Slow speeds, driving me nuts

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xpd

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#20390 25-Mar-2008 10:00

On going issue which ive put up with for quite some time now but I want to get to the bottom of it.... espcially ince my local exchange is one of the lucky ones opened up etc....

Telecom installed filter, 4 phone points in total (2 used for phone, 1 for Sky which is no longer used, 1 for ADSL as installed by Telecom).

My line rate originally sat around 3mbps which i was happy with, but then it start dropping to anything from 56k (yes, dialup) to 2mbps. Restarting the router would bring it back to 3mbps for about 20mins, then it would drop again and reconnect at a low rate.

Finally after being given the run around by my ISP (tracerts do NOT help with line speed issues FFS) they got Telecom out to my house - Telecom propmtly said "Youre getting 4mbps what are you moaning about" and left (I wasnt home). I checked the router, and yes, it showed what they claimed, approx 4mbps. Restarted the router.
Guess what ?

Back I went to my ISP, who got Telecom out again while I was home. The tech checked the line and went "Oh...buggar" - he admitted my connection was crap.

So he went off to the exchange, played around and found my port was stuffed, so got me moved to a newer port and wheeeeee 5mbps all the time for about a month.... then things started slowing down again..... and slower...and slower.... and slower.....

Now Im lucky to hit 2mbps after a restart.

I have tested it with 3 different branded routers and had the same issue.
I suspect theres a break in the line somewhere and water is getting in and stuffing things up (during heavy rain, I have to forget about getting online).

So what can I do ?

Im going to contact my ISP again and see what theyre going to do........... theyre just going to ask me to do tracerts etc again :-p Can I contact Telecom directly about it instead of my ISP who runs me around in circles for 2 weeks before doing anything ?
Im also going to see if any of my neighbours are on DSL as well and see if they have the same problem.

But in the meantime, ideas/suggestions etc would be appreciated for anything else I can do/try.

TIA

XPD / Gavin

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#118556 25-Mar-2008 14:59

xpd: Restarting the router would bring it back to 3mbps for about 20mins, then it would drop again

I suspect theres a break in the line somewhere and water is getting in and stuffing things up (during heavy rain, I have to forget about getting online).

So what can I do ?

But in the meantime, ideas/suggestions etc would be appreciated for anything else I can do/try.

TIA

Sound like the router has issues. Have you done an isolation test to see if it's not an intermittent fault with your filters or the like.

Only thing to do is keep complaining to your isp or your line provider. complaining to telecom about your isp is like yelling at a brick wall. you have to go through the channels instead of digging your own.

webwat

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#118560 25-Mar-2008 15:12

1. You cannot get 56kbps, it must be 64kbps. However some routers will calculate a theoretical "attainable" speed that could be anything and its different from the actual connect rate.

2. Do not complain to the ISP about downloading speed, just tell them from the beginning that your modem connects at a slow adsl line speed. Ask them to do a line test because it sounds like an issue with the copper line.

3. Tell your ISP to make sure that telecom know its an intermittent fault with variable line speed so that the faultman doesnt think its fixed just by looking at it.

4. Presumably you are connecting with ADSL2+, which explains why the speed slows down gradually instead of disconnecting. If telecom want to monitor your connection for a while, you can change the modem's modulation in your router to "G.DMT", forcing the old ADSL — this will keep the line speed of the initial connection until the next resync and therefore show all the fluctuations and disconnections for telecom to measure. Otherwise it just looks stable on the stats they can measure, perhaps with a few data errors.

Time to find a new industry!

xpd

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#118629 25-Mar-2008 20:42

webwat: 1. You cannot get 56kbps, it must be 64kbps. However some routers will calculate a theoretical "attainable" speed that could be anything and its different from the actual connect rate.

2. Do not complain to the ISP about downloading speed, just tell them from the beginning that your modem connects at a slow adsl line speed. Ask them to do a line test because it sounds like an issue with the copper line.

3. Tell your ISP to make sure that telecom know its an intermittent fault with variable line speed so that the faultman doesnt think its fixed just by looking at it.

4. Presumably you are connecting with ADSL2+, which explains why the speed slows down gradually instead of disconnecting. If telecom want to monitor your connection for a while, you can change the modem's modulation in your router to "G.DMT", forcing the old ADSL — this will keeps the line speed of the initial connection until the next resync and therefore shows any fluctuations that telecom can measure.

1) Yup, youre right, got dialup on the brain :)

2) Thats what I did last time, and they still insisted they needed traceroutes etc before they could look into it... i asked why they needed traces for a line speed issue, and they couldnt tell me really.

3) They should still have logs from last time I complained about it....

4) Yeah, Im in Glenfield not too far from the exchange so ADSL2+ is likely........ now... for the life of me I cannot find mode options in this router. :) I maybe a computer tech, but when it comes to some things Im a lost lamb... throw me on the spit.

Router is a 3Com Officeconnect ADSL2+ Wifi CRWDR100A-72

XPD / Gavin

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stu28

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#118649 25-Mar-2008 22:12

xpd:
4) Yeah, Im in Glenfield not too far from the exchange so ADSL2+ is likely........ now... for the life of me I cannot find mode options in this router. :) I maybe a computer tech, but when it comes to some things Im a lost lamb... throw me on the spit.

Router is a 3Com Officeconnect ADSL2+ Wifi CRWDR100A-72

I also have a 3Com Officeconnect ADSL Wireless 11g Firewall Router, & I don’t think you can change the mode option.

webwat

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#118660 25-Mar-2008 22:40

If its there, it might be under a "setting" menu listed as "modem" or "adsl". Regardless, tell the ISP that its NOT a "throughput issue" so somehow it should trigger a light that reminds them what options they have when they submit the fault to telecom. They and/or telecom techs may not be aware that ADSL2+ slows down automatically in response to line faults.

Perhaps you can ask the people at 120 if they can see any line fault, if its picked up by a basic check for voice faults then its easier to sort out the ADSL problems.

Time to find a new industry!

xpd

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#120264 1-Apr-2008 17:17

Righto, swiped a Linksys unit from work to try for a few days........ will try different modes etc and see what happens :)

XPD / Gavin

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xpd

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#120296 1-Apr-2008 19:22

Well, so far results are.... my line sucks.

Using my 3Com , I get 5mbps, which after a while dropped down to 2.8.
Using the Linksys in multimode, I get the same as the 3Com.
So I change the Linksys to G.DMT and now I connect at under 1mb.

<sigh>

XPD / Gavin

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xpd

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#120968 4-Apr-2008 08:39

Its funny.... after doing some logging/testing with the Linksys router I borrowed and drafting a b****y email to my ISP, my line has sat on 4.3mbps for 48hrs straight. According to syslog the line hasnt dropped either which it usually does at least 3x a day.

I have noticed a couple of Telecom contractors doing some work in the area....maybe they finally realised there was a problem in my area... fingers crossed.

XPD / Gavin

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BassmanNZ

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#121413 5-Apr-2008 22:42

My issue is somewhat similar, although I cannot find the explaination for it. My router is showing connection of upto 8Meg but my speedtests come back at 250Kbps or thereabouts to Wellington (I am in CHCH), 700Kbps plus to Auckland and upto 1500Kbps to Sydney but an average of 500Kbps usually to Sydney. I have had my port changed. Router changed. System checked. Congestion checked ok. Nothing is moving along at the 3Meg that I used to always get anytime of the day. Strange that I am still able to stream IP tV out of Taiwan and HongKong via subscription, but everything else is dead slow. Put TCP connections and number of similtanious connections back to default. No change.

What have I missed?

Detruire

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#121430 6-Apr-2008 00:55

Have you tried a fresh OS install (such as a reformat, or Linux live CD)?

rm *

Damager

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#121434 6-Apr-2008 01:54

HI,

i experienced similar issues re slow speeds. normally my synch speed is around 5000 kb/s which is appropriate for my distance from the exchange about 3ish km? one day my synch speed started to fluctuate and with constant disconnects. synch speeds would go anywhere between 64k to 1000k. phone line started to get noisy.

called my isp ihug and i described the symptoms.. low speeds and no bandwidth etc.. i emailed them screenshots of the synch speeds so they can see that it was an intermittent problem.. the ihug rep said my fault was due to... my self broadband installation and that if i pay $150.00 for a "proper installation" and that this will eliminate my speed issues.

well... as you can imagine.. i promptly advised him that he was an idiot!! i had to absolutely insist that he log a fault!

transfield guys came out and confirmed what the problem was.. a bad connection at the local cabinet.. the line was affected by rain which added noise to the line and this in turn caused the intermittent synch speeds and noise on the landline..

once it was repaired , my synch speed went back immediately to a constant 5000kbs. ahhhh.... :)

i complained to ihug about the situation and cc'd ihug ceo mark rushworth on the emails. naturally i didnt receive any replies from mark but i was promptly given some goodwill credit.

i also asked them to increase their training for their helpdesk csp who was probably unknowingly ripping off many ihug customers out of their hard earned $$$

if you have a query, keep at it!

It's happened 2 or 3 time since and as always i call but i tell the tech guys.. read the notes on my account :) :) and as always its the same fault and the same repair is required

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BassmanNZ

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#121451 6-Apr-2008 08:47

It's taken me since the end of February to get this far, I guess I'll push some more. The local cabinet wasn't checked I believe because I never saw the tech there. I don't know why they always assume that if everything is fine in the exchange that everything is fine, they're techs, they should know better.

xpd

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#121691 7-Apr-2008 08:18

Damager: HI,

i experienced similar issues re slow speeds. normally my synch speed is around 5000 kb/s which is appropriate for my distance from the exchange about 3ish km? one day my synch speed started to fluctuate and with constant disconnects. synch speeds would go anywhere between 64k to 1000k. phone line started to get noisy.

called my isp ihug and i described the symptoms.. low speeds and no bandwidth etc.. i emailed them screenshots of the synch speeds so they can see that it was an intermittent problem.. the ihug rep said my fault was due to... my self broadband installation and that if i pay $150.00 for a "proper installation" and that this will eliminate my speed issues.

Well, Im with IHUG as well and they havent tried that on me yet mainly because Im already on a full install.

well... as you can imagine.. i promptly advised him that he was an idiot!! i had to absolutely insist that he log a fault!

transfield guys came out and confirmed what the problem was.. a bad connection at the local cabinet.. the line was affected by rain which added noise to the line and this in turn caused the intermittent synch speeds and noise on the landline..

once it was repaired , my synch speed went back immediately to a constant 5000kbs. ahhhh.... :)

Yup, the tech found there was a fault at the echange and everything came right for about a month.......

i complained to ihug about the situation and cc'd ihug ceo mark rushworth on the emails. naturally i didnt receive any replies from mark but i was promptly given some goodwill credit.

i also asked them to increase their training for their helpdesk csp who was probably unknowingly ripping off many ihug customers out of their hard earned $$$

if you have a query, keep at it!

It's happened 2 or 3 time since and as always i call but i tell the tech guys.. read the notes on my account :) :) and as always its the same fault and the same repair is required

Well, I sent IHUG the email on Friday and havent heard a thing back yet. OK, its the weekend but a "ok, we'll get someone to look into it" email would be nice.
I also did say in the email that I didnt want to be put onto a newbie to look at this issue but someone who could actually help me.

I also said that if they cant find a fault/fix, then forget, Im off to Xnet where they still offer 256k connections, at least I can get that speed and not be paying for a "upto 8mb" connection.

Spoke with my neighbour who has ADSL and he said he hadnt noticed any issues with their line.

I await IHUGs response......

XPD / Gavin

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xpd

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#121991 8-Apr-2008 07:27

===========================================
Reply from IHUG:

Thanks for your email. I have reviewed the details you have provided with regards to your speeds and connection details. I am currently surprised with the modulation details of how you are able to obtain such a higher attainable rate with regards to the frequency on the multimode ADSL2 from ADSL1 G.DMT. Apart from this as both connection appears to still show signs of frequent disconnections regardless on which modulation it is on, would strongly suggest we may require a technician to investigate the issue further from the exchange and if required a visit may get requested. Apart from this there are also signs of a number of CRC errors however the details provided appear to be a few errors only.

Could you simply reply to this email with your contact details and a preferred time if a visit is required. Don't forget there is a possible charge of $81.00 if the fault is found to be caused by the customers personal equipment.

===========================================
My response :

Thanks for your response. I’m currently running a few more tests and recording the results so a slightly better picture of the issue is on hand.

I would like someone to come out once I have completed these tests. I highly suspect a physical line issue somewhere – have read a lot of forum posts lately where technicians have found faults at the roadside cabinets etc, so maybe that’s all that needs looking at, but guess we shall see.

I will be in touch in a few days with further results and then organise a tech visit from there.

==============================================

Here we go again...... at least theyve offered to get someone out straight away rather than fudging me around like other times.

XPD / Gavin

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BassmanNZ

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#123000 12-Apr-2008 09:32

My connection is now up to speed and with a little tweeking using TCP optimiser I have got everything cranking to the best speed possible.

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