Current Events > My apartment complex had a Google Fiber rep at the leasing office yesterday

(+) Yeah! (+)

I asked her some questions about the expansion in Austin. Apparently they've paused construction in Austin because some of neighborhoods they built out to didn't get as many customers as they originally thought, so they are trying to figure out a better way to move forward.

Kinda sucks. Having to fight incumbent ISPs tooth and nail, and then people don't even sign up as expected when service is available.
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in your expert opinion, is it stupid to pay for, say, a 150mbps down plan over a 50mbps plan, knowing that a house or apartment or w/e is not even capable of reaching those download speeds? because thats what i did with comcast and it seems like on average i only get 30mbps which makes me feel stupid
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Romulox28 posted...

in your expert opinion, is it stupid to pay for, say, a 150mbps down plan over a 50mbps plan, knowing that a house or apartment or w/e is not even capable of reaching those download speeds? because thats what i did with comcast and it seems like on average i only get 30mbps which makes me feel stupid

Typically, if you're paying for 150 Mbps down and only getting 30 Mbps, you should be able to call your ISP and complain. If they're unable to resolve the problem over the phone that should warrant a service call. They'll likely have you powercycle the modem and run a speed test with a hardwired computer. If none of that resolves the problem, they should open a trouble ticket so a tech can figure out what's wrong.

Most of the time, ISPs have a certain threshold on what qualifies as slow speeds. It's typically around 70% of the max speed that is considered acceptable. If it turns out the ISP just can't deliver anywhere near the max speed due to congestion or oversubscription issues, then they owe you a reimbursement IMO. Not sure how Comcast would handle that, but that's what I would ask for.
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