Our cable-based ISP, Charter Communications, has been upgrading the infrastructure on Hatteras Island during the off-season and thus has brought about some instability during the upgraded (as one would expect). For the last month of so Internet over cable down here has been very hit-or-miss; long pauses during downloads, very odd "bursty" throughput and occasional blackouts have all been part of the fun.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a complaint against Charter. They are dumping a lot of money into a small area of land with limited ROI. They could have easily kept everyone capped at 3 meg/384 k and called it a day but the are trying to upgrade the network to bring higher speeds to the area and I applaud their efforts. Their actions are more laudable when you keep in mind they really have no competition down here. DSL service south of the Bonner Bridge is horrible at best and WiMax providers are non-existent, at least for now.
Last night, upon arrival to the condo in Rodanthe I cranked up the network gear and ran a speed test to see what I could expect as far as weekend Internet service. All priase Saint Isidore of Seville! 10 meg down, 1 meg up?!?!?!? Could this really be? Last night it was, that much I can tell you. Absolutely blistering fast transfers. Last week we started an album download from iTunes that lasted 26 hours. Last night I downloaded the rather funky song Hocus Pocus by Focus in mere seconds!
And what about today? What kind of bandwidth am I getting this morning? 3 meg down, 384 k up. Go figure! But the 3 meg I am getting is solid with no pauses. I can't be happier about that. Well I could, if I were still getting the 10 meg down like I was last night.
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