Originally posted by: Wag
Well, here we go. Once more I'm on the phone with them saying that I don't actually have the speed upgrade even though they say I do. I'm downloading the 100meg test file in 2mins 22secs, which is the old slower speed.
The performance of an 8Mb cable line is seldom the bottleneck in regular use, you may be hitting typical congestion. In everyday use, upgrading from 4 or 6 to 8Mb is something a user will not notice much if any unless constantly downloading huge files from good servers on fat pipes. Upload speeds maybe so, if you're capped at 384 or even worse, 256Kb, every little bit there helps if you need it.
If your ISP has not disabled access to your cable modem stats page, you can see the parameters they (TFTP?) into it, what it has set as the cap. That cap is what gets changed, necessarily so for you to get the higher up & down rates. Many modems are accessed @ 192.168.100.1
On the cable modem page you might see downstream set to 8000000 bps for example, if it's capped at 8Mb, 4000000 bps for 4Mb, etc. Similarly upstream of 384000 bps or whatever.
Those of you having trouble with intermittent connection that can access you modem stats might also check on the signal strength. If you're down around -15.00 dBmV it's marginal and might respond well to efforts to increase signal. For example if you have an ancient leaky box outside it might need sealed and connectors replaced. If you have splitter(s) in use, take them out of the loop temporarily, or at least unplug the other lines coming out to see if it helps. Termination into any device on cable pulls down the signal, necessarily so. It's not just splitters but devices hooked up. Amps are best left out of the cable modem line if if you can split the signal once, then run one line direct to modem and put the other through an amp before further distribution through the home it can help. YMMV. A bit of general network savvy can help to determine if internet outtage is really signal loss or DNS server or something else- pinpointing exactly what is failing is pretty important and typically the level 1 tech you'd call at your provider will not be able to do that, rather just advising you power cycle everything.