High speed internet tests

smarcuss1

Has anyone noticed a destinct bias when running the various high speed internet tests. I consistently get 29-30 Mbps either way up or down when running the Verizon test, and consistently around 20 Mbps up and 5 Mbps down. I know my speeds exceed the ones reported by the Comcast and XFinity tests. Is it just me, or is Comcast fiddling with the numbers to make themselves look better and Verizon look worse? My daughters both had the 5 Mbps service with Comcast and we could never get a clean video chat because of their poor service.

smith6612

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@smarcuss wrote:

Has anyone noticed a destinct bias when running the various high speed internet tests. I consistently get 29-30 Mbps either way up or down when running the Verizon test, and consistently around 20 Mbps up and 5 Mbps down. I know my speeds exceed the ones reported by the Comcast and XFinity tests. Is it just me, or is Comcast fiddling with the numbers to make themselves look better and Verizon look worse? My daughters both had the 5 Mbps service with Comcast and we could never get a clean video chat because of their poor service.

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Most cable companies use a technology known as "PowerBoost" which gives you what is essentially the performance of an uncapped modem for a few seconds or a certain amount of data. It depends on how the provider has configured it, but yes, PowerBoost messes up speed tests not designed to catch it. To kill PowerBoost, you need a test that works the line for 10-20 seconds and then begins measuring.

I believe Comcast stated they are doing away with PowerBoost, although I don't know if they've started doing that. We have Time Warner in this area, and they use PowerBoost, which barely works in many parts of this area due to congestion.