Does Comcast slow down bandwidth on purpose?

[l Xes l]

I do a lot of downloadin' thru bit-torrent client... i basically leave my computer on 24/7 to download.. mostly animes... however, last month i lost my connection for about 3 days... and ever since then my downloading speed seems to be certainly lower than before...
Internet speed itself doesn't seem to be affected but my DL used to be around 150-300KB/s... now it hangs around 50-70KB/s...
I have not changed any setting in my computer so i dont think it's anything that i did that'd slow down the DL speed... yes i am behind a router with opened port..
i've tried it out without the router but there seems to be no difference in dl speed...
did Comcast slow down my DL speed?... anything i could do to improve this?

 

[AtaruMoroboshi18]

Spyware perhaps? You could look, maybe you got one that eats bandwidth if there is such a thing.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Did Comcast do any"upgrades" that you're aware of? I know that I lose service for hours at a time due to Cox doing "upgrades" although I haven't noticed any changes in performance.

 

[l Xes l]

I'm sure it's not spyware of any sort..
I have read somewhere ISP's do this sometimes to save bandwidth or something..

 

[Megatomic]

Have you received any mail from Comcast that you haven't opened yet? Perhaps you have been snagged for downloading illegal content... Just something to consider.

 

[l Xes l]

nope.. i didn't receive anything.. and i dont really download anything illegal... just some anime... ones that are not licensed...

 

[Megatomic]

What is your monthly bandwidth limit? Usually it is a TOS requirement to not exceed that amount. Maybe they are "helping you" follow your TOS?

 

[l Xes l]

what's TOS requirement?... how do u figure out the monthly bandwidth limit?.. just call em?..

 

[l Xes l]

any ideas?

 

[cryptonomicon]

first off, yes, comcast has an amount of bandwidth that is "too much". they won't disclose how much this is, but there IS an amount.

second, comcast is horrid over the last month. their last upgrade has completely messed up and overloaded parts of their network. marketing first, customers later.

 

[l Xes l]

wat would u suggest that i do?.... just put up with this?...

 

[cecallred]

A friend here uses Comcast and I tested her computer, network card and modem (cable), finally they admitted there was a problem, after something like 3 weeks. They did "something" on their end... most likely changed out a card... and now it's fine. She complained and they gave her a rebate. Worth a try but you'll have to really let them know you're not happy.

Cec

 

[uOpt]

They fatfingered something in their network, probably a central router, and are now running on some emergency equipment. Pretty safe guess.

In a cable network, it would be very complicated to limit (not cut off) single customers, especially if they want to do it by port/service.

 

[Zepper]

broadband cable is a shared resource - data rates will vary with the number of users. Very unusual drops usually caused as mentioned above.

.bh.

 

[n7]

They are likely throttling you.

Here in Canada, one of the big ISPs, Shaw, uses this crap to effectively throttle all P2P traffic to the point where it's almost impossible.

It's disgusting, but there's not much you can do about it, since the majority of the stuff they are throttling isn't legal anyway.

I had to switch ISPs due to it.

 

[Zepper]

broadband cable is a shared resource - data rates will vary with the number of users. Very unusual drops usually caused as mentioned above.

.bh.

 

[Cheesetogo]

Does anyone know if adelphia or time warner does this throttling?

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Zepper
broadband cable is a shared resource - data rates will vary with the number of users. Very unusual drops usually caused as mentioned above. .bh.

A lot depends on where you live. Cable Internet is shared bandwidth. In my area, the speed has increased - nearly doubled in the past 2 months. Every time you get a new subscriber on your local scene, you give some of your speed.

Last month, Comcast warned us about an outtage - and it lasted about 15 hours. During that time they connected all new fiberoptic lines, and when it was done, we had a significan speed increase.

 

[earthsfatez]

It could be your modem.

 

[Big Lar]

Originally posted by: earthsfatez
It could be your modem.

You could take a look at your modem stats, if it in fact has the web option.