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That is very true, not to mention gigabit cable services probably rarely have anyone achieve those speeds very often. My guess is that most cable companies unlo

That is very true, not to mention gigabit cable services probably rarely have anyone achieve those speeds very often. My guess is that most cable companies unlock the DOCSIS channels necessary, but node over subscription means that your only shot is to download a huge amount at 3-4a.m.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
Non fiber internet advertising is pretty much a scam in my opinion.
- gruez 6y ago
  How so? What's the difference between FTTH throttled to 100mbps (for product segmentation reasons) and 100mbps DOCSIS?
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    In practice, in the US, the fiber connection will actually offer a sustained 100mbps up and down, with a low latency while the cable company will share a 500mbps down 10mbps up connection over 50 houses and sell you 100mbps by throttling everything else for a few minutes and using this burst speed as their advertised bandwidth.
    - gruez 6y ago
      >In practice, in the US, the fiber connection will actually offer a sustained 100mbps up and down Does this actually matter given that up/down are already prominently advertised? >with a low latency Does fiber have lower latency than DSL/cable? Even if there is a speed difference between the two mediums, there probably isn't that big of a difference given the short distance involved (a few miles at most). >while the cable company will share a 500mbps down 10mbps up connection over 50 houses and sell you 100mbps by throttling everything else for a few minutes and using this burst speed as their advertised bandwidth. Just because it's fiber doesn't mean the bandwidth isn't shared. eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.984 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.984
      - CyberDildonics 6y ago
        Cable nodes work on a round robin frame structure, so it would make sense that fiber has less latency. All bandwidth is going to be shared somewhere, but cable is often heavily over subscribed at the node level, which is going to matter more when you are suddenly given more DOCSIS channels but the node is left unchanged.
      - lotsofpulp 6y ago
        All bandwidth is shared at some point, but in practice, cable is far more oversubscribed. And they don’t advertise any upload bandwidth. And the download bandwidth they advertise are temporary burst speeds they get from degrading others’ speeds. Cable companies have an incentive to continue allocating their bandwidth for cable tv channels, and offering the bare minimum (see lack of upload) to internet subscribers since there’s usually no competition. And I’m not an engineer or anything, so while I can’t say for sure if coaxial cable is inferior to fiber optic, the fact that every single fiber connection I’ve used is far snappier and higher bandwidth than coaxial cable leads me to believe it is true, at least for all practical matters.
  - CyberDildonics 6y ago
    This was more about the difference in fiber gigabit and DOCSIS gigabit. If you pay for gigabit over cable, you might technically be able to receive gigabit internet, but realistically you share a node with too many people for its capacity to get that speed unless no one is using their internet.
    - lotsofpulp 6y ago
      And you will get 3mbps up.
qes 6y ago
I'm in the first ring suburbs of Minneapolis and going back over 10 years (and for several years prior to that inside Mpls proper) my Comcast connection routinely outperforms my rated speed all hours of the day. My rated speed has also 5x'd (50 to 250) at the same price in that time. Thankfully, however, fiber _finally_ became available on my block this year.

lotsofpulp 6y ago

Non fiber internet advertising is pretty much a scam in my opinion.

gruez 6y ago
How so? What's the difference between FTTH throttled to 100mbps (for product segmentation reasons) and 100mbps DOCSIS?
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  In practice, in the US, the fiber connection will actually offer a sustained 100mbps up and down, with a low latency while the cable company will share a 500mbps down 10mbps up connection over 50 houses and sell you 100mbps by throttling everything else for a few minutes and using this burst speed as their advertised bandwidth.
  - gruez 6y ago
    >In practice, in the US, the fiber connection will actually offer a sustained 100mbps up and down Does this actually matter given that up/down are already prominently advertised? >with a low latency Does fiber have lower latency than DSL/cable? Even if there is a speed difference between the two mediums, there probably isn't that big of a difference given the short distance involved (a few miles at most). >while the cable company will share a 500mbps down 10mbps up connection over 50 houses and sell you 100mbps by throttling everything else for a few minutes and using this burst speed as their advertised bandwidth. Just because it's fiber doesn't mean the bandwidth isn't shared. eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.984 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.984
    - CyberDildonics 6y ago
      Cable nodes work on a round robin frame structure, so it would make sense that fiber has less latency. All bandwidth is going to be shared somewhere, but cable is often heavily over subscribed at the node level, which is going to matter more when you are suddenly given more DOCSIS channels but the node is left unchanged.
    - lotsofpulp 6y ago
      All bandwidth is shared at some point, but in practice, cable is far more oversubscribed. And they don’t advertise any upload bandwidth. And the download bandwidth they advertise are temporary burst speeds they get from degrading others’ speeds. Cable companies have an incentive to continue allocating their bandwidth for cable tv channels, and offering the bare minimum (see lack of upload) to internet subscribers since there’s usually no competition. And I’m not an engineer or anything, so while I can’t say for sure if coaxial cable is inferior to fiber optic, the fact that every single fiber connection I’ve used is far snappier and higher bandwidth than coaxial cable leads me to believe it is true, at least for all practical matters.
- CyberDildonics 6y ago
  This was more about the difference in fiber gigabit and DOCSIS gigabit. If you pay for gigabit over cable, you might technically be able to receive gigabit internet, but realistically you share a node with too many people for its capacity to get that speed unless no one is using their internet.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    And you will get 3mbps up.

qes 6y ago

I'm in the first ring suburbs of Minneapolis and going back over 10 years (and for several years prior to that inside Mpls proper) my Comcast connection routinely outperforms my rated speed all hours of the day. My rated speed has also 5x'd (50 to 250) at the same price in that time. Thankfully, however, fiber _finally_ became available on my block this year.