what broadband speed is reasonable? (aka poor contention rates!)

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › what broadband speed is reasonable? (aka poor contention rates!)

zl4plm

45 posts

Geek

#110431 9-Oct-2012 15:22

I'm struggling a bit with Telecom a the moment and need some advice!

Over the past year or so my broadband speeds are getting progressively slower and slower till now where in the evenings its nigh on useless!

I live in a small village west of CHCH (West Melton) - I am a few Km from the cabinet and while my speeds are not lightning fast they have been acceptable (6.5M down / 0.9M up)

Ive a case open with telecom on this but not getting a lot of traction and I know why (well i think I know why!)

Ive collected a fair amount of speedtest data over the past weeks and its pretty obvious the problem is contention rates.

Heres the survey I did over the past weekend:

DateTime Ping Down Speed Up Speed 28-Sep23:05:00 159 1.04 0.09 29-Sep07:20:00 137 4.29 0.66 09:30:00 142 1.3 0.08 10:30:00 150 1.2 0.7 12:00:00 171 0.8 0.64 13:00:00 140 1.59 0.71 16:30:00 134 3.8 0.74 22:00:00 165 1.2 0.7 30-Sep08:50:00 77 5.7 0.74 12:04:00 78 1.4 0.7 16:30:00 153 1.7 0.7 21:00:00 147 0.6 0.7 22:50:00 2.04 0.7 00:08:00 140 1.6 0.7 1-Oct06:50:00 133 5.47 0.74 18:13:00 156 0.9 0.67 22:40:00 192 0.48 0.6 23:00:00 161 1.1 0.6 2-Oct07:05:00 137 4.9 0.7

So - looking at that I can see easily that quiet times = ok speeds given the modem negotiated rate of 6.5M - but in times of busy periods such as evening its down right unusable.

West Melton is going through a huge growth due to migrants from the city buying new properties - my friends are 13th on a waiting list for a free port in the village and have been waiting for 6 months so far.

I'd change provider but that wont help and I'd loose my port

I'd go to wifi but we have a &(&(*&(* mobile signal too !

Stuffed!

I've logged a case with telecom who have chorus on it but I am quite sure that its simply the local cabinet is overloaded - we are DSL not upgraded - no DSL2 or VDSL here!

I even asked they freeze or reduce my charge to no avail

not sure what else i can do ... we are a family of 4 heavy internet users and this is causing some stress with teenagers trying to study - while I try and run a business from home!

Ideas?

Not sure who else to nose up to get some action on this... as we have 100's of new homes in the area and more being built this situation will only get quickly and progressively worse!

Thoughts? (Ive changed all the normal points etc -filter etc ) looks simply congestion?

Cheers

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3344 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Vocus

#698480 9-Oct-2012 15:27

I'd say you're a bit stuck, unless there is EUBA or UFB, or even RBL coming to your area, or your local exchange is unbundled with another provider.

Anyway if your sync speed is 6.5Mb/s (quite good for ADSL) 4.7 is not all that bad.

pageweon

393 posts

Ultimate Geek

#698483 9-Oct-2012 15:27

Have you looked at going satellite? If it is congestion like you say I doubt chorus can do much bar building a new cabinet

this is where a signature goes

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#698498 9-Oct-2012 15:35

This issue will impact all customers on any ISP

zl4plm

45 posts

Geek

#698504 9-Oct-2012 15:42

i agree - 4.7 isnt bad for DSL but it does not stay at 4.7 .... its usually 0.4 in the evenings and at weekends!

I think satellite would not give me much in the way of speed ... i think 2mb max here locally unless some new providers around??

and yes ... it will affect all ISP's if they are on copper and the same cabinet

no chance of UFB here .. RBL etc all pipe dreams ...

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

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Vocus

#698506 9-Oct-2012 15:44

zl4plm: i agree - 4.7 isnt bad for DSL but it does not stay at 4.7 .... its usually 0.4 in the evenings and at weekends!

I think satellite would not give me much in the way of speed ... i think 2mb max here locally unless some new providers around??

and yes ... it will affect all ISP's if they are on copper and the same cabinet

no chance of UFB here .. RBL etc all pipe dreams ...

Looks like you've answered your own question ;)

Suggest moving to a different locale with EUBA, LLU or UFB :)

zl4plm

45 posts

Geek

#698510 9-Oct-2012 15:48

Id be happy if the cabinet handled the number of users on it - I realise that I am never going to get fibre to the door - well not unless I win lotto!!!

but even so - I dont believe this is what I would call reasonable or consistent

Im seeing telecom running behind T&Cs now .... ie we dont commit to any speed.

Well thats fine ... if it was due to distance, or the applications I use or web pages I visited but this is simply down to numbers of users exceeding cabinet capacity or back haul capacity.

That in my view is an unreasonable customer approach ... problem is ... getting someone to listen and act on it!

DOHHHH!

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#698515 9-Oct-2012 15:51

If you want action on it offer to pay for the fibre and upgrade then!

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zl4plm

45 posts

Geek

#698519 9-Oct-2012 15:53

better bet on my lucky numbers then!

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#698520 9-Oct-2012 15:54

Same for Chorus and other carriers they have budgets as well

zl4plm

45 posts

Geek

#698525 9-Oct-2012 16:01

I know ... I work in the industry.... have to deal with project budgets everyday - sadly!

I used to work for 'big red' in EU too - LOL

But you have to maintain a reasonable level of service ... regardless of budgets

thats my bug with this ... I did have decent service which has disappeared slowly over the past year

and this is not going to get any better .... more people moving in ..... not good for business inc mine!

Talkiet

4792 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#698573 9-Oct-2012 16:56

Certainly sounds like you're simply running against limits of the backhaul of some DSL equipment typically deployed in less populated rural areas.

There are a couple of ADSL2+/VDSL cabinets out that direction but I presume you have checked the Chorus Service Availability Tool:

http://www.chorus.co.nz/sat

and found you are in the Rolleston Exchange area rather than the ROL/L cabinet.

On the other hand - it seems like the area is scheduled for RBI coverage within the next 12 months:

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/about/media-centre/rural-broadband-initiative/coverage/

There's also a small pocket of Broadband over Fibre coverage as well, presumably to cover West Melton School and the development immediately to the east of it.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#698574 9-Oct-2012 17:00

look at it this way.
you were getting a better service than expected before when there were fewer users than there was capacity. they were undersubscribed so everybody got more bandwidth.

now that they have taken on more people in the cabinet (and this will be a chorus thing, not telecom) the speeds have dropped back to the level that you 'should' be getting when the cabinet is fully subscribed.

they let motorways get congested at peak hours for years before they upgrade them. this is the same kind of thing.

sucks for you unfortunately, but that is the nature of things. sorry that isn't much help but there really isn;t anything that you, telecom or any other ISP can do about it short of you moving house.

zl4plm

45 posts

Geek

#698575 9-Oct-2012 17:01

N - sent u a PM

thanks

zl4plm

45 posts

Geek

#698577 9-Oct-2012 17:02

NonprayingMantis: look at it this way.
you were getting a better service than expected before when there were fewer users than there was capacity. they were undersubscribed so everybody got more bandwidth.

now that they have taken on more people in the cabinet (and this will be a chorus thing, not telecom) the speeds have dropped back to the level that you 'should' be getting when the cabinet is fully subscribed.

they let motorways get congested at peak hours for years before they upgrade them. this is the same kind of thing.

sucks for you unfortunately, but that is the nature of things. sorry that isn't much help but there really isn;t anything that you, telecom or any other ISP can do about it short of you moving house.

zl4plm

45 posts

Geek

#698578 9-Oct-2012 17:02

NonprayingMantis: look at it this way.
you were getting a better service than expected before when there were fewer users than there was capacity. they were undersubscribed so everybody got more bandwidth.

now that they have taken on more people in the cabinet (and this will be a chorus thing, not telecom) the speeds have dropped back to the level that you 'should' be getting when the cabinet is fully subscribed.

they let motorways get congested at peak hours for years before they upgrade them. this is the same kind of thing.

sucks for you unfortunately, but that is the nature of things. sorry that isn't much help but there really isn;t anything that you, telecom or any other ISP can do about it short of you moving house.

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