Telecom Broadband drops in Chch? Then read this

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25 posts

Geek

#56829 4-Jan-2007 09:47

I received an E-mail today from Telecom saying they've made changes to my circuit at the Exchange and that I shouldn't have to modulate anymore. I've changed back to my original settings and I'm trying it now. No drops so far but then it has only been 10 minutes.

Here's their E-mail:
--------------------------------

Dear Mr Gallagher,

Changes have been made to the equipment that you connect to in the exchange. These changes should resolve your disconnection issue without the need for you to modulate.

If you have not yet done so, may you please set your modem up as normal and test your connection with our new settings. We will be monitoring your connection for the following 5 days in order to establish if this change has resolved your concerns.

Thank you for your patience in this matter. If you have any further queries regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards
--------------------------
So, I'm trying it and I will post in the next 24 hours to say how it has all turned out. If they've solved it, it has taken from 23 November until 4 January. But, I have to say that even though they've been slow, they did not forget me and they've been professional all the way.

Cheers.

galron

25 posts

Geek

#57147 7-Jan-2007 10:45

Sunday morning, 7-Jan-07 and my Internet connection has been fine. Looks like Telecom finally sorted their problems out.

Cheers, this thread might be at an end.

tallPete

99 posts

Master Geek

#57148 7-Jan-2007 11:14

That is great news and a very professional response on Telecoms part, well done to them (and yourself) for getting it resolved.

neilinnz

165 posts

Master Geek

#57892 14-Jan-2007 21:43

Can I just add I also went back to my original setting and all is well now too..... except, my speed has dropped by about half from what it was before the Go Large plans were introduced.
Seems to me they didn't fully test 'Go Large', it affected lots of users, many who probably don't even realise.
Now, Telecom have turned down their speed to fix the problems.

For anyone's info I was connected at 3800kbps before the 'Go Large' plan was introduced, I'm now on 1984kbps but at least it stays up!!!

bok007

77 posts

Master Geek

#58056 16-Jan-2007 12:31

I have had similar problem with my ADSL dropping out since October last year!
It was dropping out every ten minutes for 1-2 minutes at a time.
I tried to change the modulation type but that didn't fix it.
I persisted over Xmas with phoning Xtra every couple of days.
eventually it got fixed.
I mentioned that my connection speed was reduced when they
fixed it and they made another change and I got an increase
from 1.5m to 3m dl.

galron

25 posts

Geek

#58057 16-Jan-2007 12:42

BOK,

That's interesting. I'm using a tool just now to check my download speeds and I'm getting 6. to 1.5 consistently. The tool I'm using is at http://speedtest.dslnet.com.au/ How are you measuring your speeds?

Neil, are you following this? What speeds are you getting and what tool are you using to measure it?

I'm wondering if I should call Telecom or let sleeping dogs lie.

Cheers,

bok007

77 posts

Master Geek

#58064 16-Jan-2007 13:13

http://www.nzdsl.co.nz/module-Speedtest.phtml

Best to use a test from NZ rather than Aussie

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

neilinnz

165 posts

Master Geek

#58131 16-Jan-2007 22:08

I got 1.28Mbps with the speedtest.
I have told Telecom about this and they didn't expect it to drop so much so they want me to see if it increases at all over the next couple of weeks.

To be honest I am happy that it works, stays up and is a usable speed, I'd rather have this solid speed than a broken 4Mbps line. I have to use a VPN to the UK for work so a constant connection is far more beneficial.

For anyone elses info I also got a months refund worth $79 for all the connection issues I had in November, so credit to Telecom for that.

neilinnz

165 posts

Master Geek

#62401 1-Mar-2007 09:59

Just an update if anyone is interested.

I had all these connection problems since GoLarge was switched on so I was forced to switch to a Pro plan in order to get a decent connection that didn't drop however I had to configure the modem to use a slower ADSL connection with a max of 2Mbps/512Kbps.
Then I risked going back to GoLarge in Feb and the connection problems were still there.
Since Xtra admitted the GoLarge problems and have only refunded the GoLarge customers and not those forced to use the higher priced one I'd had enough so I switched to Orcon.

Now here's the interesting things, without any physical changes to the line or the modem my connection speed has more than doubled to over 5Mbps, a speed I've never had or been anywhere near on Xtra broadband.
So for those people not switching providers because you think it won't affect your connection speed because Telecom own the cables etc. - well it did affect mine.

Full screen Skype to the UK works very well as does Joost, and bit-torrents went from 30Kbps on GoLarge to 490Kbps.
I'm now on max up, max down, 30Gb for $79 and nope I don't have any connection with Orcon at all, I'm just a frustrated ex-Xtra customer.

bok007

77 posts

Master Geek

#62402 1-Mar-2007 10:08

Congratulations!
I wish I could swap providers but work pays for my connection.
I swapped from Adventure to go-large in Feb too, and the disconnections are back!

2-3 times a day so not as bad as before but still bad enough
I borrored a different router (CISCO 837) and didn't get any disconnects for a week,
but it was dial-up slow

Xtra have just sent me a replacement Dlink 604t so see how that goes

galron

25 posts

Geek

#62403 1-Mar-2007 10:28

Neil,

That's great news - good for you.   I'm wondering how the traffic for your new provider is routed.   I was just reading on Rod Drury's site how some of the Auckland stuff, which was seperated from Telecom, now routes over to OZ and back.   You're in the Auckland area, right?

I remember one poster, much earlier in this thread or a similar one, had done some route tracing and saw that packets within New Zealand were being wildly mis-routed and thus sliced, diced and delayed.   No wonder Skype was trashed. How can you reassemble packets in any rough order in a timely fashion from a messy transition like that?

Rod Drury just published a paper (Securing our Digital Trade Routes) meant to wake up the New Zealand public and government to just how big the issues are with New Zealand's telecommunications future and what measures he thinks should be taken to sort things out.   It's a great read and I highly recommend it:

http://www.drury.net.nz/digital-trade-routes

Cheers!

MattD

663 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#63655 13-Mar-2007 22:29

Thanks all for info above, as I am experiencing similar issue.

I have just arrived in CHCH (from Sydney) and discovering the not-so joy of being an Xtra customer since signing up last Tuesday.
Based in Avonhead and after having continuous dropouts last week and slow connections, I have had two days where performance has slumped to speeds equivalent to dialup (or a tad higher)

Download - 119 kb/s
Upload - 176 kb/s
Latency - 1149ms !!!

The big issue is that I can not maintain a continuous connection. I notice with the speed test results it was hovering about 6-10kbs for a while and then ramped up to 100kbs. Also ping times always exceed 500ms.

VoIP is completely unusable, as with VPN connections and connection to an MS Exchange server.

Later this evening I have been able to get DL speeds of 400kbs but never a ping below 500ms.

Strange thing was that this morning I reached speeds such as 2400kbs with 80ms ping.

I am less interested in Telecom refunding fees, I need a reliable fast connection ASAP. I have already had a technician to home to check lines, and installed a new line into office. (day 1 and 2)

NeilNZ, I noticed you moved to Orcon. What region are you located in? Did you also change modem or stick with the DLINK modem?

I see that this has been an ongoing issue for CHCH residents, even making the press.

Open to other suggestions for workarounds or decent providers, while waiting for returned calls from xtra 'Advanced Broadband' team and an hold on the 0800 number.

Matt

EDIT: Note as speed increased after talking with support, latency was 1254ms...

also below is speedtest to show that good speeds can be achieved first thing in the morning: Ping of 63ms. DL 2062kbs.

neilinnz

165 posts

Master Geek

#63671 14-Mar-2007 08:32

MattD,

I am in Auckland and on Orcon.
I have bad news though. I switched to Orcon and it was super fast over 5Mbps (twice as fast as Xtra) and stayed connected without any problems for 2 weeks and then the disconnections have started again. The last few days have been pretty bad sometimes dropping every few minutes, but then staying up for 14 hours!
I have reported this to Orcon who are going to get Telecom to look at it, all sounds familiar!!! We're still using the same DLink 502 modem that Telecom sent me to replace my 302 modem.

We are moving to Nelson soon so I will take my Orcon broadband with me and see how it works down there.

One advantage of having these disconnections with Orcon is that I have my own IP address because I'm on the $79 full speed up/down and 30GB plan so when it reconnects automatically a lot of applications like VPN, bittorrent etc. continue as if nothing happened. Previously on Xtra I got a different IP address every time and my VPN connection had to be manually reset.

bok007

77 posts

Master Geek

#63677 14-Mar-2007 09:12

Hi Matt
If you are on the Xtra go-large plan then you can expect variable performace. If you move to the Adventure plan you might get better results because it is not "traffic managed". But I'd recommend changing ISPs if you want to use VOIP (ORCON, IHUG, SLINGSHOT...)
Welcome to NZ Broadband

PS I got to the bottom of my disconnection problems;
Don't run torrents on a wireless 802.11b connection to a DLink 604t!

nunz

1421 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#63708 14-Mar-2007 15:52

MattD:
Thanks all for info above, as I am experiencing similar issue.

I see that this has been an ongoing issue for CHCH residents, even making the press.

Open to other suggestions for workarounds or decent providers, while waiting for returned calls from xtra 'Advanced Broadband' team and an hold on the 0800 number.

Matt

Have you talked to Telstra Saturn to see if their cable connection is avaialble to you? They run their own cable connection sin some parts of chch (not mine unfortunately) and are very good and stable.

Shane

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