Issues with Comcast throttling. Possible shenanigans

Hardware Hub Networking
1

Back last year my Comcast issued modem died. It was a Ubee U10C035. I had no problems with it until it died. I went to return the modem to my local office and get a replacement but now they offer the Comcast branded wireless gateways, that cost 15 dollars per month. I opted out of getting one and went to Walmart and bought a Motorola Surfboard SB6121 and had it activated once I got home. Everything has been working fine up until October. I am also using OpenDNS due to the fact that the DNS servers on Comcast suck. Constant outages but with OpenDNS there is none.

My router is Netgear N750 WNDR4300

I have had nothing but problems ever since, it seems like everything is throttled these days.

Netflix = Throttled
Hulu = Throttled
YouTube = Throttled
Steam = Throttled

Also my data usage meter is gone. They want me to call a number to get it reactivated but everytime I call it I get put on hold for over 30 minutes.

I am at a loss. All my devices streams ok (most of the time) YouTube mobile however wants me to force HD. But my PC using a wired connection does not stream properly 80 percent of the time.

Could my ethernet adapter be configured wrong?

I also have a pretty beefy connection so not being able to stream YouTube in HD makes no sense.

I have never been this pissed off as I am now with Comcast, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, etc.

Remember when video streaming would buffer the entire video all at once? I miss that.

Does anyone have any advice for my problem?

2

This is just a wild idea of mine I'm probably executing soon, but a custom VPN server on a VPS in a reliable datacenter nearby should prevent all IP-based throttling.

3

I would highly recommend a vpn. It can speed up you traffic to popular website like youtube, netflix, etc. as well as encrypt your traffic so it is private. Logan and Wendell explain it better here though.

4

Can I install that onto a router? They never did a video explaining how to.

5

If your router supports DD wrt then definitely. Otherwise it might be an option in settings but router dependent

6

I watch YouTube on my tablet, phone and PC. Hulu and Netflix I watch on my TV using my Samsung Home Theater System. If I could get this to work with my router it would be awesome.

Before I get to using a VPN I will swap over my DNS servers to the vanilla settings then get my usage meter back. It will be well worth the wait in the end I hope.

7

You might also look at using a vpn on one device -before you invest time in doing this at the router level

8

It definitely is shenanigans at my ISP. The throttle is not a problem right now, due to the fact that it is the last day of the month.

If I knew how to fill out a complaint with Comcast on the FCC website I would.

Comcast bills you when you go over the data cap so throttling makes no sense.

9

They're probably throttling because they want you to pay more and because their network is so bad it couldn't actually handle the speed they sell if everyone wanted to use it.