Time Warner Cable Launching Powerboost Today In NYC - Standard, Turbo and Extreme customers to see boost....
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Time Warner Cable Launching Powerboost Today In NYC
Standard, Turbo and Extreme customers to see boost....
12:39PM Friday Jun 27 2008 by Karl Bode
tags: exclusive · bandwidth · cable · networking · RoadRunner Cable
Representatives from Time Warner Cable have informed me that the cable company will be deploying Powerboost technology in their New York City market for Standard, Turbo and Extreme customers. Powerboost, first deployed by Comcast, delivers more than double the speed to consumers for the first few minutes of a large download or upload. According to the company, New York City customers should begin to see the extra speed kick starting today. The move is a competitive reaction to FiOS.

The company was conducting trials of the technology earlier this week in upstate New York. I'm still gathering information from the company on additional Powerboost deployments and technical specifics, but I'd be interested to see what impact the boost has on the company's NYC Extreme customers, who already see (or should see) downstream speeds approaching 20Mbps. The current speed tiers for Time Warner Cable in NYC:
RR Basic: 1.5Mbps/256Kbps

RR Standard: 10Mbps/512kbps

RR Turbo: 15Mbps/768kbps $9.95 more per month than standard, or $54.90

RR Extreme: 20Mbps/1Mbps $24.95 more per month than standard, or $69.90
Time Warner Cable has stated that when they do get around to deploying DOCSIS 3.0, New York City will also be their first launch market. I'm guessing that will be one market that won't see these 5GB-40GB monthly caps the company is experimenting with. Keep an eye peeled on our Time Warner Cable/Roadrunner forum for user "Powerboosted" NYC speed tests.

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  3. Sandvine Fuels New Comcast System
  4. We've Got Exclusive Details On New Comcast Speeds, Prices
  5. Cox: What Bandwidth Crunch?
  6. Time Warner Cable Beats Back AT&T, Verizon
  7. Economy Worries Slowing DOCSIS 3.0 Rollouts
  8. Time Warner Cable Raises Standalone Broadband Prices
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Forums »

anon @ 27th Jun 12:42PM:
Stingy with the uploads much?

Wow Very stingy the higherst tier is 20:1 ratio... Pathetic
reply
PhoenixDown @ 27th Jun 12:54PM:
Can the NYC market handle it?

A lot of NYC area users are not even getting the advertised speeds during rush hour - will powerboost be any boost at all?

»[TWC] NYC Slow Speeds
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Dogfather @ 27th Jun 12:54PM:
$70 for 20/1? Ouch

This is their response to NYC FiOS? Nationally Verizon prices 20/5 for $58 unbundled and NYC typically gets even better pricing. For that $70 you get 20/20 from Verizon in that market. And if I'm not mistaken that NYC market gets 50/20 for something like $90/mo. (These prices reflect the how dare you not have POTS fee of $5, if you have Verizon's rip-off voice service prices are $5 less).

RR Basic: 1.5Mbps/256Kbps
Verizon: No lite tier

RR Standard: 10Mbps/512kbps $44.95
Verizon Standard: 10/2 $48 unbundled ($43 bundled)

RR Turbo: 15Mbps/768kbps $54.90
Verizon FiOS: 20/5 $58 ($53 bundled)

RR Extreme: 20Mbps/1Mbps $69.90
Verizon FiOS: 20/20 $69 ($65 bundled)

TWC is going to have to do better than that. Add traffic shaping on top and TWC is a joke.

If someone in the NYC market can let us know if NYC prices differ that would be great.

TWC will have up their game		 

Really up their game		 
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Tint @ 27th Jun 01:00PM:
wow

So I wonder whats gonna happen to the people who currently have the business class package with TWC/Roadrunner.

I'm paying $99.95 a month for 15000/2000 speed

On a side note, most sites cant even keep up with my download speed. At 15000 down I can only download as fast as the site is willing to upload to me and so far not many sites can push info to me quick enough to keep up with my download speed.
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TK Junk Mail @ 27th Jun 01:07PM:
Re: wow

said by Tint :
On a side note, most sites cant even keep up with my download speed. At 15000 down I can only download as fast as the site is willing to upload to me and so far not many sites can push info to me quick enough to keep up with my download speed.
That is a point that most people overlook. Many web sites can't or won't deliver the speeds that many customers are capable of accepting during downloads. And that is when downloading large files.

When downloading web pages, even those with a lot of pics and graphics, avg speeds are at best about 700 or 800 kbps.
Don't believe me - try out this web browsing test instead of the usual file transfer test:
»www.numion.com/YourSpeed3/Run.ph···urfSpeed
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
reply
Pizz @ 27th Jun 01:10PM:
Re: $70 for 20/1? Ouch

You cant get Turbo or Extreme Speeds anymore, due them not being 'able to support it'.

If you're a current user of Turbo and Extreme, you'll be lucky to get over 8mbs during peak times.
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anon @ 27th Jun 01:11PM:
Re: Stingy with the uploads much?

1Mbps is pretty generous for TWC... 512k is the highest upload speed offered by any company where I live.

TWC must have one of the most VARIED networks among all cable companies when it comes to speed.

Most cable operators now offer a near or above 1mbps upload option. TWC can't even figure that one out. More than just pathetic if you ask me.

I would love to see what kind of effect powerboost will have on customers that TWC is slapping a pathetic 20-40 GB cap on.
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reelbigfish @ 27th Jun 01:18PM:
Re: Stingy with the uploads much?

It used to be the opposite. When I was in school, Time Warner in Upstate New York was at 3Mbps/384Kbps and Comcast was 1500/256Kbps, then 3Mbps/256Kbps. Comcast truly was the cable company left behind in upstream speeds until they upgraded to standard tiers of 6Mbps/1Mbps and 8Mbps/2Mbps.

TWC needs to make some moves and really needs to standardize more. I realize that the speeds are based on the local competition, but 512Kbps is quite paltry in comparison to most upload speeds these days.
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anon @ 27th Jun 01:31PM:
Re: wow

You can't accurately gauge the speed of a broadband connection with small files, like with the test you posted. Even if you were on fiber, your results wouldn't likely be any better than a cable or dsl subscriber. And with a test like that specifically, you're dealing with a lot of latency waiting for so many different sites from around the world to resolve, handshake, and receive information from.

As for server's supporting fast download speeds... I don't know what type of sites you download from, but I haven't run into many issues. I do on occasion notice sites that seem to rate-limit downloads to say 3 or 5 mbps. But as far as it goes for me, I run/manage servers, and all my servers are connected with no less than multi-gigabit LAN connections, giving each server no less than 2Gbps of outgoing bandwidth. I have never had anyone tell me they couldn't get any less than their full downstream speed when downloading from my servers. It's really up to the website owner or company when it comes to what they can afford to offer their visitors.
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vick04 @ 27th Jun 01:35PM:
Re: Stingy with the uploads much?

Well it looks like the NYC powerboost thread just got closed. I take it one of the mods has been misinformed? That or this article needs to be retitled to "launching in a few areas..."
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daveberstein @ 27th Jun 01:43PM:
No NY Powerboost in Speed Tests

Folks
I just ran two DSL Reports speed tests here in Manhattan. One came in at 8 meg, one at 9 meg. I'd think if Powerboost was in I'd have seen some effect. (No, I didn't use the Speakeasy test that peaks out around 10 meg.)

I've been getting that 10 meg or so on downloads pretty consistently the last few weeks. I had to completely re-install Vista and all software, and it was great to have the speed.

db
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wifi4milez @ 27th Jun 01:47PM:
Re: wow

said by TK Junk Mail :

said by Tint :
On a side note, most sites cant even keep up with my download speed. At 15000 down I can only download as fast as the site is willing to upload to me and so far not many sites can push info to me quick enough to keep up with my download speed.
That is a point that most people overlook. Many web sites can't or won't deliver the speeds that many customers are capable of accepting during downloads. And that is when downloading large files.

When downloading web pages, even those with a lot of pics and graphics, avg speeds are at best about 700 or 800 kbps.
Don't believe me - try out this web browsing test instead of the usual file transfer test:
»www.numion.com/YourSpeed3/Run.ph···urfSpeed
You are correct, yet people still dont seem to get it. They assume that if they get a higher capacity connection, then everything on the 'net will be faster. As you (and many others) have pointed out, we are all limited to the speed the site we are connecting to can upload the data to us. Unfortunately, the (vast majority of) sites that can support higher bandwidth end users are those that illegally distribute music and movies. I suspect that as higher bandwidth connections become more prevalent then more websites (legal ones) will increase their upload as well.
--
If history teaches us anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly.
-Ronald Reagan-

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Tzale @ 27th Jun 02:08PM:
CRAP!

What a bunch of crap... Sub 1mbps upload on ANY cable package is a rip off! And only 1mbps upload for 20mbps download?

-Tzale
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RARPSL @ 27th Jun 02:08PM:
Cablevision is better in their part of NYC

TWC shares NYC with Cablevision. In the CV areas you get 15/2 for $49 ($44 bundled) and 30/5 for $15 more ($10 more if you have VoIP). Thus the TWC speeds still come up short - especially up the Up Speeds.
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Dogfather @ 27th Jun 02:13PM:
Re: Stingy with the uploads much?

For SoCal the RR Extreme tier has been 15/2 for $55 for a long time. I had it before switching to FiOS. And it was cheaper than Verizon's month-month price. Seems like this is a step backward.
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Matt @ 27th Jun 02:29PM:
Re: $70 for 20/1? Ouch

Yep, we just switched a user to Verizon DSL because his Road Runner couldn't even support a VoIP call during peak hours. It was awful.
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Matt @ 27th Jun 02:30PM:
Re: wow

said by Tint :

So I wonder whats gonna happen to the people who currently have the business class package with TWC/Roadrunner.

I'm paying $99.95 a month for 15000/2000 speed

On a side note, most sites cant even keep up with my download speed. At 15000 down I can only download as fast as the site is willing to upload to me and so far not many sites can push info to me quick enough to keep up with my download speed.
I have a 15Mbps connection and I max it out most of the time when I am downloading things.
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Matt @ 27th Jun 02:33PM:
Re: wow

said by TK Junk Mail :

said by Tint :
On a side note, most sites cant even keep up with my download speed. At 15000 down I can only download as fast as the site is willing to upload to me and so far not many sites can push info to me quick enough to keep up with my download speed.
That is a point that most people overlook. Many web sites can't or won't deliver the speeds that many customers are capable of accepting during downloads. And that is when downloading large files.

When downloading web pages, even those with a lot of pics and graphics, avg speeds are at best about 700 or 800 kbps.
Don't believe me - try out this web browsing test instead of the usual file transfer test:
»www.numion.com/YourSpeed3/Run.ph···urfSpeed
That test is extremely flawed. Those itty bitty web graphics are a few KB in size, so even if you download them all at once, it'll only take a few hundred Kbps to download them all in one second.

If you start browsing sites like MySpace, you'll notice a HUGE difference between a 768Kbps DSL line and a 15Mbps connection.

Any media rich site is going to have the file sizes needed to tax an internet connection. Loading a bunch of web logos simply won't.
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Dogfather @ 27th Jun 02:38PM:
Re: $70 for 20/1? Ouch

I'm sure TWC's OWN VoIP service ran just fine. How convenient.
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tmc8080 @ 27th Jun 02:52PM:
A powerboost across from a another powerboost?

»youtube.com/watch?v=Z9iMgSNrwv4


I wonder, who are the people that would need a Starbucks across a Starbucks?

Answer: It must be a community filled with people with Alzheimer's.

Might these be the same TWC subscribers who thought things would miraculously get better just because they revamped powerboost?
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Pizz @ 27th Jun 03:36PM:
Re: $70 for 20/1? Ouch

their VOIP service is amazing - expensive, but zero hiccups. It uses a dedicated channel for it's bandwidth, so cable doesnt 'interfere' with it. But if you try using a 3rd party VOIP service on it's cable line, good luck.
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Lysis @ 27th Jun 04:04PM:
triple play

i've been researching my two options for triple play phone tv internet

seems twc is $117 a month with 10/512 and unlimited digital phone

seems verizon is 107 a month with 3/768 and unlimited pots

pretty even, gonna order one of them today though don't know which, i hear digital phone no where near as reliable as pots
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Dogfather @ 27th Jun 04:25PM:
Re: $70 for 20/1? Ouch

I had RR voice and it worked fine. But RR HSI worked fine too.
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Corydon @ 27th Jun 05:53PM:
Re: triple play

I have Comcast's version CDV. It's been pretty reliable, although I did run into some hiccups a little while ago and they needed to run a new drop.

I'd say that if your internet's pretty solid (other than whatever degradation you may get due to congestion during prime time), your phone will be too (even during prime time because it's prioritized over internet traffic).
--
"Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea."
reply
pspcrazy @ 27th Jun 07:17PM:
Re: wow

said by wifi4milez :

Unfortunately, the (vast majority of) sites that can support higher bandwidth end users are those that illegally distribute music and movies. I suspect that as higher bandwidth connections become more prevalent then more websites (legal ones) will increase their upload as well.
Just wondering why your so obsessed with illegal piracy on the web. From the way you write it seems like you frequent lot's of piracy site's. (How else would you know how fast and what limit's those site's have!)

Most site's actually have 100 mbps ports now, as 10 mbps is fairly outdated. From my server provider 100 mbps port upgrade is only 10 dollars a month, so I already have my site's running off those port speeds. When I download files I use download mangers which split the files allowing me to use my entire connection rather then just using the default one connection ie download method.

It's commonsense among anyone who orders the higher tier internet services. Thank you very much.
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anon @ 27th Jun 10:25PM:
Insight Does that

Insight Communications in Louisville Kentucky and the surrounding areas does that as well... they have a 20 meg down plan and then I believe that its 2 or 5 megs up but I don't remember off the top of my head. Then they also have a 10 and 1 and I think their prices are cheaper than Time Warner. I know the ten meg one is just 30 dollars a month.
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fxt107 @ 27th Jun 10:31PM:
RR Extreme here Major problems

Screw Powerboost. I am a RR Extreme customer and my speeds have suffered since this morning running at around 2 down. What gives???

Elmhurst 11373
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Dareius @ 27th Jun 10:33PM:
Re: RR Extreme here Major problems

said by fxt107 :

Screw Powerboost. I am a RR Extreme customer and my speeds have suffered since this morning running at around 2 down. What gives???

Elmhurst 11373
I am getting the same 2 down as a Standard customer. 11373 is not doing well at all. Worst speed I have seen since restarting the RR service coming from RCN Mach 20.
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dvd536 @ 28th Jun 01:44AM:
Re: CRAP!

said by Tzale :

What a bunch of crap... Sub 1mbps upload on ANY cable package is a rip off! And only 1mbps upload for 20mbps download?
Yeah! Cablevision was giving a megabit upload while other cable providers were giving 128kbps and that was back in 1999!
--
When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee
reply
jgra @ 28th Jun 01:52AM:
bull

IhavenotwitnessanychangeatallinspeedfromTimeWarner,
Ifanythingreducemymotherscabletvpackage,andpleasehelpinmaking
suremyinternetconnectiondoesnotslowdownmycomputerormakeitact
likeit'scontrolledvyyou
reply
anon @ 28th Jun 02:13AM:
rcn

rcn has been offering 20mbps speed for sometime. rr at its best dont even come close to their advertised speeds.
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cdr1000 @ 28th Jun 10:54AM:
Powerboost

POWER BOOST

Drink this at least 15 minutes before downloading.

1 tart organic apple, unpeeled, quartered and chopped
3-5 scrubbed, unpeeled organic carrots, chopped
2 clean stalks of organic kale, stems removed

Juice according to manufacturer's directions for your juicer. Drink juice immediately. Yes, it is the color of your lawn, but it's pleasant tasting, loaded with nutrients, and packed with power. You'll see.

»www.living-foods.com/recipes/powerboost.html

or

»blog.okizoo.com/2007/05/08/drink···r-drink/
reply
Tzale @ 28th Jun 01:53PM:
Re: CRAP!

said by dvd536 :

said by Tzale :

What a bunch of crap... Sub 1mbps upload on ANY cable package is a rip off! And only 1mbps upload for 20mbps download?
Yeah! Cablevision was giving a megabit upload while other cable providers were giving 128kbps and that was back in 1999!
Exactly!
--
Neoconservatives (G.W.B) are not true conservatives. A conservative believes in defending the Constitution. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. - RON PAUL 2008
reply
wifi4milez @ 28th Jun 03:14PM:
Re: wow

said by pspcrazy :

said by wifi4milez :

Unfortunately, the (vast majority of) sites that can support higher bandwidth end users are those that illegally distribute music and movies. I suspect that as higher bandwidth connections become more prevalent then more websites (legal ones) will increase their upload as well.
Just wondering why your so obsessed with illegal piracy on the web. From the way you write it seems like you frequent lot's of piracy site's. (How else would you know how fast and what limit's those site's have!)
Nice try, but its fairly common knowledge that the piracy sites are among the few that have high capacity connections. This is due to their popularity, and the fact that so many people access them they need a lot of bandwidth.

said by pspcrazy :

Most site's actually have 100 mbps ports now, as 10 mbps is fairly outdated. From my server provider 100 mbps port upgrade is only 10 dollars a month, so I already have my site's running off those port speeds. When I download files I use download mangers which split the files allowing me to use my entire connection rather then just using the default one connection ie download method.
1) Having a hardware limited 10Mbps is fairly obsolete, as 10/100 has been the standard for years now.

2) However, the you just got jerked by your provider as there is absolutely no difference between a 10Mbps "port" versus a GigE "port". What matters is the bandwidth you purchase! You could conceivably have a GigE port but still be rate limited to 10Mbps, so the port size is largely irrelevant.

3) You might want to consider getting a 100Mbps "burstable" circuit instead, as this will allow you to get the full 100Mbps if necessary. Be aware that you will pay for the overage, so be careful and monitor your traffic.
--
If history teaches us anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly.
-Ronald Reagan-

reply
Wakanska @ 28th Jun 09:37PM:
Re: Stingy with the uploads much?

Yeah, well, I think I know where they're getting the extra bandwidth from.. I think that they're stealing it from customers who have already been paying for it (by using "peering" or "throttling" in anticipated low-demand times)! I used to have a lot of bandwidth (which I paid handsomely for) and it's all but disappeared, beginning early this month (June 2008)! I have no high speed DSL service at all through most of the evening! No more working afterhours at home for me! VOIP went down and everything, and I have an invalid in the home.
Nobody told me squat, so I had to play "connect the dots", and now that I got the picture, I made an appointment with AT&T for regular DSL, sixty dollars cheaper per month! Time Warner, now you can "peer" the extra bandwidth you were shorting me for, and I hope you make lots of money from it, because you lost a good customer in me!
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anon @ 29th Jun 12:17AM:
Re: RR Extreme here Major problems

Same here. DEFINETLY a lot slower since the powerboost was implemented. Extreme customer as well

East Elmhurst 11369
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pspcrazy @ 29th Jun 02:04AM:
Re: wow

Do you some research before posting, when I bought that 100mbps port rather then the 1gb port it allowed my user's to use the full capacity of that 100mbps port, of course that allowed user's to use bandwidth faster with downloads, etc, but the way I see it is that if there going to download there going to do it anyway, whether it takes 1 minute or 10 seconds.

Softlayer.com look it up yourself.
reply
pspcrazy @ 29th Jun 02:06AM:
Re: Stingy with the uploads much?

I'd suggst against regular DSL get super awesome special dslextreme dsl :)

»dslextreme.com been with them for a while now, and there awesome :)
reply
MisterMarcus @ 21st Aug 12:45PM:
Re: Stingy with the uploads much?

said by Dogfather :

For SoCal the RR Extreme tier has been 15/2 for $55 for a long time. I had it before switching to FiOS. And it was cheaper than Verizon's month-month price. Seems like this is a step backward.
That's what I'm on now. I might get the occasional speed degradation on Sunday, but other than that it's zip fast. Watching DownThemAll ramp to 2MB/sec on downloads without using the accelerator feature is a beautiful thing.

To the complaints about low upstream, it's obviously to discourage servers. You don't need that much upstream to download files, browse the web or read email - which is what the majority of customers are doing. A better question would be, why the severe lack of strong synchronous connections on the business side? I would expect to see 20/20 over there, but don't. Why not?
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