What is Limiting the Number of Connected Devices?
June 5, 2017 6:47 AM Subscribe
When looking at Internet plans via Comcast's website, each tier will include a statement indicating "3-5 devices" or "9-11 devices". What is this indicating, and what is doing the limiting of devices?
Are these indications of devices connected simultaneously:
1) Purely marketing so families with three laptops and five smartphones get a more expensive tier?
2) Implying that you get better bandwidth with more expensive tiers, therefore more devices will perform better with a better tier, but you can really have as many devices connected as you want, despite poorer performance due to limited bandwidth?
3) The modem/router provided by Comcast limits the number of IPs it will spit out?
To me, it seems like hypothesis 2 is the answer, but I have a friend who says that she cannot connect more than 4 devices on her basic Comcast internet service; it's as though any device beyond 4 will not receive an IP address from the router (hypothesis 3).
Also, my IT-admin/Cisco-certified friends say this as well (hypothesis 3), so they all get their own routers in order to be able to provide more IPs to all their devices, despite what Comcast's own modem/router limits.
HOWEVER, if my IT friends are right, then why is there a range of simultaneously connected devices listed? How can one tier state "3-5 devices" if the modem/router is doing the limiting? Wouldn't it just limit IPs to 3 or 5 and not a range?
Since no one--not even my IT friends--can answer this concisely for me, I am asking here.
I have a strong understanding of this stuff, so you can reply like I am college-educated in computers.
(P.S. I am not planning on getting Comcast internet; we have DSL which was just updated in my area, so we are good and plenty fast now for a fraction of the cost. I have just been curious about this Comcast thing for a very long time now.)
Are these indications of devices connected simultaneously:
1) Purely marketing so families with three laptops and five smartphones get a more expensive tier?
2) Implying that you get better bandwidth with more expensive tiers, therefore more devices will perform better with a better tier, but you can really have as many devices connected as you want, despite poorer performance due to limited bandwidth?
3) The modem/router provided by Comcast limits the number of IPs it will spit out?
To me, it seems like hypothesis 2 is the answer, but I have a friend who says that she cannot connect more than 4 devices on her basic Comcast internet service; it's as though any device beyond 4 will not receive an IP address from the router (hypothesis 3).
Also, my IT-admin/Cisco-certified friends say this as well (hypothesis 3), so they all get their own routers in order to be able to provide more IPs to all their devices, despite what Comcast's own modem/router limits.
HOWEVER, if my IT friends are right, then why is there a range of simultaneously connected devices listed? How can one tier state "3-5 devices" if the modem/router is doing the limiting? Wouldn't it just limit IPs to 3 or 5 and not a range?
Since no one--not even my IT friends--can answer this concisely for me, I am asking here.
I have a strong understanding of this stuff, so you can reply like I am college-educated in computers.
(P.S. I am not planning on getting Comcast internet; we have DSL which was just updated in my area, so we are good and plenty fast now for a fraction of the cost. I have just been curious about this Comcast thing for a very long time now.)
Best answer: From a network engineer friend at Comcast:
posted by supercres at 7:01 AM on June 5, 2017 [13 favorites]
When I have questions about ISP type stuff I usually head over to DSL Reports. They have a pretty intensive user-generated FAQ for Comcast that has a lot of good information including actual connection speeds and general info.
My take based on this is that you get one actual IP and can buy extra ones if you're a business (and need static) and possibly the range is because they don't assume all of them will be on at the same time? But that you should be able to connect as many devices as you want. I would be much more skeptical of your friend's statement unless you've seen her network config.
posted by jessamyn at 7:03 AM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
My take based on this is that you get one actual IP and can buy extra ones if you're a business (and need static) and possibly the range is because they don't assume all of them will be on at the same time? But that you should be able to connect as many devices as you want. I would be much more skeptical of your friend's statement unless you've seen her network config.
posted by jessamyn at 7:03 AM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Mostly #2, but some #1. Most people don't do enough internet stuff to justify the more expensive connections.
Absolutely not #3.
I pay for the cheapest Comcast tier. I live with one person, we have a whole bunch of internet connected devices (cellphones, laptops, desktops, security cameras, Sonos, Google Home, etc). The cheap tier is fine unless one of us is downloading large files at 1MB/s, or doing a offsite backup and uploading at 500KB/s for a long time.
posted by gregr at 7:55 AM on June 5, 2017
Absolutely not #3.
I pay for the cheapest Comcast tier. I live with one person, we have a whole bunch of internet connected devices (cellphones, laptops, desktops, security cameras, Sonos, Google Home, etc). The cheap tier is fine unless one of us is downloading large files at 1MB/s, or doing a offsite backup and uploading at 500KB/s for a long time.
posted by gregr at 7:55 AM on June 5, 2017
There may be some confusion in the understanding of IP addressing. There are unique external-facing-to-the-web IP addresses handed out from ISPs like Comcast, usually one per network; I can imagine some IT friends may have reasons for wanting more.
Then, there are also internal-facing subnet IP addresses, which are regularly exactly the same digit sequences, whether created by your router or your neighbor's router, and it's because the internal addresses are meant to only interact with each other at home and never externally. Think of it this way. Your mailing address is entirely singular, unique, and a non-duplicate, right? It's as if you were to give a private address to each of the rooms in your house. Your mail carrier (Comcast) would have no idea where pieces of mail go when they got in the door, but you (your router) would know exactly where each piece of mail goes.
Like the others have intimated, Comcast is basically asking people to try and define their usage by asking them to most-simply count the number of devices. From top choice to bottom, indeed all of the routers could quite sensibly support 50+ devices, but it's a question of whether they can deliver the perceived speed (bandwidth) desired by the devices' users for it not to be a frustrating experience. To know the device amount would be to give a super-basic guestimate about account needs, and it's frankly and entirely Comcast's ballpark to decide how many devices might require how much speed! Mostly two; little of one.
posted by a good beginning at 8:14 AM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Then, there are also internal-facing subnet IP addresses, which are regularly exactly the same digit sequences, whether created by your router or your neighbor's router, and it's because the internal addresses are meant to only interact with each other at home and never externally. Think of it this way. Your mailing address is entirely singular, unique, and a non-duplicate, right? It's as if you were to give a private address to each of the rooms in your house. Your mail carrier (Comcast) would have no idea where pieces of mail go when they got in the door, but you (your router) would know exactly where each piece of mail goes.
Like the others have intimated, Comcast is basically asking people to try and define their usage by asking them to most-simply count the number of devices. From top choice to bottom, indeed all of the routers could quite sensibly support 50+ devices, but it's a question of whether they can deliver the perceived speed (bandwidth) desired by the devices' users for it not to be a frustrating experience. To know the device amount would be to give a super-basic guestimate about account needs, and it's frankly and entirely Comcast's ballpark to decide how many devices might require how much speed! Mostly two; little of one.
posted by a good beginning at 8:14 AM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
"My take based on this is that you get one actual IP and can buy extra ones if you're a business (and need static) and possibly the range is because they don't assume all of them will be on at the same time?"
The way almost all home networks work is that the router does some magic to make it appear to the outside world that all your devices are at one single IP address. The IP addresses you use internally are completely hidden to the outside world.
So, for almost all cases, you only need one public IP address, it doesn't have to be "static", and that doesn't impose any practical limitation on the number of devices you can use inside the house.
Static IP addresses, or multiple IP addresses, can be helpful for example if you're hosting a lot of services from your comcast connection, but if you don't know why you'd need them, you don't.
So, yes, this is just some mix 1 and 2, it's unlikely there's any hard limit on the number of devices.
I suspect the marketing is also a subtle form of price discrimination. Not illegal, or even necessarily bad, despite the name--just a way to nudge people with more devices (hence probably more disposable income) into higher tiers.
My current beef with Comcast: lately, whenever I call support, they seem to have a script that requires them to ask how many devices I have connected and then tell me the problem might be that I need a higher tier for that many devices, regardless of my symptoms. Argh.
posted by floppyroofing at 8:14 AM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
The way almost all home networks work is that the router does some magic to make it appear to the outside world that all your devices are at one single IP address. The IP addresses you use internally are completely hidden to the outside world.
So, for almost all cases, you only need one public IP address, it doesn't have to be "static", and that doesn't impose any practical limitation on the number of devices you can use inside the house.
Static IP addresses, or multiple IP addresses, can be helpful for example if you're hosting a lot of services from your comcast connection, but if you don't know why you'd need them, you don't.
So, yes, this is just some mix 1 and 2, it's unlikely there's any hard limit on the number of devices.
I suspect the marketing is also a subtle form of price discrimination. Not illegal, or even necessarily bad, despite the name--just a way to nudge people with more devices (hence probably more disposable income) into higher tiers.
My current beef with Comcast: lately, whenever I call support, they seem to have a script that requires them to ask how many devices I have connected and then tell me the problem might be that I need a higher tier for that many devices, regardless of my symptoms. Argh.
posted by floppyroofing at 8:14 AM on June 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Just a slight counter-point to a specific point that's being mentioned here:
Obviously, Comcast is trying to get a handle on how many people are connecting to your connection and is dumbing it down in terms people can understand (as well stated above).
I pay for Comcast's highest residential speed (go ahead and clown). I have (at any given time) an 18yo whose phone gets 3-5 phone notifications per second while she watches Netflix (plus however many friends she has over), a 14-year-old who gets as many notifications per second while talking trash as only 14yo boys can on NBA2K17 on Xbox, a wife who is either watching Netflix or browsing, and myself playing on PS4 or streaming something on FilmStruck......all while having my torrent client seed about 300-400 torrents.
Obviously, none of that happens all at the same time......but it could and probably does more than occasionally.
All that to say: think about how many and what type of devices are potentially using your connection and plan accordingly (i.e., don't underestimate your need).
posted by kuanes at 9:14 AM on June 5, 2017
Obviously, Comcast is trying to get a handle on how many people are connecting to your connection and is dumbing it down in terms people can understand (as well stated above).
I pay for Comcast's highest residential speed (go ahead and clown). I have (at any given time) an 18yo whose phone gets 3-5 phone notifications per second while she watches Netflix (plus however many friends she has over), a 14-year-old who gets as many notifications per second while talking trash as only 14yo boys can on NBA2K17 on Xbox, a wife who is either watching Netflix or browsing, and myself playing on PS4 or streaming something on FilmStruck......all while having my torrent client seed about 300-400 torrents.
Obviously, none of that happens all at the same time......but it could and probably does more than occasionally.
All that to say: think about how many and what type of devices are potentially using your connection and plan accordingly (i.e., don't underestimate your need).
posted by kuanes at 9:14 AM on June 5, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.