Slower speeds with dcm-202?

ski11buzz · Post by **ski11buzz** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:28 pm

Hey guys, first post to the forum and sayin thanks to anyone that could help me out...

I recently purchased a dcm-202 modem to replace the one provided by comcast. The install went fine and the modem is working good, except, I now max out at about 300 kbps download when I was maxing out at around 1mbps before.

I did flash the modem with the comcast firmware and am using a wrt54gl wireless router with the freshest firmware. Although, there is no difference when using the router or running a direct line from the modem.

What could be the problem? I know the dcm-202 is a good modem and should be giving me more speed than this, but am lost on what to do to solve this problem. Any help is greatly appreciated, cheers.

trogers · Post by **trogers** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:34 pm

Post your TCP Analyzer report.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:41 pm

did you get Comcast to provision the modem per your MAC address or just plug it up and go?

and this

I did flash the modem with the comcast firmware

Can't be done by you..its forced upon your modem from the ISP or comcast per your package you pay for and provision your setup for the speeds you should be getting.

ski11buzz · Post by **ski11buzz** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:49 pm

« SpeedGuide.net TCP Analyzer Results »
Tested on: 02.10.2008 20:47
IP address: 67.190.xxx.xxx

TCP options string: 020405b401010402
MSS: 1460
MTU: 1500
TCP Window: 17520 (multiple of MSS)
RWIN Scaling: 0
Unscaled RWIN : 17520
Reccomended RWINs: 64240, 128480, 256960, 513920
BDP limit (200ms): 701kbps (88KBytes/s)
BDP limit (500ms): 280kbps (35KBytes/s)
MTU Discovery: ON
TTL: 113
Timestamps: OFF
SACKs: ON
IP ToS: 00000000 (0)

and yes, i did register the mac with them. also, the firmware flash was able to be done by me according to the guide i followed. Everything seemed to work fine...

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:09 pm

ski11buzz wrote:« SpeedGuide.net TCP Analyzer Results »
Tested on: 02.10.2008 20:47
IP address: 67.190.xxx.xxx

TCP options string: 020405b401010402
MSS: 1460
MTU: 1500
TCP Window: 17520 (multiple of MSS)
RWIN Scaling: 0
Unscaled RWIN : 17520
Reccomended RWINs: 64240, 128480, 256960, 513920
BDP limit (200ms): 701kbps (88KBytes/s)
BDP limit (500ms): 280kbps (35KBytes/s)
MTU Discovery: ON
TTL: 113
Timestamps: OFF
SACKs: ON
IP ToS: 00000000 (0)

and yes, i did register the mac with them. also, the firmware flash was able to be done by me according to the guide i followed. Everything seemed to work fine...

what package do you have with them? 6meg? and firmware/configs are pushed by comcast or the ISP. I'm curious as to what you did on this guide to. As for TCP optimzer settings.. you can push your RWIN up some to 64240, that might help some.

ski11buzz · Post by **ski11buzz** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:18 pm

i dont remember where the guide was that i followed, but I do remember that I used telnet to do it.

I just ran the optimizer for tcp/ip settings and set it to optimized. It changed my rwin to 256,000 something, and now speeds seem to be MUCH better already. Saw downloads in the 500 kbps range for the short while I was home checking it. This is also a more peak time, hopefully this made things better

Good move to just use the tcp/ip optimizer on 'optimized' settings?

ski11buzz · Post by **ski11buzz** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:19 pm

oh yeah, 6 meg package

trogers · Post by **trogers** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:22 pm

ski11buzz wrote:i dont remember where the guide was that i followed, but I do remember that I used telnet to do it.

That means you have not call your ISP and register the MAC address of your modem with them. Thus, your modem is deemed as an illegal device in their network, and so the low speed instead of 6 mbps.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:14 pm

trogers wrote:That means you have not call your ISP and register the MAC address of your modem with them. Thus, your modem is deemed as an illegal device in their network, and so the low speed instead of 6 mbps.

BINGO!! We have a winner!!

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:03 am

Sava700 wrote:and this Can't be done by you..its forced upon your modem from the ISP or comcast per your package you pay for and provision your setup for the speeds you should be getting.

Actually it can, he really means firmware and not modem config file, there is a comcast version of the dcm 202's regular firmware, basically it seems to just cripple the modem, from what I've read once you swtich to the comcast firmware theres no reverting back to another as it disables the telnet ability.

So in short if you could use the dcm 202 without the comcast firmware, probably would've been a good idea to stick with it.

And skibuzz, if you did call and have the modem provisioned, odds are the person you talked to over the phoen didnt change it, or didnt change it correctly lol

helter · Post by **helter** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:53 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Actually it can, he really means firmware and not modem config file, there is a comcast version of the dcm 202's regular firmware, basically it seems to just cripple the modem, from what I've read once you swtich to the comcast firmware theres no reverting back to another as it disables the telnet ability.

So in short if you could use the dcm 202 without the comcast firmware, probably would've been a good idea to stick with it.

And skibuzz, if you did call and have the modem provisioned, odds are the person you talked to over the phoen didnt change it, or didnt change it correctly lol

While it is possible to load your own firmware, the ISP generally does this. Loading your own is generally the action of uncapping the modem, and against your terms of service agreement.

http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php? ... =92&qid=98

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:25 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Actually it can, he really means firmware and not modem config file, there is a comcast version of the dcm 202's regular firmware, basically it seems to just cripple the modem, from what I've read once you swtich to the comcast firmware theres no reverting back to another as it disables the telnet ability.

So in short if you could use the dcm 202 without the comcast firmware, probably would've been a good idea to stick with it.

What it sounds like is he used a text with instructions on uncapping his modem which is illegal. I've seen the instructions and seen all the programs that do this and his telnet ability is correct, but he's complaining about slow speeds from a hacked modem it seems. The firmware is going to be pushed legit by the ISP or comcast just as the config is pushed to the modem per his package that he "pays" for.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:57 am

For future reference, unfortunately once a DCM-202 has been flashed to the Comcast firmware, it can't be flashed back. Something in the firmware upgrade, or the Comcast provisioning won't allow you to telnet into the modem. The only way to fix the issue is to RMA the modem. If the modem is outside of the one year warranty, you are SOL.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r182196 ... ware?r=760

In this case I don't think he was attempting to uncap the modem.

EDIT: Another interesting thing I read on dslreports is that comcast only supports the dcm 202 at a DOCSIS 1.0 modem, thus it wont get the use of powerboost. If thats true then its not a good choice for a comcast connection.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:20 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:
EDIT: Another interesting thing I read on dslreports is that comcast only supports the dcm 202 at a DOCSIS 1.0 modem, thus it wont get the use of powerboost. If thats true then its not a good choice for a comcast connection.

Yeah that dcm modem isn't a good choice.. the top one is the SB5120

helter · Post by **helter** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:47 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r182196 ... ware?r=760

In this case I don't think he was attempting to uncap the modem.

EDIT: Another interesting thing I read on dslreports is that comcast only supports the dcm 202 at a DOCSIS 1.0 modem, thus it wont get the use of powerboost. If that is true then its not a good choice for a comcast connection.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18998754

Looks like I found his update link.
Weird, never heard about this issue, hmm... Maybe I should go see what the fellows at cabletech know about it.

ski11buzz · Post by **ski11buzz** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:45 am

hey guys thanks a lot for all the help, but im pretty sure that using that tcp/ip optimizer was all I needed to do. I waited until 8:30 monday morning to run another speed test and it seems to be worked just as it should now. When I flashed the firmware I didnt think it was a big deal as I was just following the lead of others on newegg. But on to the good stuff...

From a denver test server which is roughly 100 miles from me I got a 6467 kb/s downstream, 369 kb/s upstream and a 24 ms ping after the tcp/ip optimizer. I pay for a 6 meg line, so everything seems gravy.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:12 am

ski11buzz wrote:From a denver test server which is roughly 100 miles from me I got a 6467 kb/s downstream, 369 kb/s upstream and a 24 ms ping after the tcp/ip optimizer. I pay for a 6 meg line, so everything seems gravy.

Ya you're getting your speeds, but you dont get the benefit of powerboost, though if lag is low and speeds are good I guess its not that bad since powerboost only works for little chunks here and there.

ski11buzz · Post by **ski11buzz** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 2:33 pm

what sort of speed changes could i see with powerboost? i download quite a bit from newsgroups. im thinking of selling the dcm-202 on ebay to get something with docsis 1.1

ski11buzz · Post by **ski11buzz** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 2:33 pm

and also game a bit

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:19 pm

ski11buzz wrote:what sort of speed changes could i see with powerboost? i download quite a bit from newsgroups. im thinking of selling the dcm-202 on ebay to get something with docsis 1.1

Your only going to see a "BURST" of speeds..usually doubled that of your provisioned package like 6megs 2x for at least 10seconds of the download, the 8meg package does 16megs for 20seconds I think. But they are switching everyone on the 8meg service to the 16meg solid Blast package or at least they have here which means you will get a solid 16megs vs the powerboost that only lasts a short time.

ski11buzz wrote:and also game a bit

Powerboost will do nothing really for gaming..