Comcast Internet access.....

[hcvone]

Does anyone have the Internet Pro, it's suppose to be much faster than their standard service, is it? Thanks

[YO-EL]

??????????

Never heard of it? Is it their DSL?

I have their cable TV, cable modem & now HD box & digital package.

No mention of that service was ever made.

What is it?

[C5pilot]

Here is a link to the info...

Keep in mind it's $95/month and speed is not guaranteed. Might be nice for a small office but not neccesary for home use at that price.

Comcast Internet Pro (http://www.comcastonline.com/pro.htm)

[mikeg826]

I've used it in one or 2 sites - you will notice a little higher speed than the normal. the speed will always be dependent on Comcast' Node in your street.

Comcast just got done upgrading the speeds in this area. the true difference will be in your IP address - your lease will be a longer lease period. and you will legally be allowed to VPN to a corporate network using Pro. Right now the TOS is still not clear on VPN with regular Comcast.
You also will be given 5 IP address, thus allowing you to connect 5 machines to the internet, right now you are restricted to one "PC"
If you are a Heavy, heavy user it might be benefical, but if not - it's a waste.


>mike

[hcvone]

Thanks for the responses, we are online 8-12 hours a day this time of the year, and DSL is just not getting the job done anymore, I am thinking about adding a third person to help with the increased business so the Pro might be better, I was just wondering about the speed because they just put a 2" main feed to the house to correct the HDTV problems. :)

[C5pilot]

Originally posted by mikeg826
You also will be given 5 IP address, thus allowing you to connect 5 machines to the internet, right now you are restricted to one "PC"

This is not entirely true. With a cable/DSL router you can add an unlimited number of PC's to one internet connection. Comcast allows it but does not (always) offer support for them (some techs may help if they aren't busy). I have 3 wireless PC's hooked up to my service now but only pay for one. When Wheelz stops by with his laptop, he's instantly connected to my service. Granted, all the PC's share the bandwidth but I'm only working on 1-2 at a time anyway. But in actuality, all PC's on your street are sharing the available bandwidth whether they have separate IP's or not! I can add up to 255 PC's to this router and Comcast still only sees one IP address. For home use, 5 IP addresses is useless because a router splits the bandwidth automatically giving each PC it's own IP. An added bonus is a hardware firewall built-in.

[mikeg826]

Originally posted by C5pilot


This is not entirely true. With a cable/DSL router you can add an unlimited number of PC's to one internet connection. Comcast allows it but does not (always) offer support for them (some techs may help if they aren't busy). I have 3 wireless PC's hooked up to my service now but only pay for one. When Wheelz stops by with his laptop, he's instantly connected to my service. Granted, all the PC's share the bandwidth but I'm only working on 1-2 at a time anyway. But in actuality, all PC's on your street are sharing the available bandwidth whether they have separate IP's or not! I can add up to 255 PC's to this router and Comcast still only sees one IP address. For home use, 5 IP addresses is useless because a router splits the bandwidth automatically giving each PC it's own IP. An added bonus is a hardware firewall built-in.

true... that is why i placed PC in quotes - it is still up in the air about how many devices can be connected to your comcast modem according to what tech support person you talk there, but according to their Term of service you're only allowed one.- your modem is only configured to hand out one - which is gives to your router, then the router handles all the others. Like you said they will all share that one pipe to the net. With comcast Pro -the modem is actually configured to hand out 5 IP address.

I'm in the same boat as you at home - 2 PCs, and 2 wireless laptops, and one phone sharing my regular comcast connection.

[Stephen DeFazio]

I have 4 PC on comcast cable. One modem with one IP address come in to the house to the cable modem then to a switch witch gives it 4 different IP address and then to a hub then to each PC. I hope I explained it correctly and all the PC's are fast never have a problem. kids download music IM on it for work all day.

[JT-C6]

The advantage of 5 IP addresses is not for outbound service. As some of you have stated, you can have thousands of machines going outbound sharing 1 IP address using something called Network Address Translation (NAT).

Inbound however, is where the multiple IP addresses are more handy. If you wanted to run a website, or have a device accessible from the internet, this is not as easily accomplished with the current router or personal firewalls you guys seem to have for PC internet connection sharing. Those devices are running NAT. However, here's the dilemma:

You set up a webcam on 3 PC's, each running a web server. From the internet, those 3 PC's aren't visible. Only the IP address of your router is. You can't connect to those PC's easily. The personal firewall can be configured which is more difficult than its out of box configuration to map things according to inbound ports. But this also makes things more complicated for the user at the other end too. Instead of being able to go webcam.something.com, they have to use webcam.something.com:8085. That suffix number of 8085 is fine, but most average people wouldn't know what the hell to do with that and wouldn't want to type it.

The bottom line is that if you need more IP addresses, its because you have inbound needs. The Pro version will likely give you less bandwidth restrictions though, inbound and outbound. The cable modems can be throttled down to a certain bandwidth limit. Some people have found little hack ways to undo this, and Motorola and others have made countermeasures to address this as well.

If you are paying for more, it gives you more of a right to complain when its slow.

[C5pilot]

Originally posted by JT-C5
The cable modems can be throttled down to a certain bandwidth limit. Some people have found little hack ways to undo this, and Motorola and others have made countermeasures to address this as well.

Are you saying there might be a way to tweak a Motorola SB4200, or that they made it nearly impossible? ;it

[JT-C6]

There are hacker ways to undo the limits or quotas put on the cable modem according to the local cable company's individual policy. Some have found ways to undo these things and make their bandwidth much greater.

The problem ultimately lies in the pipe at the cable company. Let's assume they have a DS3 to the internet, which is an expensive big pipe. They have to carve that up and make it fair for potentially thousands of users to use simultaneously. One way is to set a policy or limit on the cable modem itself to keep the load off the network at the edges rather than in the middle of the cable company's network.

If you have thousands people, all of which hoping to get 1 meg speeds, the math doesn't add up. Theoretically, in simple terms, only 45 people at most could be getting 1 meg speeds at any given time. 1 meg speeds are unbelievably fast. The average person would be pretty damn happy with getting 100K.

They set limits on the cable modems so that the routers don't have to get too busy at the cable company dropping packets that they can't forward.

Theoretically, if they designed their network properly, if someone were to circumvent their quota, there should be enough bandwidth to abuse the system, which is what some people do to get more speed.

[C5pilot]

JT, where are the limits set, in the modem itself or at the cable company via the MAC address? Since I've gotten the Motorola I've had MUCH faster and more reliable connections. They used to keep bringing me RCA's which never worked properly.

I checked my speed this morning to a server in CA and got 1.4mb downstream and 248k upstream. There were 2 other tests from my zip code on Comcast in the past week and mine was the highest. Geez, I recall the days with my one-way adelphia service where 40k was acceptable for them and I was lucky to hit 250-300k when everything was working properly.

[JT-C6]

The policies are set on a server which pushes the policy out to the modem itself. This is why some people had been able to hack the modem itself and change the limits. The high numbers you speak of are really good. Chances are, your cable system hasn't implemented any limitations as of yet, and if they have, they are set very high. Enjoy it while it lasts. As more and more people become subscribers, they will need to clamp down eventually.

[IceDigger]

Hi guys, been a while.

I have the comcast pro service for home/business and it's great. The download speeds are 3.5mb/s and the upload speeds are 384kb/s. I do alot of web administration and I need the fast upload speeds. For me it's great as it is alot cheaper then a T1 line.

If you have any tech questions don't hesitate to ask. I am a computer handyman by trade and do everything but programing.