[Ratdog68]

We all grumble about the costs of things, home internet being one of those topics.

Recently Comcast/Xfinity did a system upgrade in my neighborhood. There was a short disruption of a few hours and then it was back up and running again. I received an email today that they suggest I look into upgrading my modem. My account is for 400MBps. I think it was much lower than that when I signed up years ago. When I signed up it was only $39.00/mo and it's gone up to $86/mo. I checked the status of my modem/router and it's only rated at 72MBps. So... I did some snooping and find a reman unit rated for 400MBps for about $50. Kewl.

Then comes the dreaded onlline chat with Xfinity support. I had two simple questions: When the new modem/router arrives can I just unplug/plug-in/reboot and be GTG? or do I need to be in contact with them at the time? As it turns out, when you connect, you get someone from billing to make sure your account is up to date, NOT technical support. So, I get shuffled to tech support. Tech support started off not even reading my questions, even though he said he was going to, and fires off some unrelated nonsense. After I get him back on track to the topic at hand, he advises I can just unplug/plug-in/reboot and I'm GTG. Sweet.

Then he throws a hook at me, offering a free $100 VISA card and $30/mo discount offer. Basically, wanting me to bundle my mobile account with them. I have no love for Comcast/Xfinity and let him know my bill has only gone up since signing on. Now it gets a little more interesting.

He comes back with an offer to reduce my bill by $20/mo and upgrade my service to 800MBps after I'd told him I was just waiting for my cellular provider to finish launching their 5G home internet, and that I plan to go to them. So, I got a bill reduction and my download speed doubled.

So... I cancelled my order I'd already placed for an upgraded modem from 72MBps to one rated at 400MBps, found that Best Buy had one in stock near me that is rated for 800MBps for not too much more.

Bottom line, more than 10x faster service, a lower monthly fee, and am just upgrading my hardware for about $100. I'll recover that money spent with the discounted fee.

I did a speed test before I started this whole thing, I'm only getting 15.5MBps with my tired old modem/router. It was time.

My point? check your status and your equipment to see if you have options.

 

[Coltdriver]

Its always great to get more for less!!! The cable cutters have really got the attention of these people and they are offering pretty decent deals.

Let us know what you get for upload and download speeds once you are up and running!

 

[earlytom]

We don't get cable. Direct TV and Starlink you don't want to know how bad that is. Company pays the Starlink at least. Thinking Dish maybe.

 

[zztopman1]

I just did about the same thing a couple days ago... wow funny reading this.
I called to get my bill down and have them look for a promotion, I was getting 400MBps already, the gal lowered my bill by $20/month and told me to turn in my modem for a new one that gets me now 600MBps down.
I rent my modem from them for $5/month but you would not believe how many times over the years I've had one burn up, go out, need upgraded, etc. All for free exchange.
Plus, my 3 phone bill with Spectrum is only $42/month... $14 per phone, 3 gig total data which I never use my phone for internet or data.

 

[Chopperdrvr]

There are a lot of benefits to living in the country.........Fast internet is NOT one of them. I get blazing high speed DSL at 8-12 mbs whether I need it or not. Oh, and it's not cheap either.

 

[ac6916170]

I also live in the sticks but there's an AT&T sub station anout 2 miles away. I signed up for DSL at $28 a month. It's now $58 a month and it's not what I would call DSL speed. I may have to give them a call when I get back to Michigan to see about a modem up grade. I would like wireless home internet but most of them don't cover my area or I have to bundle with cell phone.

 

[DDriller]

AT&T added fiber to our neighborhood several months ago. Wasn't taking off very fast so they offer an upgrade from our current 50MB service for TV and internet to 500MB service at no extra charge and no install fee if we would switch to fiber. Streaming is much better than previous. With TV and 2 computers running still get 370MB download speed

 

[WASSMAN]

Every year or so I ask ATT for a price drop and usually they do $20 or something. Just called again this year and they didn't do it even after I told them I am moving my service to someone else.

Glad to hear your experience turned out better than mine.

 

[DDriller]

Every year or so I ask ATT for a price drop and usually they do $20 or something. Just called again this year and they didn't do it even after I told them I am moving my service to someone else.

Glad to hear your experience turned out better than mine.

I generally call and ask for a remediation person for discounts myself, sometimes it works. This one they actually were going door to door trying to get people to change.

 

[Ratdog68]

I generally call and ask for a remediation person for discounts myself, sometimes it works. This one they actually were going door to door trying to get people to change.

That's how I ended up with T-Mobile. They came into the office one day and asked if they could share what they offer. Verizon had just pissed me off by making me change my plan and giving up my grand-fathered in 'Unlimited Data" plan I'd snagged when they first offered Smart Phones. I don't even remember the name of the cellular company I originally signed up with. They kept getting bought out by another and another and another. Eventually Verizon bought 'em out. Verizon's been nagging me to come back to 'em ever since. I tell 'em to pound sand.

 

[Equalizer_2]

There are a lot of benefits to living in the country.........Fast internet is NOT one of them. I get blazing high speed DSL at 8-12 mbs whether I need it or not. Oh, and it's not cheap either.

Just did a test from the sticks and got 7.1MBPS download (good day) and 0.54 MBPS upload. Plays havoc on streaming. Have fiber going right past my subdivision but not enough people in the area to make it worth their while to bring fiber into my subdivision.

 

[Ratdog68]

LOL, although I'm seeing improvement, NOTHING close to what they tout I'm to be getting. Best I've seen yet is 50MBps with the new modem. That's a far cry from the promised 800MBps. 50 is far better than 15MBps I was seeing on a good day before.

 

[earlytom]

Starlink RV is $120.00 just ran a speedtest.net the dl was 130mbps. I've seen it as low as 8mbps. Starlinks test said 134mbps down and 12 up. Ran the advanced just now and this is what I got:

 

[Bebe]

We don't get cable. Direct TV and Starlink you don't want to know how bad that is. Company pays the Starlink at least. Thinking Dish maybe.

We live out in the country. No cable. Antenna spotty at best.
We went with Dish. That was all that was available in our area at the time. Que sera, sera!

Cloudy weather? No Dish!
Storm brewing!? No Dish!
Blizzard? No Dish!
We started at (IIRC) around $35/mo and a butt load of channels.
Two years later, they cut channel access in half, dumping most of our favorite channels and monthly rate went to almost $50/mo.
I called. How much if I want these channels back? $80/mo!!! 🤯

Send me a prepaid shipping box or I toss your equipment!!!!

We went back to spotty antenna and the kid provides us with Roku. Not to bad!
At least we get "NewsMax" and don't have to listen GMA's liberal, twisted, fractured fairy tales!

 

[zztopman1]

LOL, although I'm seeing improvement, NOTHING close to what they tout I'm to be getting. Best I've seen yet is 50MBps with the new modem. That's a far cry from the promised 800MBps. 50 is far better than 15MBps I was seeing on a good day before.

Well, if you were promised 800, I'd do things to try to get it to show... turn modem off for 5 min, restart.
Try 3 or 4 different "speed test" sites for results. Maybe you already did these. In that case, I dunno.

 

[Ratdog68]

Well, if you were promised 800, I'd do things to try to get it to show... turn modem off for 5 min, restart.
Try 3 or 4 different "speed test" sites for results. Maybe you already did these. In that case, I dunno.

Yup, already done that. Restarted the modem manually, through their app, rebooted my laptop, re-tested speed test on more than one testing platform. I cannot hardwire via an ethernet cable since my laptop has wireless connection ONLY capabilities. Total distance from the modem is about twenty feet, with one 90 degree turn and an open doorway. No other electronics being used near the modem either. Done all of the above just about daily too, hoping there's an electronic learning curve with multiple bootings of both devices. I believe their marketing department promises the moon, but their infrastructure isn't capable of keeping up with the promises. Naw, couldn't be THAT!! LOL

 

[Ratdog68]

Been doing some online homework and tinkering. I found out/verified my "MTU" (maximum transmission unit) for my laptop reconciled with what the modem setting is (for me, that's 1500). No change. I also downloaded/installed "Cloudflare's" 1.1.1.1 feature (actually 1.1.1.2 and 1.1.1.3) which uses their DNS and activates an ad-blocking feature and omits access to adult sites. Both of which is supposed to add speed to your connection. This is a free service offered. My end result of this is a more consistent speed above 30MBps, but still doesn't break 50MBps. So, It would appear Xfinity does throttle you back. Even though they promise (my account's rating) 800MBps, I'd be tickled to hack into the 400MBps realm.

I've eyeballed "boosters" and "mesh" upgrades. Mesh upgrades appear to be in the $200 and up range, boosters appear to be in the sub-$50 range. Although "Mesh" is reported to give you the biggest boost in both speed and extended range. I'm in my "do your due diligence" mode right now, not the "open the wallet" mode. Anyone have experience with these Wi-Fi boosters or Mesh? What sort of gains (speed) and/or (extended range) are you seeing?

 

[chickasaw_hunter]

I had a Century Link hard wire phone and internet. On the very best day internet service was poor. I had a tech by one day and he told me dial up was faster than what I was getting. When I signed up with them the phone service alone was less than $20. Then when I added internet it creeped up over time to $120/mo. I got on the Starlink wait list and after about 10 months, I got my unit. Wow! what a difference. It started out at about $100/mo, now it creeping up a little, but at least it works. I looked into keeping the hardline phone now they want about $50/mo for that. In order to set up the Starlink, I had to dig a 90 foot trench to bury the cable out to the spot where my dish had an unobstructed view of the Northern sky. In the past I'd looked at other sat systems and they all needed a view of the Southern sky. I sit at the base of a mountain that obscures the southern sky, so I had to stay with crappy Century Link servcie. So far, Starlink is working great.

 

[JerBear]

... I cannot hardwire via an ethernet cable since my laptop has wireless connection ONLY capabilities. Total distance from the modem is about twenty feet, with one 90 degree turn and an open doorway. No other electronics being used near the modem either. ...

One thing I don't see you mentioned is what wifi frequency band you're using. That can make a big difference. 2.4 GHz is the older more commonly used band for all sorts of wireless devices that connect to the internet. 5 GHz is faster, but has less robust signal. All the new routers and modems make it more difficult to tell which band you're using, but comcast/xfinity should be able to help you figure that out. Just to give you an idea of the difference in speed, I'm attaching a couple of screenshots of speedtests I just ran on my Chromebook connected to my AT&T fiber service. The slower is 2.4 GHz and the faster is 5 GHz.

 

[Ratdog68]

One thing I don't see you mentioned is what wifi frequency band you're using. That can make a big difference. 2.4 GHz is the older more commonly used band for all sorts of wireless devices that connect to the internet. 5 GHz is faster, but has less robust signal. All the new routers and modems make it more difficult to tell which band you're using, but comcast/xfinity should be able to help you figure that out. Just to give you an idea of the difference in speed, I'm attaching a couple of screenshots of speedtests I just ran on my Chromebook connected to my AT&T fiber service. The slower is 2.4 GHz and the faster is 5 GHz. View attachment 78824 View attachment 78825

JerBear, thank you for that tidbit. My modem's (Arris Surfboard SBG10) specs indicate the capability of both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, depending on antenna configuration. It would appear I'm in the 2.4 GHz configuration (2x2 MIMO, multiple in multiple out). I need to learn how to configure the antenna for 3x3 MIMO in 5GHz. The 2.4GHz shows my limitations at 72MBps, yet I'm subscribed to a package allowing me 800MBps. I need more "ejumication" on antenna configuration it would appear.