4 ms·

Does anyone in the US actually get the “up to” even plugging directly into the ISP provided modem at off peak times?

kop316 6y ago
Yes, I do. I have lived in several different areas where I had no problems getting the full advertised speed at any given time (on peak, off peak, etc.). I think the biggest reason they say "up to" is because a lot of poeple get a cheap $40 router that can't support that the advertised speed. Heck, I just moved into a new place that gives symmetric gigabit speeds. I had to replace my router to actually get one that can handle the advertised speeds (I had an APU1d4 with realtek ethernet ports that saturated at 300 Mb/s). My older laptop does not even have wired nor wireless speeds that can handle the connection. So while I am no fan of a lot of ISPs, I completely understand why they say "up to", they don't want to deal with folks who say they don't get their advertised speeds while using a $200 laptop and a $40 router.
wmf 6y ago
Many ISPs provide that level (or more) of performance, even during peak hours. https://transition.fcc.gov/oet/mba/images/2018/chart1.png https://transition.fcc.gov/oet/mba/images/2018/chart1.png https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/measuring-broadband-america/measuring-fixed-broadband-eighth-report https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/measuring-broad...
xoa 6y ago
Yes, absolutely. On all 5 different sites I manage in fact, two on a local ISP ADSL, third on local ISP fiber, fourth on Comcast Business cable modem, and even the fifth on a small regional WISP. All of them are reliably within a few percent of their expected speed with about the frequency that one would reasonably expect from that connection class. "Up-to" is fuzzy but quite justified with many technologies. Proper fiber of course is rock solid and essentially never has issues short of a backhoe. But ADSL falls off hard with distance, and a lot of the in-house wiring it's forced through is ancient garbage phone line. Sometimes one can get a huge practical boost just from shortening/replacing line with cat 5. And WISPs obviously have to deal with inclement weather fade as well as any additional obstacles for subpar sites that customers can't/won't rectify. Cable is more of a shared resource though you get much better support and less bullshit with business class even though Comcast are bastards. Now, I absolutely would love to see it mandated by law that somewhere upfront in ISP info to consumers it's required to have a standardized SLA. A consumer-level SLA for sure, but still have it formalized and cover all of the basics. So not just absolute max bandwidth, but 90%/50%/whatever bandwidth, any guaranteed floor, 90% latency, any data caps, any throttling criteria, etc. All categories the same and measured in a mandated standardized way so universally comparable. I don't expect data center level SLAs at all, but there isn't any reason there can't be that level of clarity. But residential/SOHO and such service inherently has more uncertainty and more compromises and capacity multipliers to meet lower prices. I think that's ok, just that it should be laid out and not buried in some fine print or support page in the disused lavatory defended by a leopard either.
Guest42 6y ago
Would be nice if the pricing then corresponded to performance statistics.
toast0 6y ago
I've had pretty good luck with DSL providers in three locations in the bay area and one in washington state. Sync speeds have always been at the top of the range, and usually upload/download speed to real destinations is consistent with the sync speed. Depends on the destination of course. And a lot of people on DSL have poor outside wiring (or it's just a long distance) and don't get great sync speeds or the lose sync when it rains and the lines get wet, etc. Mostly though, outside of exceptional circumstances the DSL data rates are slow enough that the bottleneck is either the individual subscriber's line (outdoor and indoor), their equipment, or wifi problems. When I was on ATT gigabit fiber in San Jose, it was hard to confirm the speeds, but they would vary a lot more. I think most of the time at peak I would only see 400 Mbps down, but closer to the line speed off-peak. Upstream was more consistent.
causality0 6y ago
Cox Communications doesn't have the best availability record with me (1-2 hour complete connection failures in the middle of the night every month or two) but as far as speeds go they're almost always exactly as advertised.
as-j 6y ago
Just did a Speedtest, 880mbps down and 780Mbps up at 19:30, so peak. Sonic gigabit in SF. I’d say that’s within margin of error. I see 900s on the early AM. Plus my WiFi can’t go that fast so I’m ok with it.
tomc1985 6y ago
I'm on spectrum in a high-tier US city and can regularly achieve a number very close to my cap (400mbs) throughout the day. Granted, before my current router I was only hitting just over 50% of the rated speed. But that turned out to be the router I was using, its CPU was not fast enough or something. With a new router and all wired connections between me and the 'net, I get the speeds I pay for.
floatingatoll 6y ago
Yes, even during peak hours.
nwallin 6y ago
I do. (Frontier FIOS, Southern California) I pay for 150Mb/s up/down and always get those speeds, even at peak times. (I don't get the full speed on my wireless devices, 100BaseT ethernet devices, or network over USB 2.0 devices) I pay $90-$95 per month. (this is a residential ISP, not a commercial one. Commercial ISPs typically have a SLA and "up to" is well defined in the contract if it's applicable at all.)
sgerenser 6y ago
Every time I've tested it my AT&T Fiber 300Mbit symmetrical connection gave me pretty close (if not more) than 300mb upload and download. Speed is also high enough that I have to test on LAN for it to be reliable, as just one wall can cause my WiFi to drop below the maximum speed of the service (of course, I'm using my own AP not the terrible one built into the provided modem).

Yes, I do. I have lived in several different areas where I had no problems getting the full advertised speed at any given time (on peak, off peak, etc.). I think the biggest reason they say "up to" is because a lot of poeple get a cheap $40 router that can't support that the advertised speed. Heck, I just moved into a new place that gives symmetric gigabit speeds. I had to replace my router to actually get one that can handle the advertised speeds (I had an APU1d4 with realtek ethernet ports that saturated at 300 Mb/s). My older laptop does not even have wired nor wireless speeds that can handle the connection. So while I am no fan of a lot of ISPs, I completely understand why they say "up to", they don't want to deal with folks who say they don't get their advertised speeds while using a $200 laptop and a $40 router.

wmf 6y ago

Many ISPs provide that level (or more) of performance, even during peak hours. https://transition.fcc.gov/oet/mba/images/2018/chart1.png https://transition.fcc.gov/oet/mba/images/2018/chart1.png https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/measuring-broadband-america/measuring-fixed-broadband-eighth-report https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/measuring-broad...

xoa 6y ago

Yes, absolutely. On all 5 different sites I manage in fact, two on a local ISP ADSL, third on local ISP fiber, fourth on Comcast Business cable modem, and even the fifth on a small regional WISP. All of them are reliably within a few percent of their expected speed with about the frequency that one would reasonably expect from that connection class. "Up-to" is fuzzy but quite justified with many technologies. Proper fiber of course is rock solid and essentially never has issues short of a backhoe. But ADSL falls off hard with distance, and a lot of the in-house wiring it's forced through is ancient garbage phone line. Sometimes one can get a huge practical boost just from shortening/replacing line with cat 5. And WISPs obviously have to deal with inclement weather fade as well as any additional obstacles for subpar sites that customers can't/won't rectify. Cable is more of a shared resource though you get much better support and less bullshit with business class even though Comcast are bastards. Now, I absolutely would love to see it mandated by law that somewhere upfront in ISP info to consumers it's required to have a standardized SLA. A consumer-level SLA for sure, but still have it formalized and cover all of the basics. So not just absolute max bandwidth, but 90%/50%/whatever bandwidth, any guaranteed floor, 90% latency, any data caps, any throttling criteria, etc. All categories the same and measured in a mandated standardized way so universally comparable. I don't expect data center level SLAs at all, but there isn't any reason there can't be that level of clarity. But residential/SOHO and such service inherently has more uncertainty and more compromises and capacity multipliers to meet lower prices. I think that's ok, just that it should be laid out and not buried in some fine print or support page in the disused lavatory defended by a leopard either.

Guest42 6y ago

Would be nice if the pricing then corresponded to performance statistics.

toast0 6y ago

I've had pretty good luck with DSL providers in three locations in the bay area and one in washington state. Sync speeds have always been at the top of the range, and usually upload/download speed to real destinations is consistent with the sync speed. Depends on the destination of course. And a lot of people on DSL have poor outside wiring (or it's just a long distance) and don't get great sync speeds or the lose sync when it rains and the lines get wet, etc. Mostly though, outside of exceptional circumstances the DSL data rates are slow enough that the bottleneck is either the individual subscriber's line (outdoor and indoor), their equipment, or wifi problems. When I was on ATT gigabit fiber in San Jose, it was hard to confirm the speeds, but they would vary a lot more. I think most of the time at peak I would only see 400 Mbps down, but closer to the line speed off-peak. Upstream was more consistent.

causality0 6y ago

Cox Communications doesn't have the best availability record with me (1-2 hour complete connection failures in the middle of the night every month or two) but as far as speeds go they're almost always exactly as advertised.

as-j 6y ago

Just did a Speedtest, 880mbps down and 780Mbps up at 19:30, so peak. Sonic gigabit in SF. I’d say that’s within margin of error. I see 900s on the early AM. Plus my WiFi can’t go that fast so I’m ok with it.

tomc1985 6y ago

I'm on spectrum in a high-tier US city and can regularly achieve a number very close to my cap (400mbs) throughout the day. Granted, before my current router I was only hitting just over 50% of the rated speed. But that turned out to be the router I was using, its CPU was not fast enough or something. With a new router and all wired connections between me and the 'net, I get the speeds I pay for.

floatingatoll 6y ago

Yes, even during peak hours.

nwallin 6y ago

I do. (Frontier FIOS, Southern California) I pay for 150Mb/s up/down and always get those speeds, even at peak times. (I don't get the full speed on my wireless devices, 100BaseT ethernet devices, or network over USB 2.0 devices) I pay $90-$95 per month. (this is a residential ISP, not a commercial one. Commercial ISPs typically have a SLA and "up to" is well defined in the contract if it's applicable at all.)

sgerenser 6y ago

Every time I've tested it my AT&T Fiber 300Mbit symmetrical connection gave me pretty close (if not more) than 300mb upload and download. Speed is also high enough that I have to test on LAN for it to be reliable, as just one wall can cause my WiFi to drop below the maximum speed of the service (of course, I'm using my own AP not the terrible one built into the provided modem).