Yes, I could get "up to" 10Mbs direct from my ISP for about the same per month (a couple of dollars less, actually). But the two months of free service made the deal from Qwest totally worth it, for now anyway.

Since I'm now open-ended with Qwest instead of tied to a two year contract, I can hang out for a year or so and see if anyone else comes along with a better deal.

Every six months or so over the last couple of years Comcast will up the speed on my cable modem. I'm currently getting speeds of over 20 Mbps and with their "Power Boost," I've seen speed bursts approaching 30 Mbps. Despite what they say, speed won't kill you.

I just did a speed test in the middle of the day from Albuquerque to a server in Denver, here are the results:

Download Speed: 23.276 Mbps (2.9 MB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 2.754 Mbps (0.3 MB/sec transfer rate)
The closest server located in Salt Lake City, UT performed this test with a latency of 10 milliseconds.
Test Date: Thursday, May 13, 2010 13:54:45

I'm pretty happy right now.

Check your upload speed before you get all ecstatic on us.

They forewarned me that I would primarily see a download speed increase.

I did say "pretty happy," not "ecstatic."

;?)

I just did a speed test in the middle of the day from Albuquerque to a server in Denver, here are the results:

If you used speedtest.net, you probably hit the Denver Comcast server, which gets pretty congested from time to time.

If you try one of the more "rural" servers in the area, you may get even higher benchmarks. Of course at 20+ you already have a sufficient envy rating from me. But the cost of basic cable + high speed from Comcast is a bit steep for me.

Yes, I did hit the Denver Comcast server. I'll try the same server in the middle of the night and see what I get. Of course, 20+ isn't anywhere nearly as impressive as what some of my FIOS-enabled friends are getting and nowhere near the 100+ they get in places like South Korea.

Gees, I'm happy with 1.5meg.
JJK

I'm up in the Seattle area and the Comcast server there gave me 25 megs down and about 2.5 up. The Denver server gave me about 2.5 megs both ways :-)

mikey

"I'll try the same server in the middle of the night and see what I get."

Hehe, with the booming Gen Y crowd here in Denver, you're likelier to run into heavier broadband traffic on Comcast late at night . . .

I usually try Casper, WY or Hays, KS instead.

You guys have got to stop making me so damn jealous :-)
I'm in the county (about 20 miles from Windsor, Ont.) and my so-called high speed internet (essentially wireless microwave) just gave me me a whopping speed test of 0.51 Mb/s download and 0.24 Mb/s upload.
Our government keeps promising to being real high-speed to rural areas but I heard that promise 12 years ago when I moved out here and I'm still waiting.
Oh well, at least I'm no longer on dial-up :-(

Mike

my so-called high speed internet (essentially wireless microwave) just gave me me a whopping speed test of 0.51 Mb/s download and 0.24 Mb/s upload.

Mike, you should be able to get twice that with 3G broadband, assuming you have coverage in your area.

I uncoiled the extra phone line running to the modem, cut off about 20 ft., slapped on a new RJ-22, and now I'm over 6M.