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Comcast Boosts Cable Upload Speeds

By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews

May 8, 2007, 3:49 PM

Comcast officially announced Tuesday what customers around the United States have been noticing for months: no bandwidth caps when uploading files less than 10MB. The feature, called PowerBoost, follows a similar upgrade in download speeds last year.

Customers will be able to upload at speeds reaching 2 megabits per second, far greater than the standard limit of 384 kilobytes. The service is being rolled out on a market-to-market basis, with the entire Comcast network expected to be upgraded by the end of the year. Comcast customers already see download speeds of 12Mbps to 16Mbps for files under 10MB.

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By lee3925

edited May 12, 2007 - 4:00 PM

The upload PowerBoost went into effect in Metro Nashville last week.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/125345507.png

(I subscribe to the 6mb/s plan)

Score: 0

By _jaz_

edited May 9, 2007 - 1:54 PM

In Spain, we have been having a speed boost in the last three years which is quite remarkable.

With ADSL, we went from 256kbits down, 128kbits up in 2002 to speeds of 20mbits down 1mbit up in oct 2005 for a bit less of the price ( 39€+vat to 29€+vat, and now it includes also unlimited landline calls).
All this, 24h/365days and unlimited data transfers (not in filesize, nor in total transfers).
Cable providers now offer similar speeds and prices.

The downside is, obviously, that those speeds haven't reached everyone, since they have required adding new technologies ( adsl2+ , cabling cities...), but in almost every place, there's at least 1mbit down, 300kb up.

Note: 20mbits -> downloading at 2.1MBytes/s. 1mbit up -> uploading at 107KBytes/s.

Edit: And they communications commision has just started bidding for propositions about 50Mbits connections.

Score: 0

By mshulman

posted May 9, 2007 - 1:11 PM

I wonder how this will affect the websites I'm hosting. Each file sending out is under 10MB, so I suppose it would see the increase in speed?

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By superman2k6

posted May 9, 2007 - 7:48 AM

Thats crap.

In the UK, Virgin Media are offering speeds of 20Mb and Be are offering upload speeds at almost 3Mb from £24 i think the US need to follow.

Score: 0

By ashz

edited May 9, 2007 - 2:09 PM

Thats 20Mbit download and 768Kbit upload...trust me im on it!!! And i though Be offer a 2.5 Mbit upload which you have to pay £40 a month for...which is about $76.50.

Ours in the UK is s***e compare to verizons offering on fibre optic!!!

Score: 0

By mjm01010101

posted May 9, 2007 - 12:49 PM

I always hearing about how x country is better than y country when it comes to bandwidth penetration.

The United States is a country 39+ times the U.K. in land mass and about 5 times it's size in population. We have different tariff systems, broadband systems, population densities, and corporate structures. You can certainly move to a large U.S. city and get 40/40 mbps fiber for about $40/month for home use, or $700 month for corporate use.

The U.S. will follow when it's economically feasible to do so.

Score: 0

By Rageweaver

posted May 9, 2007 - 7:20 AM

god d*** right! My upload is aroung 600-700 KBS and my DL is around 20,000 KBS. I demand it higher.

Score: 0

By xboco

posted May 8, 2007 - 6:11 PM

This powerboost still has not been activated in Beaverton, OR. They actually sent out a notice, but my speeds have been the same for the last 5 years (since 2002). I really don't think I'm getting enough for my money, especially considering the speeds in countries like Korea or Japan (even if their networks are centered closer together, they just have an overall higher quality of intarwebness).

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

edited May 9, 2007 - 3:54 AM

I live in Portland, Oregon and used to have Comcast cable internet. When downloading large files (650MB or greater in size) I was never able to get a download speed faster than 2Mbps. I switched to Verizon FiOS and now I always get download speeds of 5Mbps or greater. In many cases I get sustained download speeds of 15Mbps. I can download a 4.7GB DVD image in under 40 minutes. The same download took 4-8 hours on Comcast cable internet.

Score: 0

By vinchinzu

posted May 8, 2007 - 5:00 PM

If you think about it, they could give us that power full-time if they wanted to. How do you think they keep raising the speeds without any noticeable hardware changes, like power lines, or the cable that comes into your house. Other countries already see these speeds for all files, regardless of the size. PowerBoost? Just a fancy name for weak performance.

Score: 0

By ashz

posted May 9, 2007 - 2:13 PM

powerboost is a "fancy name" for bandwidth control, better than giving everyone fasts speeds with major traffic shaping. It basically offers everyone the chance to download say large emails, pictures, even songs...but at the same time the bandwidth hoggers using newsgroups and bittorrent wont get super speeds all the time and use up all the bandwidth for everyone else,im one of those hoggers but i do see the point, why ruin it because u want ur film downloaded in 45 mins instead of 2 hours...does it really make that much of a difference...waiting for linux distros and itv messages now... HAHAHAHA

Score: 0

By KingMotley

posted May 8, 2007 - 5:30 PM

Not necessarily.

How mcuh do those "Other countries" pay for their internet, and is it "unlimited"?

And just because you don't notice the hardware changes doesn't mean they aren't being done. When was the last time you walked around the network closet of your cable company? Oh.

Score: 0

By zenarcher

posted May 8, 2007 - 6:24 PM

Well, here's one example from 2005....and yes, they pay less for "unlimited," overall. Most Asian nations are way ahead of the U.S.

In 2000, the OECD said the U.S. ranked third in Net users connecting at high-speed among the top-30 world economies. The next year it fell to fourth. Now it’s 11th, according to the OECD. And fast connections in the U.S. are slower than in many other countries. A top-of-the-line cable modem in the U.S. carries five megabits per second, while broadband connections in Asian countries like Japan and South Korea are often 20 times faster. South Korea is, in fact, the world leader in broadband. And unlike the U.S., it has multiple companies offering most of the country DSL lines that are also faster than what’s available in the U.S., thanks in no small part to government encouragement and sponsorship.

Score: 0

By KingMotley

edited May 9, 2007 - 4:53 AM

Here's some examples:
Canada - ADSL from Bell Canada - $48.81 - 5Mb/down, 768k up
Canada - Cable from Cogeco - $68.29 - 10Mb/down, 1Mb up
France - ADSL from France Telecom - $72.12 - 8MB down, 1 MB up
France - Cable from Noos - $42.73 - 10 Mb down
Japan - Cable from J-Com - $98.20 - 30Mb down, 2 Mb up
US - Cable from Comcast - $42.95 - 12Mb burst, 6Mb sustained down
US - Cable from Comcast - $52.95 - 16Mb burst, 8MB sustained down
US - ADSL from SBC - $29.95 - 3Mb down

Hmm...Seems all in the same ballpark to me, but some other countries offer higher speeds at a higher price. None offer what you claim.. Higher speed, better penetration, unlimited, AND lower cost all at the same time. Nor do I see any country that has "DSL lines that are also faster than what's available in the U.S."

SBC does offer 6MB DSL, it's just not listed on their website, and I believe last time I checked it was $39.95 as well. They may offer 8Mb service now.

Score: 0

By beeberry

posted May 9, 2007 - 2:33 AM

Yeah, and the US, unlike the other countries, also has vast uninhabited (or minimally habited areas) that also demand fast internet service (I think the population density of South Korea is an order of magnitude denser than here.) The problem in this country is that everything must be made backwards compatible or people demand that the government give them an HDTV for free.

If we truly want the government out of our business, let's at least be consistent! I'd love for the government to focus on their job - the defense of this country, so the market can focus on its job - unimpeded supply and demand. Get rid of the stupid subsidies that pay people to be lazy and things might turn around.

Jeff.

Score: 0

By zenarcher

posted May 9, 2007 - 7:11 AM

I certainly agree that government interference is a big part of the problem. At least for some of us who live in relatively rural areas.

As an example, where I live, the high speed providers are protected. The cable company came to town...bought the city a couple of parks or traffic lights and in exchange, were given exclusive rights to high speed offering (excluding DSL through the telephone company). That doesn't offer much incentive to improve service.

Recently (past few months), our state legislature passed a bill which will eliminate that "protected" status. I had objected to that protection with my own state representative for a long time, but he continued to support it with the claim that "everyone" in the town received the benefits of what they provider donated to the town. I disagree.

As for DSL, that isn't even an option for me. Our telephone service is so pathetic, you could not even hear a person on the other end over the noise on the line. Repeated complaints accomplished nothing, so I cut the phone company off and switched to VoIP about three years ago. With that line noise, I doubt DSL would have had much to offer. As good as DSL may be, it's going to be no better than the quality of the lines servicing your house.

I have little doubt that metropolitan areas see a much different and better service situation than less populated areas.

Score: 0

By wav

posted May 8, 2007 - 8:39 PM

Just because it's not beig done doent mean it can't be done. As we know, it can. America still is one of those countries who pride over control and being able to control the speed caps. So, in that as it may, American companies I am certain, could push more... But until they are ready to make advances, they will continue to collect as much for the buck as they can, until a compeditor is ready to push the gap a little... Its like local gas stations. They hang around proper prices, and until another moves into a larger gap between the two, the other ones holds still. ;D But I';ve never been into the networks closets, so I don't know the truth.. ;]

Score: 0

By KingMotley

posted May 9, 2007 - 4:56 AM

Most people don't opt for the 8Mb upgrade to their cable service. The number of people that would opt for a 30Mb service for nearly twice the price is pretty darn small, which is probably why they aren't willing to pay for the network upgrades to support it.

Score: 0

By vinchinzu

posted May 8, 2007 - 10:10 PM

I'm glad to see that most agree.

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By thefalcon2k5

posted May 8, 2007 - 4:53 PM

I started noticing this about 3-4 months ago. Not bad for living in a Comcast testing area!

Score: 0

By KingMotley

posted May 8, 2007 - 5:31 PM

I started noticing it in the Chicago suburbs a couple months ago. It really is nice.

Score: 0

By mplsbill

edited Mar 12, 2008 - 2:19 PM

All I know is that when I had Time/Warner I had faster upload and download speeds, when our area changed to comcast everything became MUCH slower! I'm glad my hometown of Chicago has gotten some better speeds, but I wish they would get to the Twin Cities soon, we are in desperate need of a boost! I'm also curious if anyone can tell me the down side to using the new google speed application, I like the fact that it will [possibly] speed up my pc, but what else will it do that I don't want it to do?

Score: 0

By mplsbill

posted Nov 22, 2008 - 2:52 PM

I have found that since my 1st posting comcast speeds, internet overall. cable, and the phone are all working much better. My big complaint that I have left is why the high df dvr boxes freeze up recordings, and why when watching high def tv the shows always freeze up while I watch. VERY FRUSTRATING!

Score: 0

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