CenturyLink speed changes, continued streaming pending streaming performance tests

Roughly the first week of November of 2021, I noticed that my upload rates seems slower when uploading gaming videos to YouTube, so I decided to run another speed test on 11/8/2021 & found that it appears my speeds have changed (download speeds increasing roughly 10 Mbps from where I should have been, the uploading rate running roughly 4 Mbps higher than what I was originally quoted when I switched back to CenturyLink from Comcast...but roughly half of what I had when they fixed my internet back in July).

While 3 Mbps was not high enough to continue streaming online multiplayer games (what I was getting back when I first switched back to CenturyLink), 7 Mbps might be enough to allow me to continue streaming the games I'd prefer to be streaming (although I was getting 10 Mbps upload when I was with Comcast).  I'll be running some tests when I get a chance to stream again to see if this increase in upload rate allows me to stream at 3000 Kbps (what I prefer to stream at); If not, I'll again be restricted in my streaming capability to only single player games until decent internet is available in my area (that doesn't feel like it costs an arm, leg & newborn child every month...).

 I'm still waiting on Google Fiber to be become available in my area, with any luck, maybe Biden's new budget plans will get these companies to start laying fiber optic cables for fiber internet plans once again (as they stated 4 or 5 years ago when I first moved here, later finding out that those plans were abandoned when CenturyLink changed their management company).

Sometime after 9 PM on July 11th, I noticed that my internet had started to have issues, only giving me about half of the transfer rate I was supposed to be getting since my switch to CenturyLink (40 mbps download & 3 upload), which can be seen here:

After the call on the 11th, they said they were going to have somebody look at it, but I never got an update on this & attempted to contact them again for a followup on the 13th, to which I got 2 answers that didn't go anywhere (the first call not saying a thing after their picked up, the second call not saying anything until I started repeating "Hello?" to see if anybody was even there, they eventually asked for my name & account number, where after I gave them that information, they started claiming that they couldn't hear me speaking.

I tried again the following day (the 14th) in an attempt to get an update on what was going on, finally getting somebody who responded, it seems that a support ticket wasn't even opened on the first call I made on the 11th.  I did start messing with the cables attached to the back of my modem & did a few more power recycles to see if it was just a loose cable, I got it working again (at full speed), so I closed the work ticket & went to bed (spending more time that I should have trying to get this working & mitigating what online tasks I could get done while the connection was malfunctioning).  When I woke up however, I saw that the issue was back (this time on the other line to the modem), so I rescheduled the previous work order (luckily I still had the email with the confirm, reschedule & cancel links in it).

The technician came to work on the issue on the 15th, stating that the problem was simply a clasp that had disconnected itself from the connection, so all he had to do was reclasp it & my internet was working at full capacity again.

After the got it working again, I was discussing the transfer rates with him & prorated refunds for time that the internet was not working at full capacity.  He explained that I would get an automatic prorated refund based on when the support ticket was opened, but this would only be fore the time that the ticket was opened (this means I'd only be getting back to the 14th, the 11th to the 13th I'd get stiffed on).  I stated that I might have to call CenturyLink's billing to try & get back the rest of it (stating that I had speedtest & call logs regarding the matter I could probably use as evidence to get the rest of it).

Beyond that, he also was talking to me about the capabilities of what I should be able to get in transfer rates on my home (this coming after I was speaking to my neighbor about his outage with CenturyLink, a full outage for a couple days in his case, but he was getting a MUCH FASTER transfer rate).  The technician stated that I should be able to get a higher transfer rate & for testing sake, he increased my upload rate to test it's capabilities.  While he increased it to 20 mbps for this testing period (which he was intending on lowering back to what CenturyLink is claiming what should be available in my area, despite my neighbors being able to get 100 mbps upload & 40 upload), I was getting roughly 13 mbps when I ran a speedtest with the elevated speeds.

It appears for the time being, he's going to leave it at the higher transfer rate (at least until CenturyLink's system kicks it back to the mere 3 that was assigned to me when I switched back to them in 2018).  For this reason, I decided I wouldn't be seeking the addition credit to my account for the 3 days that isn't going to be prorated in the automatic refund as it's going to improve my ability to continue doing stuff online (at least as long as the increased upload rate remains for the 3 days that did not count due to their not creating a support ticket during the original conversation on the 11th).

Note that I have not been streaming to Twitch since the switch to CenturyLink & the initial tests that made it clear I could not continue streaming online multiplayer games with only 3 mbps upload rate, only leaving the possibility for single player games that didn't rely on internet bandwidth for decent functionality.  However provided this upload rate sticks for a while, I may be able to go back to streaming to Twitch until it's lowered again (at that point we're back to the waiting game of waiting for either CenturyLink to wire the neighborhood with fiber and ultimately until Google Fiber becomes available in my area, which is probably the only thing that is going to end my boycott that is keeping me from putting my payment information on any Google service after YouTube allowed Bandai/Namco to go after my YouTube channel simply because of a link that went to a review of one of their games on my personal site that they didn't agree with).

Long story short, those that are following the channel can expect some more streams to Twitch (at least until the upload rate is lowered again), so it's a pleasant change after 4 days of hell of not being able to do half of what I've been attempting to get done, we'll just have to see how long it lasts before I have to stop streaming again...

ISP switch currently a bust, Twitch streams are currently up in the air

The attempt to switch to CenturyLink for the time being has been unsuccessful, the technician not only leaving before the order had been completed, but the modem currently is getting no connection to the internet after recycling the power on it. Until the order is completed, it looks like I'm still stuck with Xfinity. Using the connection I still have with Xfinity, I spoke to 2 representatives to get this matter resolved over the phone for close to 1 hour & 36 minutes, looks like CenturyLink is still incapable of being able to tell who is supposed to fix what & they are still bouncing customers around like ping pong balls (this is what originally got me to switch from them back in 2014)...

I still don't know where this is going or when I'm going to have a stable internet connection with a new ISP, ultimately it's looking better to just remove the boost option from my Xfinity bill & eat the lower speeds with higher costs if CenturyLink can't get their shit in order... Most of my day today has already been wasted with what CenturyLink has been dragging out & the installation technician leaving with the statement of, "That's on you" when I stated we needed to figure out why the modem wouldn't work with my router (attempting to put the modem into bridge mode, which made the administration interface inaccessible & an internet connection completely lost after recycling the power).

Currently the status of streams regarding my Twitch channel are up in the air as I'm not certain where the status of my ISP is going, temporary or not, I can't get anything affordable that is dependable & this is killing my ability to do anything online worthwhile... I'll give another update when I know better where this is going, but I currently don't have anything concrete, I may end up abandoning this switch & just lowering my speed with Xfinity to get the bill down a bit or actually considering going with a satellite provider as a temporary solution until I have something dependable to switch to...

Changes in ISP may effect streaming quality/frequency

Recently I switched my phone to another provider & found out afterwards that by removing my phone from my current internet service provider, this was NOT going to save me any money (only dropping it about $4 per month, meaning I was actually paying more between the 2 services).  I decided to leave this for a month to at least get the prorated refund from overpaying the bill last month, but when I go my new bill from XFINITY, it became clear that the damage was far worse than originally expected, I not only didn't get the prorated refund I was promised on the next bill, the monthly price was also jacked up almost $20 more per month that originally quoted.

On 2/24/2020, it was decided that I needed to switch my ISP ASAP, the changes are already in motion & it doesn't fare well with my gaming habits or ability to stream to Twitch, so this may effect how often I'm able to stream to Twitch, what quality I am able to stream at or could just negate my ability to stream at all (this will be determined when I attempt to stream over this ISP for the first time).

This is what's currently know regarding the changes that are being made:

• Downloads are going to take a LOT longer to download (when gaming is concerned, this means patches & new games), so that's going to effect frequency of streams (once I'm able to get back to streaming, health issues have been the main hindrance of regular streams for roughly 2 months now).
• The upload rate is going to a mere 2 mbps upload rate (I had 10 mbps with the other ISP that I'm now switching from), so this might effect the quality of streams or possibly effect my ability to stream at all if I have to drop upload bitrate on video encoding too far to be able to meet what the upload bandwidth is capable of.

Currently I don't know what is going to come out of the monthly data cap, that will likely be the determining factor as to whether I can stream at all, if not needing a quality downgrade to still remain functional under the lowered upload rate.  I was told it was unlimited (later they changed that statement to give an actual variable), provided it at least gives me 500 GBs over a month, I may still be able to stay within this restriction while streaming, however only time will tell...

Eventually I want to switch to Google Fiber, but currently this is not available in my area, I have put myself on a mailing list to let me know when it does become available.  This will give me a much higher upload rate & a definite increase in download rate from what I'm going to be stuck with with this new ISP, but until then, I'll will be confined to new limitations with this new ISP until I am able to get a decent ISP in my area.