What's your Internet Speed?

debodun said:

My ISP is Spectrum. My modem is a Motorola SB5101. My cable bill is "bundled" which includes phone and TV and the bottom line per month is $213.29. The itemized invoice shows I am paying $59.99 for Internet connection plus a $10 modem lease fee.

I pay $49.99 with internet only at Spectrum. I bought my own modem.
Oh and my d/l speed is 20 Mbps...Thats why I'm here.

Seriously, I'm allotted 300 Mbps, but can only use 100 Mbps because I only wired up the house with two pairs of wires in the Ethernet cabling (there are 4 pairs in Ethernet cable). So if I used all eight wires (four pairs) I'd have 1 Gbps so I could pull the 300 Mbps instead of the 100 Mbps max with two pairs of wires. At the time I didn't think I'd go past that. So just a few days ago I bought pre-made patch Ethernet cable so I can saturate the modem with my allotted bandwidth. I didn't want to mess with keystone connectors and trying to crimp the connectors and all that all over again.

Upgraded my Ethernet cable. Wooot!

OCIR's image is probably from work or at home using fiber.

Mine is just an edited image. LOL My real speed should be 300 Mbps. Instead it says 285 Mbps. So I'm being ripped off 1.8 MBps. I doubt it's the router. I can rule it out by plugging directly into the modem, but don't feel like messing with it.

F22 Simpilot said:

OCIR's image is probably from work or at home using fiber.

Mine is just an edited image. LOL My real speed should be 300 Mbps. Instead it says 285 Mbps. So I'm being ripped off 1.8 MBps. I doubt it's the router. I can rule it out by plugging directly into the modem, but don't feel like messing with it.

You need to read your ISP agreement. ISPs only say up to a specific speed not guarantee it. However, if you were only getting 20 Mbps then you might have a case.

Spectrum: Up to 200, 400, 1000 Mbps (wireless speeds may vary)
Xfinty: 50 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 300 Mbps, 600 Mbps, 900 Mbps, 1200 Mbps, 3000 Mbps (Actual speeds vary and are not guaranteed)

The "not guaranteed" part is just a legal buffering maneuver to mitigate litigation due to how consumer electronics are and the medium by which the data is sent. My cable modem could probably do 1 Gbps easily if the modem's profile allowed it. Not only that, but I purposely set the modem on my work bench next to the wall where just behind the wall to the outside is the network interface service entrance. That will insure the modem is as close to the service entrance as possible to minimize any data decay through impedance on the coaxial line.

The missing 1.8 MBps could be due to some unknown overhead in my router or computer. I could rule it out by plugging directly into the modem and see what happens. But because Comcast has so-called "sticky" IP address assignments, if I plug directly into the modem with my computer for testing, the MAC address will change and thus I'll get a new external WAN IP address. Then when I plug back into the router I doubt I'll have the same external WAN IP address I had before. This can be a real pain when your IP address is tied to a firewall and lots of other things for access control that can't (at this time) take advantage of a DDNS issued name.


Next thing you know pharmaceuticals will use litigation mitigation by stating a whole class of "possible" side effects. Sure, I always wanted to take Lithotripsy and have the overwhelming desire to sniff my carpet and oink like a pig... Oh wait.

F22 Simpilot said:

The "not guaranteed" part is just a legal buffering maneuver to mitigate litigation due to how consumer electronics are and the medium by which the data is sent. My cable modem could probably do 1 Gbps easily if the modem's profile allowed it. Not only that, but I purposely set the modem on my work bench next to the wall where just behind the wall to the outside is the network interface service entrance. That will insure the modem is as close to the service entrance as possible to minimize any data decay through impedance on the coaxial line.

The missing 1.8 MBps could be due to some unknown overhead in my router or computer. I could rule it out by plugging directly into the modem and see what happens. But because Comcast has so-called "sticky" IP address assignments, if I plug directly into the modem with my computer for testing, the MAC address will change and thus I'll get a new external WAN IP address. Then when I plug back into the router I doubt I'll have the same external WAN IP address I had before. This can be a real pain when your IP address is tied to a firewall and lots of other things for access control that can't (at this time) take advantage of a DDNS issued name.


Next thing you know pharmaceuticals will use litigation mitigation by stating a whole class of "possible" side effects. Sure, I always wanted to take Lithotripsy and have the overwhelming desire to sniff my carpet and oink like a pig... Oh wait.

I think you are fretting about absolutely nothing. You will never get an exact Internet speed no matter how hard you try.
The result that the speed test gives you depends upon many things including:

• What program you are using to perform the test
• What server you are connecting for the test
• The network traffic between you and the test server
• The time of day

BTW, you might want to find somebody located nearby with the same plan as you. You can then have them run the same speed test as you are using.