, but isn't it still fraud if they sell you something that they knowingly can't offer? If I rent a car and pay extra for a 4WD, but the 4WD doesn't work, I want my money back. Is this different?

It's the same. You can sue for breach of implied warranty. They may try to get out of it by saying 'speeds up to'. But if the device can't do that then yes you'd have a good argument.

Well, that's not quite the same as fraud, which is a much higher bar to prove. I absolutely wasn't disputing that if you're not getting the advertised service, you should seek recourse, I was just disputing "fraud". It's the difference between being sold a lemon car, and being sold a car that someone turned the odometer back on.

Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#73

Post by manyxcxi »

recursive wrote: post #32
manyxcxi wrote: post #15

The best thing anyone can do is swap out the junky cable modem + WiFi router combos they rent to you. They're horrible under standard usage, bad when lots of clients are connected, bad wifi range, low memory, require frequent reboots, etc. For about $70 (about 5mos of rental charges) you can get a Surfboard barebones Docsis 3 modem that will vastly outperform whatever junk they rent out. After that you could get a TP…

This is a thing I would kind of want to do, but I've never bothered to figure out how. Like how will I know if it's a compatible modem, or better than what's there? How do you configure it? So those are my reasons.

The beauty is that (as far as my experience for the last ten years with Comcast for home and business in Seattle and Portland) I've never once had to do any configuration other than plugging it in while on the phone with support and reading off the various IDs.

The only thing I've ever needed was the serial numbers and such that are printed on the bottom of my modem.

Pro tip, the chat is much faster, tether to your phone for internet and do it via their web chat.

Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#74

Post by punkrex »

chrissnell wrote: post #34

Don't use Speedtest.net. The major providers all prioritize their traffic and it gives unrealistic results. I built a graphical console-based speed tester (client+server) that you can run yourself to get a more accurate picture and test between your home and servers you actually use: https://github.com/chrissnell/sparkyfish

Yo, is your DNS server down? I get no responses for either the US or EU endpoints when I try to query for A records.

Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#75

Post by dubya »

manyxcxi wrote: post #73
recursive wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a thing I would kind of want to do, but I've never bothered to figure out how. Like how will I know if it's a compatible modem, or better than what's there? How do you configure it? So those are my reasons.

The beauty is that (as far as my experience for the last ten years with Comcast for home and business in Seattle and Portland) I've never once had to do any configuration other than plugging it in while on the phone with support and reading off the various IDs. The only thing I've ever needed was the serial numbers and such that are printed on the bottom of my modem. Pro tip, the chat is much faster, tether to your p…

I replaced my router a few weeks ago (lightning!) on Comcast and the configuration was completely automatic. Maybe I had to enter my comcast id and password, but I didn't have to call anyone and it was done in just a few minutes. This was in Knoxville, TN.

Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#76

Post by sokoloff »

rickdale wrote: post #59
manyxcxi wrote: post #15

The best thing anyone can do is swap out the junky cable modem + WiFi router combos they rent to you. They're horrible under standard usage, bad when lots of clients are connected, bad wifi range, low memory, require frequent reboots, etc. For about $70 (about 5mos of rental charges) you can get a Surfboard barebones Docsis 3 modem that will vastly outperform whatever junk they rent out. After that you could get a TP…

Changing my router was the best thing I have done to my internet connection, but somehow it never occurred to me to change my modem until I just read your comment. Er, duh! Ordering one now. Any recommendations from this list?: http://www.spectrum.net/support/internet/compliant-modems-ch...

I've always used Arris (sometimes branded as Motorola) and had consistently good results.

Today, from that list, I'd buy the Woot SB6183 ($51.09 on Amazon-ASIN B018IS1S4C) as that's what I've been running at home for 13 months without issue. (I upgrade about every 6-9 years. You caught me "just" after the latest one.)

It's a 16x4 modem, though when I use it on Comcast, Comcast operates it as a 16x3 (16 channels down, 3 channels up)

Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#77

Post by manyxcxi »

dubya wrote: post #75
manyxcxi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beauty is that (as far as my experience for the last ten years with Comcast for home and business in Seattle and Portland) I've never once had to do any configuration other than plugging it in while on the phone with support and reading off the various IDs. The only thing I've ever needed was the serial numbers and such that are printed on the bottom of my modem. Pro tip, the chat is much faster, tether to your p…

I replaced my router a few weeks ago (lightning!) on Comcast and the configuration was completely automatic. Maybe I had to enter my comcast id and password, but I didn't have to call anyone and it was done in just a few minutes. This was in Knoxville, TN.

I've been back on FiOS since we moved back to PDX last summer, so my last cable modem switcharoo was about 5 years ago in Seattle. It's likely they could've made it easier.

To that end, I've done the modem switch probably a dozen times for myself, family, or friends and I've never encountered any resistance from Comcast during the process. Though they did fat finger a MAC address or serial number one time.

Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#78

Post by manyxcxi »

rickdale wrote: post #59
manyxcxi wrote: post #15

The best thing anyone can do is swap out the junky cable modem + WiFi router combos they rent to you. They're horrible under standard usage, bad when lots of clients are connected, bad wifi range, low memory, require frequent reboots, etc. For about $70 (about 5mos of rental charges) you can get a Surfboard barebones Docsis 3 modem that will vastly outperform whatever junk they rent out. After that you could get a TP…

Changing my router was the best thing I have done to my internet connection, but somehow it never occurred to me to change my modem until I just read your comment. Er, duh! Ordering one now. Any recommendations from this list?: http://www.spectrum.net/support/internet/compliant-modems-ch...

The Arris/Motorola Surfboard series have always been great for me. I think the biggest difference between the cheapest model and the most expensive one is that the most expensive one is capable of a theoretical max that is multiples of what Comcast even offers. So, it's technically more future proof. I've had the cheapest one forever and never had issues with it being slower than my pipe could deliver.

Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#79

Post by gtdawg »

rhino369 wrote: post #44
r1ch wrote: post #9

"Pretty poor coverage" sounds like the author was relying on Wi-Fi for connectivity. I wouldn't trust an ISP-provided combo modem/router to do anything more than the bare minimum when it comes to wireless, most likely a single chain 2.4 GHz network (and 5 GHz if you're lucky). Replacing it with Google Wifi which is a Wave2 802.11ac 5 GHz device with Beamforming will make a world of difference. Intentionally supplying…

In many apartment buildings the 2.4 Ghz spectrum is just too crowded. Just using a cheap 5Ghz 11n without breamforming would likely solve the problem. I've got at least 40 bss's on 2.4 and I'm the only one on 5Ghz. It's crazy. I'd say Comcast should use 5Ghz but then that spectrum will get crowded too.

All devices going forward (especially isp routers) _should_ use only 5ghz.

Consumers should have to spend extra on 2.4 AP gear to support legacy client devices. 5ghz has reduced propagation and there are so many more channels available that it is actually optimal to use in dense evvironments. Mesh wifi is pretty much a requirement for a lot of users to keep the same coverage with multiple rooms compared with their existing 2.4 ghz network.

Re: Comcast internet speed improved with non-Comcast hardware

#80

Post by chrissnell »

punkrex wrote: post #74
chrissnell wrote: post #34

Don't use Speedtest.net. The major providers all prioritize their traffic and it gives unrealistic results. I built a graphical console-based speed tester (client+server) that you can run yourself to get a more accurate picture and test between your home and servers you actually use: https://github.com/chrissnell/sparkyfish

Yo, is your DNS server down? I get no responses for either the US or EU endpoints when I try to query for A records.

Sorry, I should update it. All of those public endpoints went down a long time ago. People were donating the endpoint machines and they eventually just disappeared.

You'll have to set your own up on a server somewhere.

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