DSL speed: 6MB, 3MB, 1.5MB ???

[Muse]

I currently have ATT DSL. I called them yesterday and asked why I'm paying $40/month and they said I have the highest speed, 6 MB. If I downgrade to 3 MB it will be $35/month and at 1.5 MB it will be $30. Would I notice a difference with a downgrade?

My equipment:

Alcatel 1000 DSL modem (very old but good Intel chip)

Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 wireless router (not wireless N)

Desktop mobo doesn't have gigabit, just 100MB, connected by ethernet to router. I may upgrade the mobo someday soon to something with gigabit NIC, but don't have it now.

3 laptops with gigabit, one of them connected by ethernet to the router, the others wirelessly, not wireless N.
- - - -
Mostly I use the wirelessly connected laptops for internet.

 

[degibson]

Go run an internet speed test; measure what you're currently seeing. ISPs offer speeds 'up to X' -- you may not be seeing 6 Mbps now.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

DSL usually is consistently 6 MB. That's pretty fast. It's dependent on what you do with the internet. You can survive at 1.5 MB if all you are doing is surfing the internet and what not. 3 MB is about 300 kbps down.

 

[drebo]

See if you can beat them down in price. I'm not sure where you are geographically, but I have 6mbit AT&T dry-loop DSL for $25/mo.

 

[Muse]

See if you can beat them down in price. I'm not sure where you are geographically, but I have 6mbit AT&T dry-loop DSL for $25/mo.

I tried yesterday, really tried, but maybe I was talking to the wrong person (i.e. she didn't have the power or authority to reprice me, wouldn't surprise me). I'll try again. What's "dry-loop?" I'm in Berkeley, CA.

 

[Muse]

Go run an internet speed test; measure what you're currently seeing. ISPs offer speeds 'up to X' -- you may not be seeing 6 Mbps now.

From my wirelessly connected laptop (system specs including modem, router are in the OP) the speedtest.net results of one test are:

Ping: 53 ms
DL: 4.15 Mbps
Upload: 0.63 Mbps

 

[airdata]

Sorry... I have to brag a little

•FiOS Internet 25/25 34.99

FiOS represent

If you're only surfing, you may not notice a huge hit in speed... But 1.5 and 3Mbps are pretty slow today.

I think what drebo meant by dry loop is when you have the dsl internet service without also having the phone service.

 

[Muse]

Sorry... I have to brag a little
FiOS represent

If you're only surfing, you may not notice a huge hit in speed... But 1.5 and 3Mbps are pretty slow today.

I think what drebo meant by dry loop is when you have the dsl internet service without also having the phone service.

Oh, I do have local ATT phone service on the same line. It's "Life Line" service, pretty cheap, around $7 on top of my ~$40 DSL charge. I have a pay as you go long distance provider (mobilecaller) for non-local and faxing stuff.

The lady I talked to yesterday tried to interest me in their cell phone service and I told her I'm sure they can't compete with my pay as you go pagepluscellular plan, which saves me hundreds/year compared to Verizon and uses Verizon's network. Anybody got any tips on how I might be able to beat ATT pricing down on my "6 Mbps" DSL?

 

[Muse]

•FiOS Internet 25/25 34.99

Hmm. Brag all you want. Can I improve on my 6 Mbps ATT at $40? If I have an alternative maybe I can either bargain ATT down or switch! Again, I'm in Berkeley, CA.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hmm, 6Mbit/sec down isn't bad for $40, really. I was paying Verizon $32/mo for 3Mbit. (Until I got 25/25 FIOS, with TV, that I'm paying $105/mo for.)

I would instead, complain that you aren't seeing your full bandwidth. If you are only getting 4Mbit or so down, try to get them to fix that and give you your full 6Mbit down if you can. OTOH, they might say that the line cannot handle 6Mbit, and downgrade you to 3Mbit without any option to upgrade in the future.

 

[darckhart]

I have ATT DSL and I'm in San Jose.

For my 6Mbps service, I get approx 610KB/s down and 78KB/s up.

Here's what you can do:
the 6Mbps service used to be 30$. there was that recent raise rates for 5$/mo for no apparent reason 2 yrs ago in Mar. Then there was another 2$ and then a 3$ raise this year. That's why 6Mbps service is 40$ now. I complained about the 5$ one and they took it off. I havent complained about the 2 and 3 one.

If you were a customer with them at 6Mbps for 2 yrs (e.g. 1 yr on contract, and 1 yr just continuing.) you can pull the ol' loyalty trick and they'll revert back to the old price. If you have been with them at 6Mbps for longer than 2 yrs, loyalty won't work.

You can next try to upgrade to U-verse (which is min 12Mbps) (but don't tell them you don't want all the TV gear until after you're okayed) and then bargain down the price (if you're comfortable with paying 40 to 50 for 12Mbps). If U-verse is not available (like it's not available in my neighborhood), you can now say AH HA! and talk them down on the 6Mbps price. At this point, you can also threaten to switch to Comcast Xfinity (because comcast is being pretty aggressive at sucking away U-verse customers).

This is the strategy I used for my 6Mbps at 33$/mo

If you're dead set against paying 40, and you want to downgrade, then 3Mbps is the lowest I would go. Not because you need that much downstream, but because the upstream component is severely crippled below the 3Mbps tier. And without decent upstream, you cannot "multi-task" very well with multiple computers on your network when they are all begging for streaming video, flash, chat, online game playing, etc at the same time.

just my 2 cents. hth.

 

[JackMDS]

If I downgrade to 3 MB it will be $35/month and at 1.5 MB it will be $30. Would I notice a difference with a downgrade?

Of course there will downgrade in a form of slower Internet traffic.

Your hardware and other "stories" mentioned here have No baring on the actual functionality..

Depending on what your connection is used for, it might affect (or not) the functionality of your network.

 

[Muse]

Hmm, 6Mbit/sec down isn't bad for $40, really. I was paying Verizon $32/mo for 3Mbit. (Until I got 25/25 FIOS, with TV, that I'm paying $105/mo for.)

I would instead, complain that you aren't seeing your full bandwidth. If you are only getting 4Mbit or so down, try to get them to fix that and give you your full 6Mbit down if you can. OTOH, they might say that the line cannot handle 6Mbit, and downgrade you to 3Mbit without any option to upgrade in the future.

IIRC, I think I had that conversation with them some time ago, don't recall the details. I'll try again, maybe things have changed!

Hmm, I don't have subscription TV. Does yours include HD content? I might have to consider that.

25/25 if it's what I think it is sounds crazy fast. Can you get those speeds in actuality? Do the servers dish out the data that fast? I find some sites to be exceptionally slow and I figure it's because their servers are under powered. For instance, Boardtracker and I think Acronymfinder. Maybe once you get the site's _attention_ it's faster. What's your experience with 25/25?

 

[Muse]

I have ATT DSL and I'm in San Jose.

For my 6Mbps service, I get approx 610KB/s down and 78KB/s up.

Here's what you can do:
the 6Mbps service used to be 30$. there was that recent raise rates for 5$/mo for no apparent reason 2 yrs ago in Mar. Then there was another 2$ and then a 3$ raise this year. That's why 6Mbps service is 40$ now. I complained about the 5$ one and they took it off. I havent complained about the 2 and 3 one.

If you were a customer with them at 6Mbps for 2 yrs (e.g. 1 yr on contract, and 1 yr just continuing.) you can pull the ol' loyalty trick and they'll revert back to the old price. If you have been with them at 6Mbps for longer than 2 yrs, loyalty won't work.

You can next try to upgrade to U-verse (which is min 12Mbps) (but don't tell them you don't want all the TV gear until after you're okayed) and then bargain down the price (if you're comfortable with paying 40 to 50 for 12Mbps). If U-verse is not available (like it's not available in my neighborhood), you can now say AH HA! and talk them down on the 6Mbps price. At this point, you can also threaten to switch to Comcast Xfinity (because comcast is being pretty aggressive at sucking away U-verse customers).

This is the strategy I used for my 6Mbps at 33$/mo

If you're dead set against paying 40, and you want to downgrade, then 3Mbps is the lowest I would go. Not because you need that much downstream, but because the upstream component is severely crippled below the 3Mbps tier. And without decent upstream, you cannot "multi-task" very well with multiple computers on your network when they are all begging for streaming video, flash, chat, online game playing, etc at the same time.

just my 2 cents. hth.

Thanks for that rundown! Early in my conversation I asked why my ~$28-30 service had found its way to $40 and she said I must have been on a special promotion that expired (e.g. after one year). Not having the facts (I wasn't aware of any promotion, I stay away from those, all the Comcast 6 month and 12 month promotion offers go into my waste basket immediately), so I had my doubts but what could I say?

I don't play games online and rarely chat and I only use one of my computers at a time so upload speed may not be that much of an issue for me. Once in a while I upload a big file to Yousendit or a bunch of JPGs to some hosting site. I wonder if I can try 1.5 or 3 and see how it works out for me and go back to 6 without penalty. This all seems kind of tricky. :\

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hmm, I don't have subscription TV. Does yours include HD content? I might have to consider that.

25/25 if it's what I think it is sounds crazy fast. Can you get those speeds in actuality? Do the servers dish out the data that fast? I find some sites to be exceptionally slow and I figure it's because their servers are under powered. For instance, Boardtracker and I think Acronymfinder. Maybe once you get the site's _attention_ it's faster. What's your experience with 25/25?

Yes, that $105/mo covers 25/25 Internet, and HD Digital Extreme package, which is basically just an HD package. No sports or movie channels. (Maybe I get some sports channels, I never checked.)

I get decent speeds, sometimes I get over 1MB/sec downloading. Rarely more than that.

For some reason that I don't understand, over my wireless N, I get 30/16, not 30/25. But I do get (usually) 30/25 from my wired machine using speedtest.net.

(The reason that I get 30Mbit/sec down, is that with FIOS, they allocate an extra 5Mbit/sec download for PPV features on the set-top box, and if you're not watching any PPV stuff on TV, then that bandwidth is available for regular internet usage.)

It's pretty nice, I plan on putting a WHS on the internet, so that I can access it remotely.

I can pull 1.8MB/sec down through a friend's Comcast connection, being uploaded from my NAS over FIOS.

 

[bobdole369]

Can I improve on my 6 Mbps ATT at $40? If I have an alternative maybe I can either bargain ATT down or switch! Again, I'm in Berkeley, CA.

Stick your address in the uverse qual tool. I googled up that in late 2009 AT&T was rolling it out in Berkley. I didn't press further.

Uverse packages are:

24/3 $65/month
18/1.5 $55/month
12/1.5 $45/month
Tey have a 6mbit tier at $40 too.

The killer for traditional DSL for me has always been the realllly pokey upload. Once you get more than half a dozen folks on it, the uplink side really shows through. Every download has a number of acks that go up (every pic on a web page, every css, every page has a lot of uploading going on.) With a decent amount of traffic, or a single user uploading something, sending an email with an attachment, etc. that upload gets saturated and really slows the whole thing down. I ran IT in an office with up to 40 people trying to share only 2 6/384k lines. I hated every day.

AT&T is able to give you a little - I got 6 months $5 off the 24mb tier. I've heard of people getting $10 off for the same timeframe too, so you may just have to ask for it cheaper.

I originally left Comcast for AT&T because of the caps. Now I have no choice as AT&T is capping Uverse too. Its conceivable that I might end up back in a Comcast line (business line this time) if I keep going over the cap. no way am I going to keep paying them extra. Now - when I left Comcast - you better believe I got a number of calls offering discounts, free TV, all sorts of stuff, so if all else fails just call and cancel. You'll get the retention dept and they have some magic AT&T powers.

 

[bobdole369]

As for speed at this top tier - Honestly from a majority of sites/services I rarely get past 1000k. thats likely because a lot of datacenters run data to boxes at 10mbits. Larger providers give me more - say Microsoft download of a big ISO is blazing at 2300+kbps.

Well seeded torrents go this fast too - I picked up an old SD episode once in less than a minute.

It's still not quite snappy enough for my wife, a pro photographer, who often uploads multiple meg images and a LOT of them. At an office where she does business from time to time they have a 10/10 metro ethernet line, which is wicked fast on the upload.

 

[zephxiii]

At work we have Fiber with 3mbit/2mbit and its plenty for us. I watch traffic in pfsense and we hardly use it lol (this is with 7-8 users and email server).

It just depends on your usage pattern.