[RTC List] Follow-up on Suddenlink broadband speeds and Roku Netflix box

[Dave Thewlis]

A few weeks ago I posted a query about whether Suddenlink was offering 8 
Megabits/second or 8 Megabytes/second, and what the actual requirement 
of the Roku "Netflix" box was. The query engendered a quick flurry of 
discussion and a variety of opinions.  Here is what has happened since then.

    1.  I called Suddenlink technical support and sales/marketing on
    four separate occasions.  Their sales people and their tech support
    people all insisted that they were offering 8 mega_bytes_ per second
    even though what I measured was about 7400 kilobits/second.  So I
    asked for a someone to come out and check my installation because
    something was apparently wrong.

    2. The guy who came out knew his stuff but when I asked him about
    megabits versus megabytes he didn't know - he guess megabytes but
    said all he ever told people was "8 megs".  So he called his
    supervisor.  The supervisor confirmed that it was mega_bits_ and
    apologized for the confusion.

    3.  The guy on site also talked about the problems they were having
    with speed due to upstream limitations and that they finally
    expected to have the issue resolved by the end of February (he added
    that the necessary stuff had been on order for months, but that it
    was coming from a competitor (guess who) which might explain all the
    delays). 

    (I have noted in the last couple of days that my download speed as
    measured by the Speakeasy speed test is now very close to the
    promised 8 mega_bits_ a second so perhaps the fixes have happened
    happened.)

    4.  Finally, the guy on site confirmed that they do offer faster
    speeds, and that it's just a matter of changing the speed limit on
    the cable modem.  But he recommended against bothering until their
    planned speed fixes have all happened and Suddenlink confirmed it as
    he doubted it would make any difference until then.

    5.  I called Roku technical support (which appears to be in
    Bangalore or Hyderabad) and asked whether their recommended minimum
    speed requirement was 1.2 megabytes or megabits per second and this
    guy flatly said it was mega_bytes_ per second and that in reality it
    needed more like 1.5 megabytes/second. 

    6.  I then emailed Rolu's online technical support who replied it
    was 1.2 mega_bits_ per second and that it should work fine with an 8
    megabit/second service.  They also apologized for their telephone
    support which puts them one up over most companies who have
    outsourced their support. 

So it is all megabits as inferred, though the documentation was 
ambiguous, and the companies themselves seem not to know the difference. 

Dave Thewlis

-- 
*Dave Thewlis, DCTA Inc.*
+1 707 840 9391 (voice) · +1 707 498 2238 (mobile)
http://www.dcta.com · dthewlis at dcta.com <mailto:dthewlis at dcta.com>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redwoodtech.org/pipermail/list_redwoodtech.org/attachments/20090222/172c9563/attachment.html>