Telecom T-Stick faster than my Telecom fixed line broadband?

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Tomy255

28 posts

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#72485 27-Nov-2010 01:47

Ok well to start off we have been told for 5 years now that we are unable to get fixed line broadband even though we are a little less than 2km from the nearest exchange. Ok so that was incredibly frustrating but hey, we did our best. So at the start of 2009 we signed up for a 1gb+ plan on telecoms 3g network and we were given a Seirra wireless T-Stick. Speeds were pretty good to be honest and we were getting them at around 1mbps or 100kb/s.

Due to the fact that telecom are shutting down their 3g network at the end of this month we were FINALLY fortunate enough to get fixed lined broadband to our house! We then signed up for a 12 month Total home light package with 5gb of broadband. Now when i went to test the speed through the Thompson router they sent us too i was shocked that the speeds where absoloutly appauling?
the first test i got a download speed of 0.4mbps and an upload of 0.34mbps.

How the hell is this possible? I mean i understand that we have just been able to get broadband but i mean half the speeds of their 3g network is rediculous! This is really not that common considering households can get up to 1-2mbps +

So my question is what can i really do about it?

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#410112 27-Nov-2010 01:58

Tomy255: Ok well to start off we have been told for 5 years now that we are unable to get fixed line broadband even though we are a little less than 2km from the nearest exchange. Ok so that was incredibly frustrating but hey, we did our best. So at the start of 2009 we signed up for a 1gb+ plan on telecoms 3g network and we were given a Seirra wireless T-Stick. Speeds were pretty good to be honest and we were getting them at around 1mbps or 100kb/s.

Due to the fact that telecom are shutting down their 3g network at the end of this month we were FINALLY fortunate enough to get fixed lined broadband to our house! We then signed up for a 12 month Total home light package with 5gb of broadband. Now when i went to test the speed through the Thompson router they sent us too i was shocked that the speeds where absoloutly appauling?
the first test i got a download speed of 0.4mbps and an upload of 0.34mbps.

How the hell is this possible? I mean i understand that we have just been able to get broadband but i mean half the speeds of their 3g network is rediculous! This is really not that common considering households can get up to 1-2mbps +

So my question is what can i really do about it?

How are you testing the connection? what speed are you connected at? are you talking about megabytes per second or mega bits per second? the two are entirely different units.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

Tomy255

28 posts

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#410113 27-Nov-2010 02:18

Im using Speedtest.net to test it and they are Megabits per second

kontonnz

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#410114 27-Nov-2010 05:47

I've only just noticed something similar in regards to playing "world of Warcraft" using a mobile broadband stick I can get really low latency in fact i am seeing 233ms to around 345ms in Stormwind during a busy time. yet when using a fixed line connection i get 500ms and up. (broadband provider is xnet)

with 2degrees bringing in competition for mobile broadband I might be switching soon to purely mobile esp if outperforms fixed line broadband.

freitasm

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#410122 27-Nov-2010 08:18

Just a note, but Telecom is not switching off their 3G network. They are switching off the CDMA 2000 EVDO 3G network, the old one. Their XT service is a different service and is their 3G service replacing the old CDMA network.

sbiddle

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#410150 27-Nov-2010 09:41

I assumed you probably haven't performed any basic isolation tests on your line? Statistically speaking your internal house wiring is probably causing your poor speeds if you are within 2km of an exchange or cabinet.

Speedtests mean nothing - ADSL modem stats including attenuation levels are the only stats tghat mean anything. If these are poor and the wiring is at fault you'll need to fix the house wiring to improve speeds. The easiest way to do this is to get a master splitter installed.

Tomy255

28 posts

Geek

#410173 27-Nov-2010 11:39

yea i meant that they were just closing the EVDO but thats the main one i use. The 2g speeds (1x) is like EDGE speeds and is incredibly slow and Telecom want me to sign up for another 24 months on their XT mobile broadband which i am not doing since they are a nightmare with mobile broadband billing.

It cant be the wiring in my house thats really over exaggerating as they said we are 100m outside of ADSL2+ area and I really don't see why telecom would cut it off because in the space of 100m from my house to the ADSL2+ cut off point there are more houses in total then there are in the ADSL2+ area. Rediculous

NonprayingMantis

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#410180 27-Nov-2010 11:52

Tomy255: yea i meant that they were just closing the EVDO but thats the main one i use. The 2g speeds (1x) is like EDGE speeds and is incredibly slow and Telecom want me to sign up for another 24 months on their XT mobile broadband which i am not doing since they are a nightmare with mobile broadband billing.

It cant be the wiring in my house thats really over exaggerating as they said we are 100m outside of ADSL2+ area and I really don't see why telecom would cut it off because in the space of 100m from my house to the ADSL2+ cut off point there are more houses in total then there are in the ADSL2+ area. Rediculous

have you considered prepaid? It actually works out a lot cheaper than postpaid. When you topup $60 you get $80 of credit, which is enough to buy the 4GB plan. 4GB for $60 is pretty good value.

To answer your original post, chances are your home wiring is the main cause of your poor speeds. Ask your neighbours what speeds they are getting. if they are getting better speeds then that's a pretty good indication that it is your house that is the problem.

put your address is here:
www.telecomwholesale.co.nz/maps

it should tell you when your exchange was/will be upgraded to ADSL2+ (which it already has been fromyourposts)and, crucially, when you are due to be cabinitised.

secondly, it's not that uncommon for people to get better speeds on XT than on fixed line.
I do. I typically get between 4 and 7Mbps on my turbo t-stick, but less than 2Mbps on my fixed BB.

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Ragnor

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#410317 28-Nov-2010 01:10

Tomy255:

How the hell is this possible? I mean i understand that we have just been able to get broadband but i mean half the speeds of their 3g network is rediculous! This is really not that common considering households can get up to 1-2mbps +

It's rare but it is possible

You may have one or more of the following issues:
- Your house is very far away from the exchange or cabinet, longer lines higher attenuation more errors lower speed.
- Your phone line is of poor quality or has a fault.
- Your house wiring is old and/or poor and is causing a lot of interference.

You local cell phone tower might be much closer to you than your exchange/cabinet is.

Can you post the line stats from your adsl modem/routers admin ui (sync rate, line attenuation etc)?

Also check you address here, to see what exchange/cabinet area you are in:
http://www.telecomwholesale.co.nz/maps

Tomy255

28 posts

Geek

#410355 28-Nov-2010 10:44

Yea guys thanks for the tips and advice , much appreciated. Another question is that is it possible for another ISP to provide faster speeds? i got a call from slingshot the other day asking me to switch over to them for their excellent deals and i asked them about the exhanges and she said that slingshot have different exchanges and cabinets to Telecom? is this true?

NonprayingMantis

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#410365 28-Nov-2010 11:25

Tomy255: Yea guys thanks for the tips and advice , much appreciated. Another question is that is it possible for another ISP to provide faster speeds? i got a call from slingshot the other day asking me to switch over to them for their excellent deals and i asked them about the exhanges and she said that slingshot have different exchanges and cabinets to Telecom? is this true?

For your last question, no Slingshot do not use different exchanges and cabinets to telecom. They do have their own equipment inside some of Telecom's exchanges (not cabinets). If you tell us the area you live someone here will be able to tell you if your exchange has slingshot's equipment in it, although tbh I think it unlikely in your case given what you have already said. Also if you are outside the area for ADSL2+ forTelecom then even if slingshot has their own equiment in your exchange it won't make any difference.

Secondly, it is possible that another ISP gives different speeds, even when they are using the same exchanges and equipment that Telecom use. Each ISP buys it's own backhaul, international capacity etc which makes a difference.. Again though I have to say that it is probably your house wiring that is causing the problem, not the ISP, so switching won't do anything to change that if that is the case.

If you do decide to give another ISP a go, I would recommend against Slingshot. see this story here
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10690502

tombrownzz

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#410374 28-Nov-2010 12:22

what suburb do you live in?

webnation

67 posts

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#410389 28-Nov-2010 13:05

your line dsl download speed is unreal, as mentioned above you need to do line testing...there are must be sth wrong.

and 3G broadband could be really fast not sure the telecom t-stick limitation, but my 2degrees usb stick can go 3Mbps, but then XT network has much more capability(it is a 21Mbps network)

freitasm

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#410395 28-Nov-2010 13:28

Tomy255: Yea guys thanks for the tips and advice , much appreciated. Another question is that is it possible for another ISP to provide faster speeds? i got a call from slingshot the other day asking me to switch over to them for their excellent deals and i asked them about the exhanges and she said that slingshot have different exchanges and cabinets to Telecom? is this true?

If you have not done isolation tests at home and determined what's the problem, then it's unlikely.

You won't get anything better from any other ISP if you find out that:

1.You don't have filter
2.You have filters in wrong places
3.Your phones are causing interference
4.Your alarm is causing interference
5.Your internal wiring are of low quality

So as suggested before you have to first determine those conditions. Being so close to the Exchange points out to an internal problem - most of the problems are internal.

If you can certainly rule all these out, then get some Telecom/Chorus technician to check the connection. But simply changing ISPs won't help if the problem is inside your house.

daman88

81 posts

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#410500 28-Nov-2010 22:36

+1 to Freitasm

Tomy255

28 posts

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#410675 29-Nov-2010 13:15

i live along State highway 16 between Westgate shopping center and Brighams creek Road

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