Comcast has just about finished rolling out speed increases to its broadband customers nationwide. Most Comcast connections in the Bay Area got the increase in the last couple of days – download speed in Sebastopol is now 4Mbps instead of 3Mbps. For an extra ten dollars per month, it’s supposed to be possible to obtain 6Mbps downloads, but the customer service reps are not always up to speed about that when you call. The forums on Broadband Reports are the best place to get information about the Comcast system.
If you’re a Comcast customer, it wouldn’t hurt to power cycle your cable modem – it shouldn’t be necessary but sometimes that helps the new speeds kick in. Then test your connection speed and see how you stand.
FOLLOWUP 03/26: Comcast customer service fumbled for a moment when I requested the upgrade to 6Mbps. The magic words are “gold tier” service.
The Motorola SB5100 cable modem (~$75) is the favorite over at Broadband Reports, and reportedly the model recommended by many Comcast technicians. After a fairly hellish hour to bring the new Motorola modem to life, I’m getting download speeds in excess of 6Mbps and uploads at 768kps. It’s a bit expensive but oh, my goodness, it’s satisfying.
