Internet Speed. What's Fast Enough?

[HecticArt]

OK, I think our 8 year old router is dying, and our speed has slowed to a dial-up trickle over the last 2 or 3 weeks. We're down to 575 kbps when we're supposed to be getting 1.5 mbps, which is slow, but was enough for most of the stuff we d. on-line. We don't game, or download lots of stuff, etc. Our new TV will let us stream netflix and other services. Don't know if we'll bother or not, but it's clearly time to upgrade.

How fast is fast enough if you're not a data hog?

We can jump from 1.5mbps to 4mbps for the same price. We can step up to 10 for $15 more.

Thoughts?

 

[Biaviian]

10 is not necessary for what you will do with it. I'd stick with 4 if it is the same price as 1.5. For about 6 months I was stuck on 1.5 and that worked for me even though I work from home. I had no issues using WebEx, Live Meeting, VPNs, or SAP while on 1.5.

 

[Casual Fan]

Remember, those aren't minimum or even average speeds. They're maximum speeds. It's a scam. For $$$$ a month, we'll guarantee your internet connection will never be any faster than this.

I just ran a couple of broadband speed tests and got about 19mbps down and about 5 up. Plenty fast for us.

 

[Aaron]

Wow, you got 8 years out of the same router!?!

I just put in a new router today. A Netgear N-300

It totally fixed the problems I was having in a thread I had started a couple months ago...

Haven't tried a speed test yet on the new one.

 

[HecticArt]

Remember, those aren't minimum or even average speeds. They're maximum speeds. It's a scam. For $$$$ a month, we'll guarantee your internet connection will never be any faster than this.

I just ran a couple of broadband speed tests and got about 19mbps down and about 5 up. Plenty fast for us.

What did you sign up for?

 

[kc1ih]

Some of the responses look like you are talking about a modem, not a router. The OP asked about a router.

 

[HecticArt]

Some of the responses look like you are talking about a modem, not a router. The OP asked about a router.

We've got ATT DSL with their router. We're supposed to get (up to) 1.5 mbps down. As long as the router is croaking and I can get up to 4 mbps for the same price, I might as well shop around and upgrade while I'm at it.

 

[jef]

We've got ATT DSL with their router. We're supposed to get (up to) 1.5 mbps down. As long as the router is croaking and I can get up to 4 mbps for the same price, I might as well shop around and upgrade while I'm at it.

I pay for 6.0/768 - and get around 5.

I recently had a wiring issue - had AT&T send a tech out to make sure that the signal out to my house was good and that there was not an outside problem before I tackled re-running things inside. AT&T charges for inside work, but I'm fine doing it myself - just didn't want to if it had been the squirrels nibbling on the line or something even stupider.

So go for the upgrade, but if things still seem flaky, make then drag someone out and check their part of the line runs.

 

[Casual Fan]

What did you sign up for?

I dunno. The base package. We have a very good cable provider, however (Cox).

Some of the responses look like you are talking about a modem, not a router. The OP asked about a router.

In that case, he's limited to ethernet speeds (which aren't a bottleneck) or wireless-N speeds. But Hectic's problem is his AT&T DSL. DSL sucks.

 

[HecticArt]

I dunno. The base package. We have a very good cable provider, however (Cox).



In that case, he's limited to ethernet speeds (which aren't a bottleneck) or wireless-N speeds. But Hectic's problem is his AT&T DSL. DSL sucks.

True. Even more to the point AT+T sucks. 1.5 is their fastest in my neighborhood.

Cable will go up to 20 or 30 or something, but we don't use enough to justify the $$. If we were really getting 1.5 we might be OK with that, but I still don't know if it would keep up with the TV.

 

[Casual Fan]

True. Even more to the point AT+T sucks. 1.5 is their fastest in my neighborhood.

Cable will go up to 20 or 30 or something, but we don't use enough to justify the $$. If we were really getting 1.5 we might be OK with that, but I still don't know if it would keep up with the TV.

We have a cable/internet/phone package. DSL might save us a few bucks, but it's just really slow.

 

[dlnester]

I have AT&T U-Verse Internet+TV package. My internet is 12 down/ 2 up. I pretty much get that. Actually my speed tests pegs at 11.99.

I would upgrade your DSL Modem. I got a 5 port wireless one at Best Buy for around ~$80 a couple years ago. When AT&T upgraded me to U-Verse (which is faster internet anyway) the modem was no longer needed.

 

[HecticArt]

I have AT&T U-Verse Internet+TV package. My internet is 12 down/ 2 up. I pretty much get that. Actually my speed tests pegs at 11.99.

I would upgrade your DSL Modem. I got a 5 port wireless one at Best Buy for around ~$80 a couple years ago. When AT&T upgraded me to U-Verse (which is faster internet anyway) the modem was no longer needed.

I'm not a fan of bundles, just because you're stuck with one company. If one goes out, they all go out. U-verse gets the internet from a different source than their DSL? No wonder they don't offer faster DSL. They are trying to upsell to the bundle.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[memebag]

I'm not a fan of bundles, just because you're stuck with one company. If one goes out, they all go out. U-verse gets the internet from a different source than their DSL? No wonder they don't offer faster DSL. They are trying to upsell to the bundle.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

U-verse is DSL.

 

[TX WJ]

I have AT&T and have 1.5 down, it is what they call DSl Extreme, but they will guarantee only 1.5 down.

I called them and they cut my bill in half for 6 months, told them that I was leaving for a better deal and I saw that I could get 50% if I signed up with them as a new customer.

I have fiber in my neighborhood, and fiber to the switch, yet it is slow.

No Verizon Fios or AT&T Uverse here yet. We are in a new development so I hope we get it one day.

 

[limegrass69]

That's the thing. The cable company usually has you by the balls since they know if FiOS is not available in your area. I can't get FiOS where I live, and Verizon does not really take good care of their DSL infrastructure in my area. Most people have cable Internet where I live. The few that have Verizon DSL complain about the reliability and slowness.

So, while the cable company does very little to work with me in terms of price, I'm very happy with their service. I have 50 Mbps up/8 Mbps down...and I usually get pretty close to (or in excess of) that speed. Most of the time if I'm slow, it's due to the WLAN.

I used to have a Linksys WRT54G. That thing just could not keep up. Once I got rid of that and got a Netgear WNDR3700, my speed has been very good.

 

[jef]

True. Even more to the point AT+T sucks. 1.5 is their fastest in my neighborhood.

AT&T does suck, but you can't blame them for the speed - it's a technical limitation of DSL. The farther your house is from the central office your line is provisioned in, the less you are capable of seeing as your top speed.

Assuming 1) that you want to deal with the trouble and 2) that there is a CO closer to your home than the one the currently feeds you your phone service, you can have your line moved. Downside is probably off-line time, and having to potentially get a new phone number.

As for UVerse, it's the same source, just getting your there differently. It's a mostly fiber service, but that's often only to your neighborhood. From there, you are basically still using phone line to your home. And if your UVerse node is some distance away, you may still not get top speeds. In most cases, UVerse internet is basically a version of ADSL2/ADSL2+. Faster than the ADSL of the "regular" DSL service. The Fastest version is called VDSL, but requires special setup.

 

[Casual Fan]

AT&T does suck, but you can't blame them for the speed - it's a technical limitation of DSL. The farther your house is from the central office your line is provisioned in, the less you are capable of seeing as your top speed.

I work in the downtown of small city (250,000 metro) and can't actually get DSL at the office. Verizon and AT&T just bagged it because the local cable provider is so good for the money. The phone companies are too busy pimping 4G...

 

[dlnester]

My only other option is Comcast, which to me is no option at all.

 

[TSSMario]

That D/U ratio for DSL is serviceable for the average user but once you get into one person using netflix downstairs and someone playing COD upstairs, it will become a problem.

I "supposedly" can get up to 24 down 12 up on my Comcast connection, but I have drop outs and bottlenecks causing lag on Battlefield 3 far more frequently than I'd like to tolerate. If my girlfriend has her PS3 on downstairs I have major lag issues. The fastest speeds I ever practically observe is about 1.5 meg/s down on certain downloads from Beatport or juno.co.uk. And those are European servers.