Get superfast AT&T Fiber internet
MrD500's profile

Tutor

 • 

7 Messages

Monday, February 13th, 2017 11:23 AM

Closed

Is At&t 18 mbps internet any good?

Hello all,

Is this internet reliable?  Do any of you ever have outages?  Would I have to ever mess with the gateway router or is it always on?  Would I be able to stream netflix without any problems?  I currently have Comcast internet that is fast and very reliable but it costs too much.  I'm not sure how fast the 18 mbps is.  

 

Thanks for any help.

Ara

ACE - Expert

 • 

34.6K Messages

7 years ago

18 Mbps carries up to 18 megabits per second (or just over 2 megabytes per second) into your home, and either 1 or 1.5 Mbps out of your home.  The service can be quite reliable, or it can stuggle if you're too far away from the AT&T Network equipment for that bandwidth (which normally means AT&T will lower your max bandwidth to something it can handle).

 

Tutor

 • 

7 Messages

7 years ago

Thanks for your reply JefferMC!  

 

What do you mean it can struggle if too far away from AT&T network equipment?  Do you mean if the wi fi gateway is far from my computer in my own house?  Or do you mean far away from network towers in my neighborhood?  I have a desktop computer in my basement and a laptop I use upstairs.  I mostly use my laptop in my house and also use wi fi on our cell phones.  Thanks for any help.

ACE - Expert

 • 

34.6K Messages

7 years ago

No, I meant that if your home is too far away from the box in the neighborhood where the AT&T upstream equipment is.  Although, yes, Wi-Fi is dependent on how far your device is from your Gateway, how much interference you get from neighboring homes, noisy appliances, cordless telephones, etc.  The latter can be fixed by adding access points.

When I had 18 Mbps (I now have 24), it was very reliable (my 24 is too) and I'd usually get more than 18 Mbps.  The Wi-Fi could be spotty, so I got my own router and configured it as an access point.  Later, I wanted to have some additional router functionality and got a better router and configured it as a router behind the U-verse Gateway.

 

Tutor

 • 

7 Messages

7 years ago

Thanks for clearing that up for me!  I appreciate it.

Scholar

 • 

98 Messages

7 years ago

Well here is my personal experience, and Jeffer, I will try to get the, "M-s," B-s, " etc. correct.>>LOL

 

 

When I had 3 Mbps DSL prior ro the 23rd (Jan) I watched Netflix just fine, even the HD programs, although maybe not quite as vivid as a BluRay, or a good HD TV broadcast, but fine. Now I have Uverse's 18 Mbps, getting nearly 23. I have been told that at my location, his is the highest I can go . Now I have not streamed any Netflix stuff with the higher speed yet, since I still have too many DVR'd shows to catch up on, but I am expecting them to look more BluRay like.

 

However since my Uverse (Not having their TV also) is not UNLIMITED, I am concerned about hitting their limit, since when I do stream, I could binge watch an entire shows season, like when watching something like, "Orange is The New Black."

 

 

How'd I do Jeffer :-)???

Professor

 • 

3.9K Messages

7 years ago

I have 6m dsl service. While I can't use it for live vidio streaming calls, or real time online games, etc. it works fine for you tube streams, tv program streams, etc.

Never had u-verse, so I just don't know how well it works, but in the three years I've had it, my dsl internet has only gone out three times.

Living in Florida, we do get power outs during heavy thunderstorms, etc. (not really that often) but as long as the lines stay up, I still have service.

Faster would be nicer, but what i have works for my needs. (My main gripe is over the 150 gig a month data cap..  but not really anything to do with this topic.)

I only recently got a wi-fi router, but it seems to work on my service just fine.

I am happy to have the service, and have few complaints about it.

Every area has it's own particulars, depending on the service equipment.

Luckily, mine seems to be decent. Others have reported, not so much.

In any case, good luck. Sometimes, what they show is the best sppeds they are pretty sure about, but actual performance can be better then listed. (or, sadly, worse.)

 

Tutor

 • 

7 Messages

7 years ago

Thanks JazzAzz and Tigereyze209 for your input!  

 

Sounds like I shouldn't have any problems streaming Netflix or Amazon Prime. Smiley Very Happy

Scholar

 • 

98 Messages

7 years ago

Not sure about amazon, but as I recall, Netflix has some technology to adjust for your connection. One time I was running an experiment trying to stream something on my PC while at the same time doing so on my BluRay player, and got this pop up on my 42"set. It said something to the affect, "Due you your Slow Internet Connect, we are making an adjustment." Both were able to stream, and that was either with 3 Mbps, or the brief time I boosted it to 6, but I wnet back, until now, being on Uverse (18 Mbps).

 

Not sure if Netflix still can or still does that though.

Professor

 • 

3.9K Messages

7 years ago

I have not been able to conclusivly verify this, as I just do not have the connection speed tools to do so, BUT, and this is entirly anicdotal, when I am downloading a large file, while the line speed stayes a constant 6 mega bits per second, my throughput seems to rise up to around 12-14 mbps. This only occours with continuos streams, not loading web pages, etc.

My upload speed maxes out at just under half of a meg (500 k per second) no matter what I do. (This is why sype and such do not work for me.. audio only.)

I can't explain this, only observe that it happens. (Best guess is maybe good data compression and de-compression?)

Anyways, hope it works out for ya.

ACE - Expert

 • 

34.6K Messages

7 years ago

Web page loading is a bunch of little requests, and you can only have so many in flight that you just don't use the capacity of the line unless you have extreemly low bandwidth.  When downloading, normally larger packets are used and more of them are allowed to be "in flight" at once.  (By in-flight, I mean transmitted packets that have been sent but not acknowledged.  Control of this is normally called windowing, and the limits known as window size.  The importance of tuning this increases with bandwidth and latency.)  This, however, can lead to buffer bloat, when packets having nothing to do with the transfer get delayed behind transfer packets (or vice versa, especially when multiple heavy streams are afoot).

 

Not finding what you're looking for?
New to AT&T Community?
New to the AT&T Community? Start by visiting the Community How-To.
New to the AT&T Community?
Visit the Community How-To.