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Comcast PowerBoost: Download Speeds Up to 12 Mbps*

Speed is the name of the game for Internet service providers. Competitors are continually raising the stakes by advertising higher and higher connection speeds.

Comcast generally provides 6 Mbps as their regular speed. (Don’t worry about how fast this really is for purposes of this story.) But, in the past year or two, they has been promoting “PowerBoost” which is an “extra burst of speed — up to 12 Mbps — when downloading large files.”  On their website, Comcast suggests some great uses for PowerBoost:

Music, videos, online games – whenever you’re downloading something big, PowerBoost kicks right in. Imagine you’re downloading a 10 MB file, like three MP3 songs. It would take about 53 seconds with a 1.5 Mbps DSL connection. Compare that to 6.6 seconds with Comcast High-Speed Internet with PowerBoost.

Do you really get twice the regular speed with PowerBoost? Yes and no. To read their advertising, one would think that whenever you download a large file, you get the benefit of PowerBoost so the file will be delivered in half the time. Not so fast says our trusty mouse, because of a little-noticed disclosure in their footnote:

*MOUSE PRINT:

“PowerBoost provides a brief burst of download speed above the customer’s provisioned download speed for the first 10MB of a file. It then reverts to the provisioned speed for the remainder of the download.” 

Who knew that PowerBoost only lasts for approximately seven seconds?

For example, if you want to download the trial version of Microsoft’s game “Halo”, which is 134 megs, only the first 10 megs will be delivered to you at the advertised “double speed”, and the remaining 124 megs will be at regular speed.

While smaller “large” files will indeed benefit from SpeedBoost, for most really large downloads, the promise of SpeedBoost is a speed bust. And that’s not Comcastic.

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13 thoughts on “Comcast PowerBoost: Download Speeds Up to 12 Mbps*”

  1. This seems to be true. I just setup business Comcast at my office and according to SpeakEasy’s speed test I get 12 – 15 Mbps download and almost 2 Mbps upload speeds. When I start downloading multiple podcasts through iTunes, I get the same average as my home Comcast internet connection, 6Mbps, after an initial peak around 12 Mbps.

  2. Might come in handy for snaking websites, or downloading from newsgroups where binaries are boken
    into numerous parts. Not so good for those 200MB video files though

  3. It could come in hand for snaking websites or downloading binaries from newsgroups where large files are
    broken up into smaller parts.

    Not good for those 250MB videos though…

  4. Who knew that PowerBoost only lasts for approximately seven seconds?

    Anyone who reads DSL Reports or Comcast’s site, I’d venture.

  5. Even if the service lasts for 10MB of a file, doesn’t that still mean the file is being downloaded quicker than what it would if you were downloading the file with your provisioned speed only?

    If you go to DSLreports.com, you’ll find that many customers actually get these powerboost speeds on a consistent basis-not just the first 10MB.

    So, to recap, Comcast ADVERTISES a service as a short burst of faster speed and in some cases actually deliver it above what they advertise? How DARE they?

    BTW, they also implemented it on the upload side as well. Works great!

  6. Just Was wondering if that boost is on a single connection thread on a down load or if you where using
    6 threads with a download if each thread gets the boost..

    Other then that what an over thehead underhanded AD campaign to get new/more customer it is …

  9. lol, I just heard an ad for Comcast’s “12mbps” download.

    “…and with Comcast you can download at speeds of up to 12 mega BITS per second.”

    What does that actually work out to be, 1.5 mega bytes per second. This is about the average speed that I’m getting from Comcast. What do you think? Is this actual truth in advertising or a bad editor for the voice over?

  11. A friend told me many years ago to never believe anything I read and only 1/2 of what I see and I added “and nothing that Comcast says!”. BS is the advertising watchword of today. I simply ignore all of it.

  12. What is going on? I have Comcast High Speed Internet. I just don’t see the speed. It looks like the same old Comcast that I’ve always had. I’ts broadband, that say’s something I suppose.

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