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Posted By: Pendragon Upgrading Cable/Broadband Service? - 06/19/12 10:47 PM
My present broadband service is 10 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up. This service, by SuddenLink, is rock solid with no packet loss and essentially no down time.

SuddenLink has offered to upgrade my service to 20 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up for an additional $14.00 per month.

The present cable modem, owned by SuddenLink, is for both my broadband and telephone (one unit). Should I accept the upgrade, SuddenLink will provide a DOCIS modem for broadband and a separate telephone modem (Apparently, one must have two modems in cases such as this.)

But to my questions:
1. Should I accept the upgrade offer, am I likely to see any real life improvements in daily surfing, pages load faster, etc? (I rarely upload large files so the upload speed is not too important).
2. Will video chatting be improved?
3. Are DOCIS modems troublesome, drop packets, noisy, etc?
4. Do DOCIS modems play nice with Airport base stations?

Your thoughts, opinions, and musings are always appreciated.
Posted By: alternaut Re: Upgrading Cable/Broadband Service? - 06/20/12 02:49 AM
You're probably talking about a DOCSIS modem, and apparently the one provided by Suddenlink* is not VOIP capable, hence the requirement of a separate phone (VOIP) modem. The lack of a single cable/VOIP modem to handle twice your current speed is somewhat strange, but that may simply be a cost/availability issue, particularly if you get the modems for 'free'. This is something to ask them about (but see below).

That said, a 10Mbps hookup is plenty fast for the needs you describe, assuming that's what you actually get. You could test that with web sites like this one. So,

1. the 10>20Mbps upgrade may not be all that earth shattering, but should be noticeable with bandwidth-critical data like (Hi-res) streaming video, and generally with all data served by sufficiently fast servers.
2. Video chat, like every conversation, is a two (or more)-way street. It sounds that you're experiencing less than optimal performance here. Note that the speed on your side won't affect the speed on your conversation partner's end, which may in fact be the limiting factor. And let's not forget that the (speed of the) computers involved plays a role too.
3. DOCSIS modems may suffer from the same issues as any other modem, but there is a range of quality in the available devices (see below). Without specifics it's hard to say where your ISP's equipment falls on this scale. It's likely adequate, but perhaps not great.
4. A DOCSIS modem should be compatible with most routers like Airport. You'd simply connect the two with an ethernet patch cable like you likely do right now.


*) In cases like yours it may be cheaper in the medium to long term to own your own modem, especially if your ISP charges a monthly equipment fee for theirs, or requires a minimum subscription duration (1-2 years) to offset its cost. If this applies to you I can recommend a Motorola DOCSIS 3 SURFboard digital voice modem like the SB6120 or SB6121 (up to 100Mbps, available for around $85). If Suddenlink allows you to use your own equipment and waives their fee, you could earn it back pretty quickly.
Posted By: Pendragon Re: Upgrading Cable/Broadband Service? - 06/20/12 08:48 PM
Many thanks, alternate. Your comments are greatly appreciated!

Indeed I now have much to ponder.

When I get a chance, I hope to ask for a 30 day trial period. I haven't a clue if SuddenLink will agree, but perhaps if I smile... grin

Posted By: tacit Re: Upgrading Cable/Broadband Service? - 06/21/12 12:49 AM
I have the fastest broadband service that's available in my area, but my needs include a great deal of uploading and downloading of large files, since I do Web development for a living.

For things like email and Web surfing, the difference is likely to be unnoticeable. Latency on the part of a Web server is far more significant to browsing speed than the difference between 10 Mbps and 20 Mbps, unless you're transferring large files.
Posted By: Pendragon Re: Upgrading Cable/Broadband Service? - 06/21/12 01:01 PM
I'm sure glad you mentioned latency, Tacit, as I failed to consider that aspect.

All things considered, it now seems that for the time being, 'tis best to leave things as they are.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Upgrading Cable/Broadband Service? - 06/21/12 08:05 PM
> Many thanks, alternate. Your comments are greatly appreciated!

With whom is alternaut alternating? grin
Posted By: Pendragon Re: Upgrading Cable/Broadband Service? - 07/11/12 11:01 AM
A bit of a postscript-

Yesterday, I received a robo call from Suddenlink advising that "enhancements" would be made last evening and provided modem reset instructions (should that be necessary).

Well, this morning I awoke to what I think is indeed an enhancement. My DL speed has nearly doubled (at no cost), though my UL speed remains unchanged.

So again, my thanks to you all.
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