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by mwsherman 4099 days ago
I don't see any benchmarks, did I miss them? I suspect this doesn't double bandwidth, the packets all end up over the same neighborhood network.

The only way it would increase bandwidth is if it evades artificial throttles. Having two connections to the same (neighborhood) pipe seems useless.
5 comments
Dylan16807 4099 days ago
There are ISPs that don't throttle your access to the neighborhood pipe? It doesn't have to be artificial, either. Just using better tech for the pipe that has to carry multiple users.
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ars 4098 days ago
> The only way it would increase bandwidth is if it evades artificial throttles.

Well obviously. They give you a specific bandwidth for your house, you can buy more or less bandwidth if you want.

> Having two connections to the same (neighborhood) pipe seems useless.

The neighborhood pipe can probably do 100 to 1000 times the bandwidth to each individual house. So how is that useless?

Plus with xfinitywifi they allocate double bandwidth to the house, so the wifi bandwidth doesn't slow down the purchased bandwidth. (The cable modem can easily handle 10 times the bandwidth typically allocated to it.)

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ricardobeat 4099 days ago
UPC has a similar system, where the guest network has extra bandwidth, on top of your own subscription. Even if Comcast doesn't do this, he is leeching off his neighbour's connection and not his own.
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davej 4098 days ago
Was interested in this so I did a bit of investigation into whether it makes sense with UPC.

UPC only makes a small amount of bandwidth available on the 'Wi Free' (UPC's version of Xfinity) network, seems to be about 2.5mbps down and 0.5mbps up. In my country (Ireland), the minimum package you need to get 'Wi-Free' is 120mbps down, so It's not really worth the effort for an extra 1% bandwidth.

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mst 4099 days ago
Possibility one: you end up with two "shares" of that pipe, FSVO "share", which may help depending on how contended it is.

Possibility two: placebo effect.

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mentat 4098 days ago
Neighborhood network is usually multimode fiber on the headend providing many times the per modem bandwidth, especially if they're expecting competition any time soon.
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