What is your Internet provider and speed?

Nice! Bell used to offer 8Gbit symmetrical but pulled the package.

I posted the fastest test earlier for a Monday install - directly to a 1 Gbit/sec ethernet port on an old Mac - about 930 down and 900 up. I'd love to see what it could do with a faster faster gateway, if only for entertainment purposes. The whole fire hose vs drinking fountain thing.

It's a no frills provider. They don't advertise heavily and I don't think they have any kind of stores or customer service centers. But if they can just provide internet service, what else is needed?
 
Xfinity, 500 down 20 up… paying an extra $30/month for unlimited data. I own my own modem (arris sb8200) and router (Asus rt-ax58u running Merlin firmware)

Speedtest on 5ghz WiFi… while the kids stream Disney+ in 4k and my wife streams whatever she listens to on YouTube.
IMG_1691.webp
 
Yep. Even with all our camera's all the streaming devices, phones, etc we never have problems at 100mb. If you listen to AT&T and comcast we'd need multiple fiber links to use them. But, most people are stupid and believe what they're told......advertising.
Over time in the last house Spectrum bumped us up to 200/12 then 300/12 and raised prices to $80 a month. No thank you, loving fiber here on the coast 300/300 $57 a month.

Last house to back up what you are saying had all these wifi devices, 5 Roku boxes, 5 security cameras, 1 doorbell camera, 2 laptops, 3 desktops (one was a workstation via ethernet, min 2 cellphones, VOIP home line, and whatever the other couple that I am forgetting. Never an issue.

Now in a smaller home with the 300/300 just wife and I much of the same except down to 2 Roku boxes for now and no security cameras yet except for an interior that we only use when away or workers in the house and a doorbell camera. Of course no issues other than super fast internet. Stupid fast 300/300 $57 actual payment, so glad to be done with Spectrum. I much rather have the 300/300 than 1gb or 500mbps down /24 up

To the others, yes that is miserable having high speed cable and settling for SLOW upload speeds at the prices you pay.
 
To the others, yes that is miserable having high speed cable and settling for SLOW upload speeds at the prices you pay.

Asymmetric DSL is supposed to have some sort of advantage when it comes to total speeds.

Asymmetric cable internet is probably there to keep people from setting up home internet as servers. I would have thought the data caps (which are for both directions) would be enough. I had a neighbor who ran a home business and clearly had Comcast Business internet which is symmetric without data caps. They can offer that even in a residential neighborhood. I knew it because Xfinity Wi-Fi lists public hotspots by business name if they're from a business account, and I saw his business's name on their Wi-Fi map. But I'm thinking if someone really wants it, they can make up a business name and get business class cable internet. But that's going to be expensive unless it's limited to lower speeds.
 
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Asymmetric cable internet is probably there to keep people from setting up home internet as servers.
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Yeah, that was always my feeling, I just didnt know if that was a limitation of the cable itself much like DSL or as you just pointed out you could get business class in the same community. If correct I would think that could be the only reason then is to limit upload speed. As maybe except for forums like this and others, they know the general public is clueless and just accepts the download speeds as the speed number with no thought as to upload. Then when a consumer upgrades to 500 Mbps or higher they are able to show faster speeds by doubling the upload from 12 to 24.
I do think for some reason though their coax has a limitation unlike fiber (and now I have to look it up as I have always been curious *LOL*)

Ok, well, done looking it up, Fiber is symmetrical and coax is asymmetrical much like DSL seems to be the bottom line. I think I always knew that but it's been a long time since thinking about it.
Additionally Fiber is a dedicated connection and Coax shared.
 
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Additionally Fiber is a dedicated connection and Coax shared.

Fiber is typically a shared line. I think pretty much all residential fiber is going to be on a passive optical network where several connections multiplex transfers on the same line without any repeaters or routers needed. The signals theoretically can reach hundreds to thousands of miles without needing to be boosted.

DSL was a dedicated line to the home/office, but it was always just a kludge to take advantage of existing copper phone lines. It generally couldn't carry much.
 
Fiber is typically a shared line. I think pretty much all residential fiber is going to be on a passive optical network where several connections multiplex transfers on the same line without any repeaters or routers needed. The signals theoretically can reach hundreds to thousands of miles without needing to be boosted.

DSL was a dedicated line to the home/office, but it was always just a kludge to take advantage of existing copper phone lines. It generally couldn't carry much.
I do not think they are talking about using the same physical
"cable" in referring to dedicated but referring to a private connection with its own bandwidth using that shared fiber cable.
I have no idea if I am right but I love to learn.


"As its name implies, dedicated internet means you have a direct, private connection to your ISP’s network. Unlike shared internet, dedicated internet provides a fixed amount of bandwidth that is not shared with any other users. This type of connection is more common among businesses but is available to residential customers who require, or prefer consistent, high-speed internet."

I believe we are PON? There is no coax, all new community all fiber. Symmetrical 300 and you can have up to 1gbps
https://ziplyfiber.com/blogs/article/shared-vs-dedicated-internet

Ahh, I found something that explains it more from Spectrum. Yes, I believe this is right, A shared connection vs a dedicated connection does not mean that because it is called"dedicated" that it doesnt share a fiber cable with anyone else.
The bottom line is the internet provider is allocating the bandwidth to the customer who has a dedicated connection. So you will have that speed that does not slow down when the internet is in heavy use in your area.
This is what we have and I think almost everyone. Our fiber connection never slows down. We have our guaranteed 300/300 service.
SO dedicated means dedicated bandwidth not a dedicated single line.

Great conversation, love this stuff, makes me think
  • Dedicated Internet access provides guaranteed bandwidth at all times. If a business subscribes to a 100 Mbps dedicated Internet connection, it will always have access to 100 Mbps of bandwidth.
  • Shared Internet access provides bandwidth up to a specified level, and bandwidth is shared among all subscribers. If a business subscribes to a 100 Mbps shared Internet connection, it may get 100 Mbps of bandwidth at certain times, but will likely receive far less bandwidth during peak traffic periods when other subscribers are also using the connection.

    Source https://enterprise.spectrum.com/sup...ce-between-dedicated-and-shared-internet.html
BTW - Im just learning here but this is the first time in my life that I finally live in an all new area with fiber vs past house with coax. Our 300/300 connection never slows down, whether that means it is dedicated or just lucky I do not know. I tried our providers website but its a small company and not very informative website.
 
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I guess there are ways to guarantee bandwidth for each customer to the central office. Not sure exactly how that works since they're still probably oversubscribed in their trunk lines if every customer tried to max out bandwidth. But obviously this is like arguing over how many roads to build. How much do you want to pay for that?
 
I guess there are ways to guarantee bandwidth for each customer to the central office. Not sure exactly how that works since they're still probably oversubscribed in their trunk lines if every customer tried to max out bandwidth. But obviously this is like arguing over how many roads to build. How much do you want to pay for that?
No argument from me! I agree with your thinking, Im clueless but find the subject interesting. This are expanding by leaps and bounds I dont know if they are capable of keeping up. I do know there is a lot of upgrading going on to their older legacy customers. Our section of the huge community is all new the more established section, still younger than 20 years has older service from the same company. Im not sure but maybe coax. Also of course Federal grants involved in the upgrading too since its a small private company I think.
 
Frontier 500 mbs. $29.99 a month(taxes included) I think it is promotion. When they go up I will change the carrier.
 
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Switched from Cox to a local fiber provider (Ideatek). Paying the same ($90/mo) but my speeds went from 250/25 to 1000/1000. AND, I went from a 1.25TB data cap to unlimited bandwidth. Full disclosure, Cox's 250/25 plan was $70/mo, but with having to buy extra data when I exceed their data cap, I ended up averaging about $90/mo. So, win, win. Here is unrestricted bandwidth:
Screenshot 2025-06-05 at 05-07-01 Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test.webp

Screenshot 2025-06-05 at 05-14-21 Bufferbloat and Internet Speed Test - Waveform.webp

And with traffic shaping (QoS) enabled in my firewall, I sacrifice a little bandwidth to eliminate latency.
Screenshot 2025-06-05 at 05-08-24 Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test.webp

Screenshot 2025-06-05 at 05-12-38 Bufferbloat and Internet Speed Test - Waveform.webp
 
Curious as to what speed most here are using and who they go thru.

Currently I have Xfinity 500 mps. Rates are going up so I am probably going to switch to Metronet fiber 1 gig or maybe try T-Mobile 5g again.
close to 1000mps at the modem, about 700 to the wired connections in the house, and 350 wifi......... thanks to Spectrum fiber, and some technical help from @wwillson and terminating cat6 cabling.
 
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