Internet speeds - how much is truly needed?

[recstar24]

So I am looking at my comcast bill and realize they are kind of killing me and I am totally overpaying for cable and internet. I succeeded in downgrading cable to something that I will actually use. My current internet through comcast is the xfinity Internet at 12 Mbps and they offer that "power boost" stuff. My wife and I are really just internet surfers and email users. Obviously 90% of my time is spent here. No music or video or crazy downloading, we really don't watch tv or movies online or streaming. In fact I barely even hit up the YouTube but do occasionally. I can down grade to 3 Mbps for much cheaper but want to know how that would be.

[tkam]

If surfing and emailing is really all you do online then the 3mbit service should be fine.

[penger]

It might take a little getting used to though.

[Dusty Chalk]

If surfing and emailing is really all you do online then the 3mbit service should be fine.

Yup.

[Duggeh]

Aye, if i were only browsing and email I could live easily on 1mbit down 128k up.

Personally, I want gigabit up, gigabit down and unlimited bandwidth usage for

[n_maher]

Downloading anything of substance on a 3MB line would be pretty painful for me but it's also not uncommon for me to download a gig or more nightly to catch up on various TV programs that Comcast's craptacular DVR doesn't catch.

[cetoole]

I was suffering on my basic optimum, which was really only seeing 1.5-3mbps most times, I seem to really need at least 10mbps to be happy. Just basic browsing though, you might get away with it. Why not try it for a month, your ISP doesn't charge for changes in service level, do they? Should just be them changing a setting on the server side and resetting your connection, extremely painless.

[crappyjones123]

^ not always the case. for our change in speed for the dsl account, the guy had to come to our community and manually change some jumper in the main fiber box outside. i dont know if that is dsl specific or just bellsouth being a pain in the ass.

on a side note, i have a 100mbit line at school and a 3mbit line at home. for just browsing the internet, the 3mbit line is more than sufficient. this is also assuming you arent uploading a whole lot. most people start hitting their head against the wall when the find out that a 3mbit line is only the download speed. upload speeds are usually capped at 0.3mbit or lower. uploading pictures/biggish documents can be annoying on lower speed packages. youtube also runs just fine on our 3mbit line. the videos buffer just fine.

[deepak]

I'm on the lowest end Comcast package and I do a lot of downloading/uploading and I have never considered upgrading. I think it's 5-6 mbps down and .5 mbps up in every area. Unless you mean you can get 3 mb service from another provider?

[recstar24]

Deepak your correct it would be the lowest comcast. AT&T uverse just got offered in our area but it is essentially same price and channels. I am assuming that is 3 Mbps down and something much lower for up

[Pars]

All the providers have what is called asymmetrical service, hence the (much) lower upload speeds. They don't like talk of symmetrical service, though some do provide it at a much higher price. I don't believe current cable technologies can offer symmetrical service as their upstream bandwidth is more or less an afterthought.

[n_maher]

Ryan,

Just bear in mind that a 3Mbps (megabits) line translates to a real world download speed of roughly 300KB (kilobytes) per second. The "speedboost" that Comcast likes to talk about is only good for about a 1sec burst and not useful for file downloads. So for a 100MB file it would take just under 5 minutes to download, assuming 100% network efficiency. The other thing to consider is that if you're on a wireless network you may simply be limited by proximity and not your actual line speed. I'd run some tests using a utility like Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test and see what you're getting for actual, real world speed wherever you normally sit to use your computer. I get my full rated speed (2MB/s) only if my laptop is sitting on the desk next to my router, it's generally about half that if I'm in the living room.

[naamanf]

I would kill for a 3Mbps connection right now. Currently have a 768Kbps shared with 16 other people over I high latency sat connection. As slow as that seems for regular surfing and email it actually works just fine. It's just a bit slow on sites with lots of flash, videos, and other media. File downloading is another story, horrible to say the least. I use to be able to download a full feature midget porn video in about four minutes with my connection at home but this one takes a day. So if you find that you might be needing some Tiny Tina now and again you might want something faster.

[The Monkey]

I use to be able to download a full feature midget porn video in about four minutes with my connection at home but this one takes a day. So if you find that you might be needing some Tiny Tina now and again you might want something faster.

Does that mean it takes 8 mins for you to download tall people porn?

[naamanf]

Does that mean it takes 8 mins for you to download tall people porn?

Wait, tall people also make porn?

[laxx]

I have a 25Mbps/15Mbps connection. Just switched off a 20/20 and saved myself $5 a month. =T

[recstar24]

speedtest clocked 9.71 mbps download, 2.98 upload. Not too shabby. Maybe I should start downloading movies and music and stuff to actually take advantage of it.

[dsavitsk]

speedtest clocked 9.71 mbps download, 2.98 upload. Not too shabby. Maybe I should start downloading movies and music and stuff to actually take advantage of it.

Ryan -- my terrible DSL tested at 2.5 down and .4 up (plenty fast for youtube, netflix, rhapsody) -- bring your computer over and you can test if it is fast enough.

-d

[recstar24]

Will do...I think ultimately its worth it and downgrade, save about $20/month it appears.

[jantze]

200M/10M should be enough

[laxx]

Wow, jealous...

[Salt Peanuts]

I'd kill for that upload speed. My download speed is just fine, but my upload speed is atrocious.

[jantze]

That 200M/10M connection costs around $65 here, so it's not dirt cheap, but I just had to have it, since I going to upload all my backups to backblaze.com ...soon.

[grawk]

I pay $75 a month for 20/1

[Nebby]

Talking about bandwidth makes me miss Japan