# Charter Communications 100MB



## Munki (Aug 22, 2012)

Hi all,

I had a 100MB pipe installed to my apartment Monday morning. Ever since it's been installed my connection has been poor. By connection I mean downloads. From HTTP (port 80) it's tapping around 2.07MB/s and FTP to my server off shore in France that also has a 100MB connection the FTP traffic fluctuates between 188 and 256 kb/s. 

Does anyone else have Charter 100MB pipe installed? How are your speeds?

Honestly, as a Systems Administrator/Network Engineer I know how these things work. They give me the run around because their speedtest is correct. My point is realistically i'm not getting anywhere close to what I should be getting when I know the connection speed on both ends.

Thoughts?


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## brandonwh64 (Aug 22, 2012)

I have charter but not the 100MB yet. If its not what they advertise then I may hold off.


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## v12dock (Aug 22, 2012)

Have you tired downloading from a server that is located closer to you?


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## 3870x2 (Aug 22, 2012)

100MB is useless in a lot of ways for single connections.  As a fellow IT administrator you probably already know this.

It would be better if you had 5 downloads coming from different locations, in which case you would have much better download rates possibly totalling to your 80Mb/s download that you have (assuming 20 is for upload)

Connecting to a single source it seems that it would be hard to get anything, and to me 2.07 is actually pretty good.

I am not very knowledgable in WAN environments though.

Even if what I say is true, your speeds seem seriously bottlenecked.

I once had charter, and the connection was horrible on and off.  It turns out the hardware connecting the building was very bad, tore up, and had to be replaced.  They didnt do anything for a year despite many calls from me and others sharing the same infrastructure.

Either way, good luck!


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## mlee49 (Aug 22, 2012)

Thoughts?

Get a different ISP.
Hack their servers.
Download a car.


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## 3870x2 (Aug 22, 2012)

mlee49 said:


> Thoughts?
> 
> Get a different ISP.
> Hack their servers.
> Download a car.



You wouldn't DOWNLOAD a car, would you?¿


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## Munki (Aug 22, 2012)

v12dock said:


> Have you tired downloading from a server that is located closer to you?



Not yet, those speeds are slow enough for me to know it's not from degrading. I will try to find something closer to download from and post back.

@3870x2 - I will probably boot up my other server in the Netherlands (it has a gig pipe) and DL from both and see if they just split my connection or if it actually increases.

@mlee I've threatened to change ISPs. They didn't seem to give a rats ass. 

The technician just left my house according to my wife (I am at work) and he said that the modem and the signal were good. Yet when I asked them about throttling they said "ohhh no no we no throttle"


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## newtekie1 (Aug 22, 2012)

What is the upload speed rating for the FTP server you are downloading from though?  Just because it has a 100Mb/s connection doesn't mean it has a 100Mb/s upload speed.  At least here in the states, most of the 100Mb/s package have an upload in the 10Mb/s range, and those are "up to" speeds, so in the best case you would get about 1.25MB/s when downloading from them, but most of the time it is under 1MB/s.

As for the slow speeds when downloading from HTTP servers, again that speed is going to vary greatly based on what the connection to the server is capable of.  You aren't going to get anywhere near 100Mb/s from a single server.  In fact the only way you are really going to get close to maxing out a 100Mb/s connection would be to load up a health torrent with a lot of seeds(linux ISO's usually work nicely).


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## Munki (Aug 22, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> What is the upload speed rating for the FTP server you are downloading from though?  Just because it has a 100Mb/s connection doesn't mean it has a 100Mb/s upload speed.  At least here in the states, most of the 100Mb/s package have an upload in the 10Mb/s range, and those are "up to" speeds, so in the best case you would get about 1.25MB/s when downloading from them, but most of the time it is under 1MB/s.
> 
> As for the slow speeds when downloading from HTTP servers, again that speed is going to vary greatly based on what the connection to the server is capable of.  You aren't going to get anywhere near 100Mb/s from a single server.  In fact the only way you are really going to get close to maxing out a 100Mb/s connection would be to load up a health torrent with a lot of seeds(linux ISO's usually work nicely).



I'm not expecting 100MB/s. The server I FTP from does around 10MB/s up. That shouldn't degrade to 188kb/s - 256kb/s


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## lilhasselhoffer (Aug 22, 2012)

Munki said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I had a 100MB pipe installed to my apartment Monday morning. Ever since it's been installed my connection has been poor. By connection I mean downloads. From HTTP (port 80) it's tapping around 2.07MB/s and FTP to my server off shore in France that also has a 100MB connection the FTP traffic fluctuates between 188 and 256 kb/s.
> 
> ...



I've got the 100 Mbps connection at my home.  It's shoddy, at best.

The burst speed measures up to about 100 Mbps, but the sustained speed is significantly less than that.  My home router is capable of significantly more speed, but Charter claims the burst speed matches their advertisements.

At work, their modem sucks hard.  Same service, but the length of time between burst speeds and sustained is less than 1/4 the time.  Their hardware blows, their service techs have their hands tied, and they share the same billing practices (surprise bump in pricing!) as other crappier companies.

On a positive note, they are better than AT&T and Qwest.  



Make sure you've got your own hardware.
Make sure that you've got a minimum amount of splitters between the modem and the outside connection.

That's all the advice I can offer.


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## Munki (Aug 22, 2012)

lilhasselhoffer said:


> I've got the 100 Mbps connection at my home.  It's shoddy, at best.
> 
> The burst speed measures up to about 100 Mbps, but the sustained speed is significantly less than that.  My home router is capable of significantly more speed, but Charter claims the burst speed matches their advertisements.
> 
> ...



At this point I may as well drop the 100mb connection and go with 30MB/s since im getting less than that anyways. I went with Charter over Comcast and AT&T. I had good experience with Charter with Ultra 60 (Around 8mbs avg), but this just blows ass. I am going to get my own modem to try before I completely ditch them.


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## v12dock (Aug 22, 2012)

Try with a download accelerator


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## Munki (Aug 22, 2012)

v12dock said:


> Try with a download accelerator



I will look into it. 

Side note: I just thought about something that may or may not affect my speeds. I do not FTP via the standard port (21). It's like mid-high 1000's


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## erocker (Aug 22, 2012)

lilhasselhoffer said:


> but Charter claims the burst speed matches their advertisements.



What do they advertise exactly? If you get a 100Mbps "burst speed" what is the "non-burst speed?"


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## Munki (Aug 22, 2012)

erocker said:


> What do they advertise exactly? If you get a 100Mbps "burst speed" what is the "non-burst speed?"



All I ever saw was 100/5. 

http://www.charter.com/speed

^ If that is advertisement they are full of shyt.


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## lilhasselhoffer (Aug 22, 2012)

erocker said:


> What do they advertise exactly? If you get a 100Mbps "burst speed" what is the "non-burst speed?"



I was told that their test registered the download speed.

I looked into it, and their test lasts as long as their burst speeds.

After speaking candidly with an installer (you'd be surprised what a cold can of Tea and a decent attitude can do), I discovered that Charter knows about the advertised speeds not matching up.  Their resolution is to bury the terms "maximum" and "non-peak speeds" in their terms so deeply it would take an army of lawyers weeks to unravel the BS.

It's standard telecom crap.  They give the maximum speeds achievable (on the moon, during the winter solstice, insert your joke here), but you see significantly less than that in practice.  Huge torrents often get around 80 Mbps, but I've never seen a point to point connection anywhere near that speed.


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## Munki (Aug 22, 2012)

lilhasselhoffer said:


> I was told that their test registered the download speed.
> 
> I looked into it, and their test lasts as long as their burst speeds.
> 
> ...




I'd stop being an asshole when they start giving me what I am paying for 

Maybe when I get the bill I should only pay ~30% of it. 

When I get home I am going to load the connection down and see what happens.


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## lilhasselhoffer (Aug 22, 2012)

Munki said:


> I'd stop being an asshole when they start giving me what I am paying for
> 
> Maybe when I get the bill I should only pay ~30% of it.
> 
> When I get home I am going to load the connection down and see what happens.



Please don't take my statement as assuming that you're being an ass.  I agree that you should get what you pay for.

What I was trying to say is that installers generally get a lot of anger, which they aren't responsible for.  Treating them well will often times get them to share otherwise unattainable information, and I was lucky enough to get the information about how the networks actually perform.


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## Munki (Aug 22, 2012)

lilhasselhoffer said:


> Please don't take my statement as assuming that you're being an ass.  I agree that you should get what you pay for.
> 
> What I was trying to say is that installers generally get a lot of anger, which they aren't responsible for.  Treating them well will often times get them to share otherwise unattainable information, and I was lucky enough to get the information about how the networks actually perform.



Oh I know I am being an ass. It stems from frustration of paying for something I am not getting. I think I will reinstate my newsgroup accounts and download 15 or 20 Linux ISOs and see how it holds up. If my speeds add up to somewhere close to what I am paying for I will admit I was wrong, if they don't my continuous bitching will continue. 

All in all i'm really just tired of dealing with it.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 22, 2012)

Munki said:


> I'm not expecting 100MB/s. The server I FTP from does around 10MB/s up. That shouldn't degrade to 188kb/s - 256kb/s





Munki said:


> All I ever saw was 100/5.
> 
> http://www.charter.com/speed
> 
> ^ If that is advertisement they are full of shyt.



Wait, I just realized you are in Georgia, yes I would fully expect an FTP connection regardless of the server's upload speed to degrade to below 256Kb/s when going trans-Atlantic.  The pipe going across the Atlantic is only so big, and it is almost constantly saturated, so you are lucky to get those speeds.

And yeah, Charter does use burst speeds.  When shopping for internet if you go to the features section it explains it:



> PowerBoost
> Allows Express, Plus, and Max customers to experience a temporary extra burst of speed during downloads when network capacity is available



That is why they advertise their speeds as "up to".  After about the first 10MB of a download the powerboost goes away and you speeds drop to about half.  That is a standard cable practice.

But even still, as we've said, a 100Mb/s connection is useless unless you plan to download from a lot of different sources at once. I have a hard time even maxing out my 50Mb/s connection unless I'm torrenting.


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## mlee49 (Aug 22, 2012)

Munki said:


> All I ever saw was 100/5.
> 
> http://www.charter.com/speed
> 
> ^ If that is advertisement they are full of shyt.



Sorry, but my games are well over 500MB. Last game I downloaded was 10GB! 

So, they do show constant download speeds and not bursts correct?


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## Munki (Aug 22, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> Wait, I just realized you are in Georgia, yes I would fully expect an FTP connection regardless of the server's upload speed to degrade to below 256Kb/s when going trans-Atlantic.  The pipe going across the Atlantic is only so big, and it is almost constantly saturated, so you are lucky to get those speeds.
> 
> And yeah, Charter does use burst speeds.  When shopping for internet if you go to the features section it explains it:
> 
> ...



I didn't think about that pipe over the Atlantic. Thank you for pointing that out. I may try ditching the seedboxes and going straight to the source to my PC and fire up some newsgroups as well. I'm carving up a list of things to try to clog up my line. Anything else you guys can think of let me know. 


@mlee I'm sure its "up-to" (with the 1 second boost). Yeah it's all a gimmick. :eyeroll:


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## Frick (Aug 22, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> Wait, I just realized you are in Georgia, yes I would fully expect an FTP connection regardless of the server's upload speed to degrade to below 256Kb/s when going trans-Atlantic.  The pipe going across the Atlantic is only so big, and it is almost constantly saturated, so you are lucky to get those speeds.



Huh, really? Why is that? It's not supposed to be slower than http right? I mean I can download stuff from the US and almost max out my 10Mbps-line.

Anyway, you want Linux distros to download there are quite a few here, one of the faster places in Sweden.


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## 3870x2 (Aug 22, 2012)

Frick said:


> Huh, really? Why is that? It's not supposed to be slower than http right? I mean I can download stuff from the US and almost max out my 10Mbps-line.
> 
> Anyway, you want Linux distros to download there are quite a few here, one of the faster places in Sweden.



Careful, if you take too many megabytes from the US, the FBI will come knocking at your door.


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