Uverse vs Xfinity on upload? 4x4 vs 24x8 cable modem on upload?

PandaBear

PandaBear

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Currently on Xfinity 75mbps plan and using an old Motorola / Arris 6121 modem (4x4 DOCSIS 3.0). I am getting about 50-62mbps download and 6-7mbps on upload. This is high enough speed that I don't care until recently when work from home started, with me and my wife on webex and kids on zoom, things are not always perfect and I'm wondering if it is my upload limit sometimes. DDWRT router (WRT160N) bandwidth monitor suggests that once in a while we have upload burst of 6mbps from my wife's laptop (company syncing documents), and I'm dropping webex audio from my microphone.

I know Comcast already "discontinued" my modem and when I signed up it was on the grandfather list. I am not planning to upgrade my plan as download is sufficient, but if I upgrade just the modem to 24x8 DOCSIS 3.0, will this help my upload or will this not really do much? Any experience here on the 75mbps plan using 24x8 modem?

Will going to ATT avoid bursty upload and cap everyone to a reasonable speed? I won't go fiber in my area if I go ATT, it would be the 24mpbs plan for $50 a month, about the same I am paying comcast right now.
 
Your problem is that you are over saturating your upload capacity.

Modem MAY help but would look at the SQM/QOS settings on DDWRT. This is what will meter out your bandwidth more equitiably and not let 1 device use up all your upload when others need it, like your wife uploading files.

Also seems like you aren't getting your subscribed capacity of 75mb. Has Comcast run any tests on your line?

PS - I have 6183 which a 16x4 modem and getting 360 down / 12 up.
 
More channels unlikely to help. They may not even have you provisioned for 4 channels now.

Definitely what NYSteve said, SQM. Very important on DSL as well.
 
More than likely having a modem that can bond more upstream channels won't help in most Comcast markets they only have 3 or 4 upstream channels.
 
Xfinity even with my 200Mbps plan also has a similar 5Mbps upload with burst to 6-7Mbps. The upload has never changed since I have started using them in 2001. Just the download speed. Even with Gigabit internet Xfinity upload is a meager 35Mbps.

The funny part I have never really paid to upgrade Xfinity speed, upload load constant however the download was 2001(5Mbps)->10Mbps->25Mbps->50Mbps->75Mbps->100Mbps->200Mbps.

Don't bother changing equipment on Xfinity unless you do something with your plan that requires it.
 
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Xfinity has a gigabit plan that costs less than the slower plans. I pay $80/mo for gigabit. It's about 50 up and 900 down. Made an amazing difference while streaming shows.
 
Thanks guys. This is the info I was looking for, the constant and burst upload speed and channel.

I started last last year Oct at $30 for 50mbps, last year I forgot to "switch account" and now I have another year of contract till this Oct, $45 for 75mbps. I was feeling bad for it for a while till the work from home started, now I am ok with it because I do need that much bandwidth for remote desktop / video conf and the company is paying for it for 3 months.

I found a way to throttle OneDrive Sync, that seems to solve my problem. Will definitely not upgrade the modem until I'm switching account after the contract expire. I'm sure by then they'll not register my 4x4 SB6121 anymore.
 
There is also a possibility that the older modem start to degrade in performance due to heat.
So, while the speed stay the same but speed stability goes down or more speed fluctuation.

I usually, update my modem every 5 years or so.
 
From what I can see the phone companies give you fiber and the same upload and down speed. When the cable companies provide high speed via coax it a high download and low upload. That is what I have seen.

The old model was high download and low upload was fine for web surfing and Netflix but not so much good for working from home. Working from home for me involves Skype, documenta sharing, email via cloud, 3270 emulator. So an equal down and up speed would be advantageous.

I agree to upgrade an aging modem as its likely degrading and getting near end of life.
 
Another suspect: my old router.

I am running a WRT160N ver 1 (Broadcom 4704 chipset) with DDWRT. When I enable QoS even on just one MAC set to bulk traffic it slows down everything noticeably. Most of my heavy bandwidth hitters are wired out to either powerline ethernet, or wired to another 2 AC750 access points away from the main router. The only wireless connection to this router is an ipad for kids watching PBS kids or school youtube stuff.

The spec I see on this router that I used since 2011, seems to be 16MB of RAM and early generation N wifi. I used to have 3 of these routers across the house, 1 of them died of old age (reboot every 2 hours), 1 is moved to replace my inlaw's old router, and the remaining one my current main router before the modem.

Anyone experience issue with old router bottleneck? When do they usually kick in?
 
That's insane you are running that old of a wifi router and most likely the source of your issues.

Best bet is to rent and XB6 or XB7 gateway from Comcast for a month. It's roughly $13 per month but will let you identify your issues:
- why are you not getting line speed that you are paying for? If you don't get your 75 down with Comcast equipment, they should fix your line issue.
- does your buffering/dropped connections go away?
- Eliminates your ANCIENT wifi router
- Happy wife/happy life!

Best plug and play consumer wifi gear with QoS is Eero. You would be able to use it with either Comcast or AT&T.

PM me if you need to.
 
Mystery resolved: seems to be my router.

Skipping my router for a speed test with just the modem, the speed test result is 90mbps. Doing speed test with my router in between and it drop down to 45-62mbps, that's not the worst part. If I have the bandwidth monitor on a browser tab that I'm looking at during the speed test the speed test will error out, without looking at the tab it will run fine but at the 45-62mbps speed. Upload speed test and ping time are about the same with or without router.

When downloading files from work the bandwidth monitor look like a saw tooth, peaking at around 75mbps and averaging about 45mbps. It seems like even if this is not the reason my webex at work is having problem, it is time to upgrade. My IT at work flat out saying that I need to upgrade the router (even buying and then returning) before he can help me.

Will be getting a TP Link Archer A7. It seems to be good enough with a good price, plus a 2 year warranty.
 
Originally Posted by alarmguy
TPLINK routers are the best value and performance on the market, good choice, rock solid, will last forever (in electronics years)


Two failures of AC1750(company warrantied) and then finally I just gave up on TP-Link as it started to lock up. Good value/performance when they work but last forever not here.
 
Originally Posted by madRiver
Originally Posted by alarmguy
TPLINK routers are the best value and performance on the market, good choice, rock solid, will last forever (in electronics years)


Two failures of AC1750(company warrantied) and then finally I just gave up on TP-Link as it started to lock up. Good value/performance when they work but last forever not here.


Netgear high end parts built internal rock solid made to last. Pay the extra no TP-Link for me.
 
Originally Posted by Mamala Bay
Netgear high end parts built internal rock solid made to last. Pay the extra no TP-Link for me.
Agree; I have a Netgear Nighthawk and a Motorola Arris modem that solved all of my issues with XFinity. Their gateway was terrible for speed.

Will be switching to AT&T fiber soon; less cost and better bandwidth.
 
Originally Posted by madRiver
Originally Posted by alarmguy
TPLINK routers are the best value and performance on the market, good choice, rock solid, will last forever (in electronics years)


Two failures of AC1750(company warrantied) and then finally I just gave up on TP-Link as it started to lock up. Good value/performance when they work but last forever not here.


Sounds like some kind of issue going on where you are, not faulting you though. Lets face it, multiple years of JD powers awards as well as 1000s of countless other positive reviews on amazon, regarding TPlink including my own, quite honestly I cant or wont be able to bring myself to buy any other brand but TPLink for this reason, its been outstanding reliable.
I cant blame you though for giving up.

Also would be a help what model you have. TPlink makes many AC 1750s such as the AC 1750 C7 v2 and goes on through crazy others such as the AC1750 A series or whatever. Without that info it impossible for others to know which model you had trouble with and this is TPlinks fault, their model line up is so freaking confusing.
 
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Theoretically, a 24x8 modem should give you double the upload throughput of your 4x4 modem IF your provider provisions 8 channels. You might also want to consider a DOCSIS 3.1 modem. It would be considerably faster because it uses 4096-QAM (1.89 Gbps per 192 MHz channel) IF your provider supports it, and it would be future-proof. Most providers are going to (or already have gone to) DOCSIS 3.1. IMO, you need to get some of these things clarified by your provider before you move forward with anything.
As far as routers are concerned, I am a BIG fan of ASUS routers, especially with Merlin Firmware. I also espouse using a separate modem and router.
 
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