Comcast has been rolling out 3 mbps cable internet, first with their “Pro” plan, ~$99/mo, and then in beta testing with regular users in many cities. They’ve now announced that it’s coming to Atlanta in December or so as a free upgrade to their regular $42/mo. service. While people I know are very satisfied with their Comcast service, I’m hesitant for a few reasons. First, I’m real happy with my local DSL ISP. I have a non-PPPoE connection, I’ve never been disconnected, I have a static IP address and they let me run servers. I’m running a mail server for one of my domains, basically because I wanted to learn how to configure Sendmail. The other thing, my cable tv is usually out for a few hours every couple of weeks.
Although my DSL ISP sells their own configuration, they resell Bellsouth DSL because Bellsouth owns the phone lines. Now, it looks like Bellsouth may be doing a little upgrading of their own.
It looks like Bellsouth will soon be raising the caps on their DSL service to 3 mpbs. This is, of course, just another rumor. But I’m inclined to take this one with more than a grain of salt. For one, the story is also appearing in the AJC , although their timetable has it happening within the next twelve months. For another, the rumor at Broadbandreports.com was placed by an anonymous poster. “Heh heh, yeah, right” you say. But if one follows the Bellsouth telco forum at BBR for any length of time, one would know that Bellsouth employees in general, love the company and try to promote it whenever they can. They were barred from posting there many months ago by management, so now they drop in from time to time with anonymous reports, usually favorable to Bellsouth. And usually right on target, once you filter out the propaganda. This particular “leak” falls right on the heels of a discussion about 3 mbps service from Comcast now coming to Atlanta. I’m tending to think it’s true, and that it will be offered at no increase in price. The no price increase is definately not something one would ever expect from Bellsouth, the “monopoly of the South”. The only thing is, when it comes to broadband, they’re not a monopoly any more. Cable internet has been stealing Bellsouth customers left and right.
So, given that I believe this rumor, I’m going to take a further leap and guess that people like me who use ISPs who resell Bellsouth DSL will also get the increased speed, and that we’ll get it at no price increase.
Woo Hoo! I hope you’re right, though I was under the impression there were physical limitations to the speed over copper. Maybe it will just be in ‘hoods that have been completely fibered? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I’d read about the Comcast speed upgrades, and it is enough to give pause. But since I just got “upgraded” when they switched me to a closer remote, and got a 50% increase in speed from that, inertia is winning on this one.
My sister, however, moved into a new house, and her situation was the reverse of mine. She was on a nearby remote, and is now hooked to a distant CO, with a reduced speed as a result.
Problem is, she hates Comcast. Personally, I hate BellSouth. But no matter who you pay your money to, you’re using the infrastructure of one or the other, and a goodly chunk of the fee goes in their pocket.
I’d say their dual monopoly just got a sparkling coat of paint. Face it. They’ve got us speed-addicted, we’re now total junkies, and there’s only two dealers in town.
Mon.October.03 @ 14:00:59
For people like us, close to remotes, the physical limitation for DSL download speed is around 7 mbps, theoretically. People I know on fiber, IFITL, are getting close to 3 mbps now. I hope they raise the cap, because the Comcast deal is looking very enticing. Everyone I know on Comcast gives it high marks for speed and stability and at least two of them are “pros”. Also, Comcast is doing something called “traffic shaping”, which is spreading city by city. It basically causes the packets to come down in a steady stream. If you’ve ever downloaded a big file using NetPerSec or AnalogX, you’ll notice all the fluctuations that usually average out somewhat lower than your actual download speed. With traffic shaping, the incoming graphs are almost solid. Almost no fluctuation and all at a very high speed.
There’s actually a program that you can install on your computer that does the same thing. Unfortunately, it runs on FreeBSD and I haven’t even gotten Redhat 9 working all that great yet.
Mon.October.03 @ 14:45:18