Do i have to update the drivers on my on-board nic? Any suggestions at all would be appriciated.

You might want to try and read VanBuren’s fix speed issues topics.

Absolutely, but I didn't want to do anything untill he instructed me on what to do. Im going to try to upgrade my NIC and see what that does. I would love to get pitbull481's speed. but im only getting like 480



Pitbull481's speed with the same service and with the 6.0 Mbps upgrade that I now have.

Connection is:: 6021 Kbps about 6 Mbps (tested with 5983 KB)
Download Speed is:: 735 kB/s
Tested From:: http://www.testmy.net/
Test Time:: Mon Feb 28 2005 15:16:38 GMT-0600 (Central Standard Time)
Bottom Line:: 108X faster than 56K 1MB download in 1.39 sec
Diagnosis: Awesome! 20% + : 96.96 % faster than the average for host (Comcast.net)
Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/id-G43D0SBF1

I would LOVE to be at that speed. 

Hey ampz,

I had the same problem with Comcast and after having 3 techs out and being told my computer was too old and that 6M wasn't really avaliable in my area, I asked them to replace my modem.  I was using a COM21 modem I'd had for 3 years, they told me a modem wouldn't help, so I asked what would it hurt to replace it if you have one in your truck.  They replaced it with a Motorola Surfboard and now I'm slightly over 6M.  The old modem wasn't taking the firmware upgrades or something to that effect.

Anyway it's worth looking into.  The way I look at it we're paying for the service I want to see it.

Also try speedguide.net TCP optimizer

::::::::::.. Download Stats ..::::::::::
Connection is:: 5992 Kbps about 6 Mbps (tested with 5983 KB)
Download Speed is:: 731 kB/s
Tested From:: http://www.testmy.net/
Test Time:: Wed Mar 2 14:39:11 PST 2005
Bottom Line:: 107X faster than 56K 1MB download in 1.4 sec
Diagnosis: Awesome! 20% + : 92.92 % faster than the average for host (Comcast.net)
Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/id-CB5R70GXE

Hey Ampz..
This situation sounds familuare.
Make sure that Comcast has actualy upped your cap!
I Had a Motorola SB 3100 and called for the higher speed (6mg) and was told that I had it and all I had to do was power-cycle my modem and it would be faster.  It went from about 2.2 to 4.0,
so I started reading the forums at Comcast and found out that a few others had older modems that would not go nearly as fast as the new speed. The tech that came out  got into an argument with her office when she called in to sstart up the new Motorola SB5100 that she had just installed. Seems there are alot of modems out here that will NOT accept a 6.6mg download speed.
After she left, she called me to tell me that my service when she arrived was still at the 4mg speed and that my modem should have just cycled itself, which it had. After that.......I had the faster speed and started working on Vanburens tweaks.
I was at 5.0mg before installing Cablenut .
Now I am getting about 6.3 down and could probably go a little faster with some further tweaking.
I also found out that Avast antivirus sucks about 2mb off the speed and Zone alarm, another .5 or so.
My NIC had a driver up-date so I installed that but I didnt test befor and after to see if it actualy helped.
Good Luck.::::::::::.. Download Stats ..::::::::::
Connection is:: 6312 Kbps about 6.3 Mbps (tested with 5983 KB)
Download Speed is:: 771 kB/s
Tested From:: http://www.testmy.net/
Test Time:: Mon Mar 07 2005 07:08:33 GMT-0600 (Central Standard Time)
Bottom Line:: 113X faster than 56K 1MB download in 1.33 sec
Diagnosis: Awesome! 20% + : 102.31 % faster than the average for host (Comcast.net)
Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/id-M7YG2R61E

i gor Comcast 6000/768 here are my results


::::::::::.. Download Stats ..::::::::::
Connection is:: 6211 Kbps about 6.2 Mbps (tested with 5983 KB)
Download Speed is:: 758 kB/s
Tested From:: http://www.testmy.net/
Test Time:: Mon Mar 07 2005 14:00:36 GMT-0600 (Central Standard Time)
Bottom Line:: 111X faster than 56K 1MB download in 1.35 sec
Diagnosis: Awesome! 20% + : 98.88 % faster than the average for host (Comcast.net)
Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-CKUI9ED68




::::::::::.. Upload Stats ..::::::::::
Connection is:: 707 Kbps about 0.7 Mbps (tested with 1013 KB)
Upload Speed is:: 86 kB/s
Tested From:: http://www.testmy.net/
Test Time:: Mon Mar 07 2005 14:01:40 GMT-0600 (Central Standard Time)
Bottom Line:: 13X faster than 56K 1MB upload in 11.91 sec
Diagnosis: Awesome! 20% + : 112.95 % faster than the average for host (Comcast.net)
Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-DPVGNRBZ2

It is highly unlikely you are (or will ever see) service speeds provided by the isp go beyond what your modem can actually handle. This assumes you have a modem that at least supports 10Mbps. I'm not a networking+equipment expert so there might be residential cable modems that are (hardware)capped well below 10Mbps but I'm not aware of them personally. In general the steps for you to upgrade would probably be utterly simple, such as 'Ok, I'll pay. Bump my account settings'. "Done sir." 'Thanks'. You would then apply 6000/768 VanB settings (or use tcpoptimizer with less registry automation features) to try and maximize your network traffic handling.

At that point, if things are working properly a testmy.net speed test should get you at, near or over the 6Mbps marker.