Streamless in Seattle

February 28, 2009 4:33 PM

Does Comcast throttle hulu and other streaming video services in the Seattle area? Additionally, are there reliable, alternative high-speed Internet providers in the Seattle metropolitan area (which do not require a land-line phone connection)?
posted by Blazecock Pileon to computers & internet (12 comments total)

DSL Reports says no. (here's the full thread.) I've actually never heard of an ISP throttling anything besides VoIP or BitTorrent, but maybe I'm just not up to date on what's going on in that area.
posted by niles at 5:19 PM on February 28

In Seattle, you have Clearwire and Verizon offers FiOS (though its availability is highly dependent on where you live...).

I'm not sure about Comcast throttling hulu but I wouldn't be surprised.
posted by karizma at 5:27 PM on February 28

Are you running a server on the same connection? I am (and I have Comcast in the Seattle area) and I sometimes have problems streaming Netflix. My guess is that since I've placed myself into the top usage bracket bracket, I don't always get the best service, but I can't give any conclusive answers.
posted by philomathoholic at 5:31 PM on February 28

Not sure what you mean by land-line phone connection, but we have a "DSL only" line through Qwest (we have a phone hookup but we do not pay for landline phone service). We're pretty happy with it.
posted by rossination at 5:37 PM on February 28

I have DSL only through Qwest as well. You do need a phone jack though.
posted by proj at 5:42 PM on February 28

Both Qwest and Verizon provide broadband in the area, but they have non-overlapping territories. Both have options that don't involve phone service. With Qwest DSL (and maybe Verizon as well), you can use them as your ISP, or choose another ISP. There is also Speakeasy DSL, which rents copper from the telco via Covad.
posted by Good Brain at 7:19 PM on February 28

it's commonly held that comcast partakes in all manner of packetshaping
posted by judge.mentok.the.mindtaker at 7:52 PM on February 28

Just out of curiosity, are you noticing recent trouble with your Comcast internet? I'm in Portland, and my service has been flaky lately.
posted by 2oh1 at 9:22 PM on February 28

Speakeasy does no traffic shaping/limiting and can be had with a "dry loop" (a phone line with no dial tone on it). If you're trying to avoid using phone lines at all, then you're at the mercy of Comcast and Clearwire, who are both notorious for crippling their product. There's also the cellular networks, but I don't think those qualify as "high-speed" yet.
posted by bizwank at 9:25 PM on February 28

I'm in Seattle on Comcast. In the past few days the service has been spotty but it usually is fairly solid. They did up the speed a few months ago whic is a nice thing.

I don't believe they throttle (I've gone through the tools google suggests to test for it).
posted by wongcorgi at 9:31 PM on February 28

Just out of curiosity, are you noticing recent trouble with your Comcast internet?

Download speeds have been erratic this week, but Netflix has been mostly fine. Perhaps it's a recent Comcast service problem in the Pacific Northwest.

We tried putting our address into Verizon's FiOS availability site, but it keeps wanting to change our street address from E to NW. I guess either their address locator is broken or they don't serve our neighborhood.

We've heard not-so-great things about Qwest from some coworkers. Thanks for the Speakeasy tips, though, that's definitely worth checking out.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:44 PM on February 28

If you are within the Seattle city limits then you're probably in Qwest territory and Verizon's services (including FIOS) will not be available to you. If you don't have any phone service you could always ask one of your neighbors who provides their land line.
posted by bizwank at 8:40 PM on March 1