christopher94523

I am a veteran of wretched COVAD signal transfer-rate promises (Portland's 1.5Mbps was 275kbps and Pleasant Hill's 3Mbps gave me 350kbps). When I switched to Comcast I was elated. My iMac got 11Mbps and the etherneted PC/XP at 7.6 Mbps -- both via <freespeedtest.com>. As a developere from the era when there was internet but no web, application w/o multicasting and GUI through a career as SW QA Engineer at Intel, Tektronix, Mentor Graphics, etc. -- all quality of which was offshored or lowered in expectation -- I notice the "creeping lies" of "the delivered". I understand that "speed" measurements are based on the algorithms and "weight" for up-and-downloaded variable "plug-ins" by each "speed test site". I have constantly used "freespeedtest.com" just so I have a solid reference point. My Comcast speed has ranged from 212 kbps through 11 Mbps. The 9-11 Mbps speeds were contant for at least 12-16 months. Six weeks ago they suddenly dropped to a 23-29% performance rate. We lost cable tv stations (they "resolved" slowly, not t screens that say they'll be "available soon" but to blank screens) . We had phone calls drop mid-call (esp. to Comcast whilst reporting problems) that would not get a dial-tone back for 3-5 minutes. We had to drop off the router/switch and use but one computer at a time or we wouldn't "connect". We have registered (on average) from 2.1-3.5 Mbps for six weeks and 7 visits from Comcast employees and contractors. The latest finally eliminate 6 problems I had suggested. Nonetheless, no speed increase. Might they have "solved" the open and leaking splitters by "blocking" our line? The eMachines XP/PC, which "hangs" off the router via a 100' ethernet cable registers 4.6 and used to hit 7. My iMac (1 GHz speed and 1 GB RAM went from the 11 to 3.4 Mbps. I can eliminate the router (with switch nd modem inputs) and switch (with HP/Debian, eMachines/XP, PowerMac/MacOS9, iMac/macOSX10.4.10) and speeds suck. 3.2 is wretched! Ideas as to what has transpired or how to check the stats and/or possibility that a block has been added? best, chris