A resident is wondering if anyone in the building has Gigabit service with Xfinity. They’re wondering how fast a web connection our infrastructure will support.
My son did a bit of digging around online and found that the standards for high speed wiring go back further than one might expect but I don’t know when this building was wired for internet. I assume Cathy knows, but perhaps there’s someone else out there who remembers off the top of their head?
I’m on Xfinity’s Extreme Pro+, and my wired downloads are close to 700Mbps, with uploads just under 18Mbps. (Using their WiFi equipment I’m getting just under 500Mbps downloads on my iPhone). I’d be interested to learn if Gigabit speeds are possible as well.
We’re grandfathered into a “BLAST” internet plan, contracted to get 300mbps down, and reliably get it, wired and wireless. Wireless in this building is a crosstalk and interference nightmare so I wire where I can – the only devices on wifi are phones/tablets and a laptop I do non-work stuff on. But I do IT from home, so my concern is more about reliability than speed.
NOTE that Comcast is instituting bandwidth caps in January in Massachusetts – unless you pay for an unlimited or business plan you will be charged per 100gb for going over 1.2tb. The faster your connection, the more the potential to go over that cap. It’s extortionate when so many people on zoom for work and school, but there’s nothing you can really do about it other than making sure you’re internet speed is right-sized. Downloading a large file on a slower or faster connection won’t increase your usage, but streaming video at higher resolution etc. will. Unless you actually NEED gig ethernet or are fine paying for that much bandwidth as well as a fee (or included line item) to lift the cap, I would consider not.
To answer the actual question: our infrastructure can support gig-e.
Is there any reliable internet service available here beyond XFinity?