ISP's capping below the norm???????

[Suicide Killa]

Hey w'sup ppl's :D While preparing to tweak my cable connection for a second time (the first time was about a year ago) I began to think about something. And i hope someone here will be able to answer my question. I will start from the beginning.

Whenever i go to download a file my connection does pretty good. It hits around 275kb. But the thing is, its always constantly spiking in the 300's as if it knows it could do more but something is holding it back-the cap of course. (im sure everyone experiences this)

Everyone also knows that cable/dsl is capable of more than a mere 275kb download. That made me think back to my ISP's (Road Runner) advertisement. They never specifiy what its capable of (only 50 times faster than a 56k) and they also offer a free cable modem/NIC for ppl to use. So i asked myself, is Time Warner just making that offer so they can attract more customers, or is there something more behind it?????

Then it made perfect sense. And if I start to sound a bit krazy just let me know :D They give out modems that are capped way below the norm, but not so low that the ordinary "joe shmoe" would notice. Meanwhile while "joe" is happy with what he has, they have that extra 1.25mb to offer to 9 other ppl before that 1.5mb bandwidth is used up.

Sorta like how fast food resturants always fill up ur cup of soda to the top with ice, then poor in the soda. The customer still pays for a full 16oz. but in reality there is probably only 5oz. in the cup. Or how most store bought computers come with useless gigabytes of garbage software. Its smart bussiness, but in the end, the customer gets the short end of the stick so to speak.

Obvously any ISP would benefit from this kinda shady manuever by not advertising a specific number and then disguising a bussiness ploy with the kind offer of a FREE modem/NIC card.

Now.....enough business talk and on too my question. Its no secret that speeds vary from computer to computer depending on ISP's. But what i would like to know, if i was to buy a third party modem from a store, would i see a change in my download speeds and finally be able to see my connection actually earn the $50 or so dollars im paying for it???

Which is why i posted here, Im curious to know what everones downlaod speeds are and whether or not they are using a store bought modem or a modem offered by their ISP's. Hopefully that will help me see if thre is any sort of truth to my theory...........

[Kip Patterson]

If you are getting 275kBYTES on a file download, that is well above the RR cap of 2megaBITS.

No, another cable modem will not give you more throughput.

No, Road Runner does not do any of the things you outlined.

Kip

[Chrome]

I would say that you are kind of right, Suicide, but it has little to do with actually hardware modification.

Much of what you describe can often be accomplished through oversubscription. Oversubscription meaning signing more users than available bandwidth can cover if they all decide to be active at once. Bouncer wrote some excellent things a few years ago about broadband providers and how to get what you want from them, as well as factors such as oversubscription and how it can affect you.

Please note that not every broadband provider does this to a damaging extent. Many here will extoll the virtues of their connections with wild abandon.

[cyberskye]

No, Road Runner does not do any of the things you outlined.

Not the things he mentioned, Kip, but they probably are out to get him. Haven't you seen those black helicopters with the silent propellors? Wile E Coyote on the prowl looking for ways to SUPER-CAP your modem. I heard they were working on a ray-gun that can ultra-cap you from miles away - but only if you are not using the RR modems. But you still need to watch out for those helicopters....


Skye

[zxc47]

I don't think they say "only 50 times faster than a 56k" they say
"up to 50 times faster than a 28.8" . Cable over all is faster than DSL as far as what you get for the money.Most DSL user would wet there pants to get 275 Kbytes down or any were close to that. Because on DSL when they say cap at 1500 down and 128 up that it , most of the time lower.Were as cable 2000 down and 384 up can be all over the place.ON good days I can hit speeds as high as 400 + kbytes on bad days as low as 1500 down. so bottom line is IF you got cable and a good ISP and you get over 2megaBITS your a very very lucky;)

[Suicide Killa]

Originally posted by cyberskye


Not the things he mentioned, Kip, but they probably are out to get him. Haven't you seen those black helicopters with the silent propellors? Wile E Coyote on the prowl looking for ways to SUPER-CAP your modem. I heard they were working on a ray-gun that can ultra-cap you from miles away - but only if you are not using the RR modems. But you still need to watch out for those helicopters....


Skye

LMAO!!!!! I better be careful then....they might be viewing my conspiracy theory now... :(

Yeah, i know about oversubscription. Surprisingly i have been fortunate enough to be spared from such a thing. Especially since they are rapidly building neighborhoods all around my area. (at least 2 or 3 each year awwwww) But I am interested in knowing what kind of modem ppl are using to get above 300kb and such.

[Kip Patterson]

It isn't the modem that lets them get the higher speeds - it is the cap set in the modem by the ISP. Folks on OOL get as much as 10mbits down and 1mbit up, consistently.

While not all modems are equal, you are not going to get more the the ATTBI cap of 1500/128.

RR supplies the modem in all their locations. Whether they will even provision a modem provided by the customer is questionable.

Kip

Ah, the police helicopter just went over at something under 500 feet. Black, too. For real.

[zxc47]

My modem is a old one ,it is the one that roadrunnig gave out when they first started out. it is a PCX1100 by Toshiba. IN fact I was one of the first people to get cable in my area , it was free for about 3 month while they tested there line . and I am a lot faster then any body around me.They ask if I wanted a new one and I told them no way !!!!!!My speed is better know then it has every been