Which ADSL + Phone company has the best contention ratio for international traffic?

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RyanM

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Topic # 162176 31-Jan-2015 15:39

Unfortunately we will be without UFB until at least 2019 and are too far from the exchange for VDSL so I want to find the best ADSL provider speed and not cost being the main factor.

Unfortunately I can't convince my girlfriend to forego the land line so we can't use BIG PIPE (although it might be worth running a second phone line just for that?)

Any ideas?

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Reply # 1225934 31-Jan-2015 15:39

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

- you have reset your modem and router

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

- Your ISP and plan

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

- Your general location (or street)

- If you are rural or urban

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

RunningMan

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Reply # 1225942 31-Jan-2015 15:40

Use VoIP for landline? WxC VFX or 2talk...

johnr

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Reply # 1225943 31-Jan-2015 15:42

Check out the latest Truenet reports but remember consumer grade internet is best effort

https://www.truenet.co.nz/articles/december-2014-urban-broadband-report

JohnButt

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Reply # 1225958 31-Jan-2015 16:10

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Nicely put John

RyanM

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Reply # 1225981 31-Jan-2015 18:07

Do business plans suffer less congestion and have more guaranteed throughput? Only seem mildly more expensive than consumer plans so might be worth it.

quickymart

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Reply # 1226001 31-Jan-2015 18:17

If you want that kind of contention you might need to pay for a managed connection with an SLA.

Talkiet

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Spark NZ

Reply # 1226028 31-Jan-2015 20:07

Spark. I don't know about anyone else but as far as International congestion goes, I can assure you we're one of the very best.

Now, there are many other factors that will affect your performance, but you didn't ask about those :-)

Cheers - N

BarTender

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Reply # 1226031 31-Jan-2015 20:41

I would also make sure you get a master filter so you get the best out of your connection.

chevrolux

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Reply # 1226032 31-Jan-2015 20:52

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Any residential provider is going to be fine.

Spark probably have the most capacity and the best service. Otherwise Snap is great too.

Basically anyone except Vodafone would be my choice - not because of Vodafone's network but because support is absolutely horrendous and their billing system is a complete shambles.

pchs

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Reply # 1226041 31-Jan-2015 21:19

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chevrolux: Any residential provider is going to be fine.

Spark probably have the most capacity and the best service. Otherwise Snap is great too.

Basically anyone except Vodafone would be my choice - not because of Vodafone's network but because support is absolutely horrendous and their billing system is a complete shambles.

Snap and Spark both buy their international capacity off the same place (TNZI/Global Gateway) which is why both their international performance on Truenet is similar, however the reason its similar and lower than others is that they don't have the best route to the test site at Rimu Hosting (one could argue its quite interesting to claim "international speeds" based on a single test to a single network in Dallas) Other providers using Vocus (Vodafone/Slingshot etc) who transit via Cogent who Rimu Hosting are directly connected to, explains their better download speeds.

In general, TNZI who use Level 3 mainly for their upstream are regarded as a better connected/higher quality carrier than Cogent (just not in this case)

chevrolux

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Reply # 1226047 31-Jan-2015 21:31

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pchs:
chevrolux: Any residential provider is going to be fine.

Spark probably have the most capacity and the best service. Otherwise Snap is great too.

Basically anyone except Vodafone would be my choice - not because of Vodafone's network but because support is absolutely horrendous and their billing system is a complete shambles.

Snap and Spark both buy their international capacity off the same place (TNZI/Global Gateway) which is why both their international performance on Truenet is similar, however the reason its similar and lower than others is that they don't have the best route to the test site at Rimu Hosting (one could argue its quite interesting to claim "international speeds" based on a single test to a single network in Dallas) Other providers using Vocus (Vodafone/Slingshot etc) who transit via Cogent who Rimu Hosting are directly connected to, explains their better download speeds.

In general, TNZI who use Level 3 mainly for their upstream are regarded as a better connected/higher quality carrier than Cogent (just not in this case)

I feel like for general home usage (and I include gaming in that) people really aren't going to notice any difference at all between providers. With the exception of providers who make weird routing decisions and peering choices.
I feel like you could stick someone (not a tech but a general user) in front of 3 different connections from 3 providers and they couldn't tell you which was "best" or the "fastest".

RyanM

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Reply # 1226136 1-Feb-2015 10:21

Thanks for the replies, we are currently with spark and during peak times international traffic falls to 300kbps if I'm lucky, with latency being the worse part. You can tell for instance as soon as people get off work it crawls.

I know allot of that is because of local congestion however I'm after a provider that is going to have a lower chance of this happening. I'm working from home more and more and I can't have video chat through DSL often.

sbiddle

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Reply # 1226139 1-Feb-2015 10:28

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RyanM: Thanks for the replies, we are currently with spark and during peak times international traffic falls to 300kbps if I'm lucky, with latency being the worse part. You can tell for instance as soon as people get off work it crawls.

I know allot of that is because of local congestion however I'm after a provider that is going to have a lower chance of this happening. I'm working from home more and more and I can't have video chat through DSL often.

The concept of "local congestion" doesn't exist unless you're on a Conklin or the odd heavily loaded ASAM. If you're on either, you're not going to see any difference at all no matter what provider you go with.

Where are you located? If you're on an ISAM and seeing congestion issues you should have reported this to Spark as a fault.

chevrolux

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Reply # 1226140 1-Feb-2015 10:31

You really need to look at a local WISP or RBI then if that is the case.

dwl

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Reply # 1226143 1-Feb-2015 11:04

RyanM: Thanks for the replies, we are currently with spark and during peak times international traffic falls to 300kbps if I'm lucky, with latency being the worse part. You can tell for instance as soon as people get off work it crawls.

I know allot of that is because of local congestion however I'm after a provider that is going to have a lower chance of this happening. I'm working from home more and more and I can't have video chat through DSL often.

I am with Spark on ADSL2 and it is very unusual to see speeds like 300kbps unless there is congestion at the server end or other users in my house are also downloading. I often see close to my max (only 5.5 Mbps due to distance) to international sites if no other home users active.

Remember that if you are filling up your local link then higher latency sources are likely to lose out to closer sources. For same percentage of loss you will get less throughout for a higher latency source. Our usage has shot through the roof with Lightbox and as this content is very local I am expecting poorer performance for international sources while others watch their TV.

Maybe you have some local issues beyond your connection. It is worth checking ping times to local servers on the Spark network when you know there is no activity in your house. Mine stays low unless downloads are active.

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