Another Comcastic story

The other day Comcast made us an offer that was too good to pass up. They offered their upgraded high-speed internet service (up to 16 Mbps) for no additional cost for 6 months. Pretty good, eh? It was enough to make me call customer service and ask for it.

At first, the customer service rep didn't even know what I was talking about even though I was reading the words directly from the mailer. He eventually figured out what I was asking for and told me that he had made the change to my account. A modem reboot was all I needed to get the speed boost.

No such luck. Prior to the reboot I was getting 4 Mbps download and 750 Kpbs upload (not bad on the upload!). After the reboot, the speed actually slowed slightly to 3 Mbps, while the upload was untouched.

Was it my cable modem? Did I not leave the modem off long enough when I rebooted? I did find that my D-Link DCM-202 cable modem isn't totally compatible with Comcast. However, after downloading and applying a firmware upgrade from the D-Link Web site, I managed to get 6 Mbps from the modem. That's still a far cry from the 16 Mbps promised, and I'll be trying to determine why the speed is hobbled.

If you are wondering about my testing methods, I have checked the speed using www.dslreports.com, www.speedtest.net, and speedtest.vonage.com. I performed my tests with my laptop connected directly to the cable modem without an intermediate router or switch.
I also tweaked my network settings according to DSLReports' recommendations.


To be continued.... once I learn more from Comcast.