Interactive Brokers and Internet Service Providers

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bigpig41

Does anyone using IB have difficulty with the data stream to their computer because of Comcast?? My present broker(not IB) has had much difficulty with Comcast's "packet-forgery" mainpulation and has had to write different patches for the trading platform to get it to work for those customers using that ISB. See http://www.eff.org/wp/packet-forgery-isps-comcast-affair.

I'm wanting to open an IB account but my only other ISP provider is a 3 megabit service through EMBARQ.

Thanks
 
I use IB as my primary broker and have Comcast as my ISP (IB for a little over a year; Comcast for many years). To date, I have not noted any consistent/persistent problems with respect to maintaining my connection to IB for transmission of trades, data, or anything else for that matter. Interesting white paper though and one can only wonder what inspired Comcast to embark on such a thing.

lj
 
Quote from ljyoung:

I use IB as my primary broker and have Comcast as my ISP (IB for a little over a year; Comcast for many years). To date, I have not noted any consistent/persistent problems with respect to maintaining my connection to IB for transmission of trades, data, or anything else for that matter. Interesting white paper though and one can only wonder what inspired Comcast to embark on such a thing.

lj
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i use to have exact opposite experience. so comcast sucks(at leat for me) signal strength is low,packet loss, disconnections -you name it..and no matter what they try-they are not able to fix it or even find a cause..finally give up and switch to fios as soon as it was avaliable in my area.
 
IB with DSL (AT&T) ... never had a problem. I think in my entire adult life I've never had the phones go out, whereas cable ... quite a different story.
 
I am not familiar with the packet forgery problem, but I have used Comcast with IB in two different cities, and I found it unsatisfactory both times. Coaxial cable is highly susceptible to interference, and I think that causes most of the brief interruptions. You probably would not notice the interruptions when web surfing, but they are intolerable when trading. I have been happy with both DSL and fiber optic (FiOS). I now use the latter.
 
I have some problems with Comcast disconnects during the trading day and once every two months I might be without service for 3 hours during the trading day. However, my problem is that in the beginning my data came through like lightening and the transaction prints flew by on my level II on Etrade-Pro almost faster than I could mentally process them. Since the time the customers in the link I posted began having problems I have began having data problems of all kinds until E-trade made changes to their platform to try to accomidate Comcast's interference.

tomahawk: Recently, I had Comcast tech. service out at my place testing my internet connection and they stated that all the changing data on my 75 symbols on my watchlist were not the kind of broadband overuseage that they try to modulate. They said that only people who are hogging broadband with video games were being interfered with. DO YOU THINK THAT THIS 3 MEGABIT DSL SERVICE THROUGH EMBARQ(formerly SPRINT) would outperform the 5 megabit Comcast service I presently have??? in terms of running a good data feed if I had an IB account>>>take into account that Etrade told me that they have had to packet their data in some different form so that it can run through Comcast. They may only send it intermittently or something. I'm not worried about the frequent disconnects with Comcast only being able to have the best chance at scalping stocks that I can from home. Wish that 10 megabit Embarq service was avail. in this area.
 
I am in Aus so I have no experience of Comcast. I was however responsible for internet service provision in a former career and my advice is to look at your ISP.

I choose to use an ISP (and ISP service) who does not offer kid's great deals to sign up but offers reliable, low latency, business service. You do not want someone to get too many new subs in your area or to go cheap on international interconnects or anything --- you want someone who is boring, reliable, and a little bit expensive.

So who is like that in the US?
 
Quote from bigpig41:
...DO YOU THINK THAT THIS 3 MEGABIT DSL SERVICE THROUGH EMBARQ(formerly SPRINT) would outperform the 5 megabit Comcast service I presently have...
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I would much prefer 3mb DSL over 5mb cable any day. I don't think overall speed is as important as reliability. Also, don't forget that download is only half of the connection. A lot of times vendors advertise fast download that uses some kind of compression that won't help you for trading.
 
FWIW, I've been trading on Embarq DSL 3MB service for a few years now w/o any significant issues (NJ). I can upgrade to 5MB if I felt I needed more throughput.

Before Embarq, I had RCN Cable which was mostly ok during the day but horrendous after 5 PM. They sold out to Patriot Media who recently sold out to Comcast.

R
 
RL8093: Do you think that your location relative to the "central office" rather than 3 versus 5 megabits is what makes it work acceptably?? in other words does the speed we pay for just get us to the DSL central office and then the transmission to and from the broker or NYSE etc. is the same once the signal gets to the central office regardless of which service( 3 or 5) we had??

Also, could I ask if your using IB to trade with your 3 megabit service? Guess I should look on their site and see if they state a certain DSL speed for TWS to work properly.

Thanks
 
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