“Comcast@Home” internet speeds 1998 or so?
Hey folks, I’m trying to remember what download speeds Comcast@Home offered circa 1998 (when I first had cable modem). I remember the upload speeds initially being 256-384 kbps but then Comcast cut the upload to 128 kbps. This was terrible not just because it was slow but it was barely enough bandwidth to even request data fast enough to saturate the download speed. I think the initial download speeds were 3 or 4 mbps with cable modems in 1998 (south jersey area - former Storer Cable area), but I have a couple of friends who think it was more like 768kbps - 1 mbps. Any one have memories of this time? P.S. My google-fu sees a lot of ~ 2.8 mbps down on Cox@Home and some other @Home providers around 2000-2003 but I’m having trouble finding earlier than that period online. Thanks! John
The propitiatory cable before modems were all over the board, speed wise, however the first generation cable modems (Docsis 1.0) were 40 Mbit/s down, 10 to 30 Mbit/s up On 2/1/2022 8:40 PM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hey folks,
I’m trying to remember what download speeds Comcast@Home offered circa 1998 (when I first had cable modem). I remember the upload speeds initially being 256-384 kbps but then Comcast cut the upload to 128 kbps. This was terrible not just because it was slow but it was barely enough bandwidth to even request data fast enough to saturate the download speed.
I think the initial download speeds were 3 or 4 mbps with cable modems in 1998 (south jersey area - former Storer Cable area), but I have a couple of friends who think it was more like 768kbps - 1 mbps.
Any one have memories of this time?
P.S. My google-fu sees a lot of ~ 2.8 mbps down on Cox@Home and some other @Home providers around 2000-2003 but I’m having trouble finding earlier than that period online.
Thanks! John
On 2/1/22 20:40, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hey folks,
I’m trying to remember what download speeds Comcast@Home offered circa 1998 (when I first had cable modem). I remember the upload speeds initially being 256-384 kbps but then Comcast cut the upload to 128 kbps. This was terrible not just because it was slow but it was barely enough bandwidth to even request data fast enough to saturate the download speed.
I think the initial download speeds were 3 or 4 mbps with cable modems in 1998 (south jersey area - former Storer Cable area), but I have a couple of friends who think it was more like 768kbps - 1 mbps.
Any one have memories of this time?
P.S. My google-fu sees a lot of ~ 2.8 mbps down on Cox@Home and some other @Home providers around 2000-2003 but I’m having trouble finding earlier than that period online.
2.8 seems like a really odd number. Initial I think they only got up to 2/512 as the proformance package (not sure they called it that then). I don't recall all the packages. And problem is I recall from various times as I started, as a customer, early on with some of the first installs of the @Home service. I recall 2/256 (Up/Down Mbps/kbps) and 1/128 be available. I was one of the first to get @Home service. I now have 1250/200 (Mbps) with Comcast. My 1.25/2.5 Gbps Ethernet card arrives tonight. I think the lowest was 128/64 (kbps/kbps). Usually the upload to download was 4:1 or 5:1 although early on the had weird ratios. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
I can’t help but think about the current prices of Internet service by these providers Comcast, optimum, Xfinity. If someone has a gigabit or better download and upload speeds they must be paying quite a bit of money for that service. All I can say is that “optimum “ doesn’t give you a lot of choices about upload speeds at all and I had it out on the phone with them recently after needing to change my services. Neil I am curious, what you’re paying for Internet? Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. On Feb 2, 2022, at 7:50 AM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: On 2/1/22 20:40, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hey folks, I’m trying to remember what download speeds Comcast@Home offered circa 1998 (when I first had cable modem). I remember the upload speeds initially being 256-384 kbps but then Comcast cut the upload to 128 kbps. This was terrible not just because it was slow but it was barely enough bandwidth to even request data fast enough to saturate the download speed. I think the initial download speeds were 3 or 4 mbps with cable modems in 1998 (south jersey area - former Storer Cable area), but I have a couple of friends who think it was more like 768kbps - 1 mbps. Any one have memories of this time? P.S. My google-fu sees a lot of ~ 2.8 mbps down on Cox@Home and some other @Home providers around 2000-2003 but I’m having trouble finding earlier than that period online.
2.8 seems like a really odd number. Initial I think they only got up to 2/512 as the proformance package (not sure they called it that then). I don't recall all the packages. And problem is I recall from various times as I started, as a customer, early on with some of the first installs of the @Home service. I recall 2/256 (Up/Down Mbps/kbps) and 1/128 be available. I was one of the first to get @Home service. I now have 1250/200 (Mbps) with Comcast. My 1.25/2.5 Gbps Ethernet card arrives tonight. I think the lowest was 128/64 (kbps/kbps). Usually the upload to download was 4:1 or 5:1 although early on the had weird ratios. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
On 2/2/22 08:23, Sentrytv wrote: Need to be careful here as we're way off topic.
Neil I am curious, what you’re paying for Internet?
I have a bundle, TV, Internet and Phone which ended up saving me about $100/mon over what we had. My wife had to have the full TV package so I'm stuck with this for a year (I'll figure it out then what to drop). Total contracted package is: $256. And, no I don't need 1.25G but it does work well for my WFH stuff. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
Northern VA, $45-$50 a month for 200 megabit symmetrical. Could go Gigabit for $80/mo. FiOS. There is competition in my market between Cox and Verizon FiOS. We've come a long way. Not sure there is a use case for the crazy high bandwidths at home but let them innovate. I remember paying $345/mo for 384k symmetrical sDSL with /26 (VaBeach) I remember paying $750/mo for a full T1 with /25 (VaBeach)
I’m in western Maryland, and paying $110/mo for Comcast Gigabit (1.25gbps down, 35mbps down). There is no competition, even from DSL, where I live. - Alex On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 10:17 AM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Northern VA, $45-$50 a month for 200 megabit symmetrical. Could go Gigabit for $80/mo. FiOS. There is competition in my market between Cox and Verizon FiOS.
We've come a long way. Not sure there is a use case for the crazy high bandwidths at home but let them innovate.
I remember paying $345/mo for 384k symmetrical sDSL with /26 (VaBeach)
I remember paying $750/mo for a full T1 with /25 (VaBeach)
The biggest issue where I live is Optimum has a monopoly. Paying $100 for a 1Gb download and 35Mb upload is reasonable. However the upload, here, is the issue. They don’t even offer a 30 MB upload except on over a gb download and you have to pay more than 100 bucks. Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. On Feb 2, 2022, at 2:21 PM, Alexander Jacocks via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: I’m in western Maryland, and paying $110/mo for Comcast Gigabit (1.25gbps down, 35mbps down). There is no competition, even from DSL, where I live. - Alex On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 10:17 AM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Northern VA, $45-$50 a month for 200 megabit symmetrical. Could go Gigabit for $80/mo. FiOS. There is competition in my market between Cox and Verizon FiOS.
We've come a long way. Not sure there is a use case for the crazy high bandwidths at home but let them innovate.
I remember paying $345/mo for 384k symmetrical sDSL with /26 (VaBeach)
I remember paying $750/mo for a full T1 with /25 (VaBeach)
Definitely an odd number - I'm assuming 2.8 some kind of KB/sec --> mbps conversion issue so it's really 3 mbps down.. Interesting - ok - so maybe the initial offering was 1 mbps before they went to 3 mbps. I started myself sometime in mid-1998 with Comcast@Home, though when I left my parents house in ~early 2002 I remember it was already 3-4 mbps by then. I wasn't sure if that 3 mbps was the starter speed in 1998 or not. On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 7:50 AM Neil Cherry <ncherry@linuxha.com> wrote:
On 2/1/22 20:40, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hey folks,
I’m trying to remember what download speeds Comcast@Home offered circa 1998 (when I first had cable modem). I remember the upload speeds initially being 256-384 kbps but then Comcast cut the upload to 128 kbps. This was terrible not just because it was slow but it was barely enough bandwidth to even request data fast enough to saturate the download speed.
I think the initial download speeds were 3 or 4 mbps with cable modems in 1998 (south jersey area - former Storer Cable area), but I have a couple of friends who think it was more like 768kbps - 1 mbps.
Any one have memories of this time?
P.S. My google-fu sees a lot of ~ 2.8 mbps down on Cox@Home and some other @Home providers around 2000-2003 but I’m having trouble finding earlier than that period online.
2.8 seems like a really odd number. Initial I think they only got up to 2/512 as the proformance package (not sure they called it that then).
I don't recall all the packages. And problem is I recall from various times as I started, as a customer, early on with some of the first installs of the @Home service.
I recall 2/256 (Up/Down Mbps/kbps) and 1/128 be available. I was one of the first to get @Home service. I now have 1250/200 (Mbps) with Comcast. My 1.25/2.5 Gbps Ethernet card arrives tonight.
I think the lowest was 128/64 (kbps/kbps). Usually the upload to download was 4:1 or 5:1 although early on the had weird ratios.
-- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
participants (6)
-
Alexander Jacocks -
Ethan O'Toole -
John Heritage -
Martin Flynn -
Neil Cherry -
Sentrytv