Today I had Comcast's new DOCSIS 3.0 Business Class service installed at a home with 5 static IPs. The install went fairly smoothly (we had a bit of a scare in thinking we couldn't get over 2Mbps but it all worked out in the end.) The nice thing about Business Class is that you get a Cisco 1800 series router, but the strange thing is that they still use the Scientific Atlanta router too (why not just use the 1800?)


One of the problems with Comcast's new DOCSIS 3.0 service is that it is simply too fast. At 50Mbps download speed (and 5Mbps upload speed) your service will be going faster than most web sites can deal with. This means it is very hard to do a proper test to see if you're actually getting the 50/5 service that you paid for. Think the SpeakEasy.net speedtest can help? Depends on how close you are to a node.

The solution is simple. If Comcast had some sort of super-secret internal speed test page that would allow you to see the speed that the Comcast network is sending you before it hits the public Internet, that sure would be helpful, wouldn't it?

Take your new DOCSIS 3.0 connected computer, open a web browser and point it to http://68.87.178.6 to get the Comcast internal speed test page. This will test the speed of your cable router inside of the Comcast network allowing you to see the raw speed as it goes to your house. While this may not be a local node near you, it is on the Comcast network and should give you better results than any external test would give you. I know that this address is what they are using in Minneapolis, MN and your area may have a different page. Now don't sit on your computer and keep refreshing that page. Every time you use the test you are trying to max out your router, and as such you are putting additional strain on the Comcast network (which in the end could make it SLOWER). Don't come crying to me if you keep hitting the page over and over again then get a nasty call from Comcast. Use it to see if you're getting your advertised speed from Comcast, or at least something close to that (it may be a bit under still, but it should be close).

Of course it is worth mentioning that fundamentally all speed tests are flawed and will never be able to give you a 100% accurate rating of your actual Internet speed, but this is at least a better option than trying to guess at which node is closest to you or has the least amount of traffic/latency/issues.

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