Last Laugh May Be On Telecom

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pcrosley

49 posts

Geek

#28369 27-Nov-2008 14:03

I had a Telecom rep knock on my door a couple days ago telling me I should be experiencing "blazing" internet speeds because my exchange was "recently upgraded" to ADSL2+.

Well I'm hooked to a 3Com Wireless 11g ADSL modem/router and according to everyting I can see on the web it should be ADSL2+ compatible because I am using the latest firmware, and I synch up at around 8.6 Mbps on the Telecom Pro package (FS/FS). As far as I knew, I had been on ADSL2+ for quite a while.

Well the rep looked at my modem declared it was not ADSL2+ compatible and I should take up their offer of a "free" ADSL2+ wireless modem. The only catch was you need to commit to a 24 month plan and if you exit the plan early you pay $199. Since I wasn't inclined to leave Telecom anyway I figured what the heck, plus I had a 7 day right of return.

Well my modem showed up this morning, so like a kid on Christmas morning I unpacked it, hooked it up, fired it up and went to the Administration panel to see how fast I was synching. I was truly amazed to see it showing 8.4 Mbps! (lol)

I went to another of my laptops and when I went to connect to my Telecom modem found I also had a strong link nearby from a neighbor. So on a whim I connected to that and found it was synched at 12.2 Mbps on Orcon!!

So now not only are they getting their modem back, I'm thinking that maybe I don't really want to be on Telecom after all!!

Funny how life can turn on the smallest issue.

Anyway, beware the roaming Telecom rep and take anything they say with a huge grain of salt.

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302 posts

Ultimate Geek

#180679 27-Nov-2008 14:10

pcrosley: I had a Telecom rep knock on my door a couple days ago telling me I should be experiencing "blazing" internet speeds because my exchange was "recently upgraded" to ADSL2+.

Well I'm hooked to a 3Com Wireless 11g ADSL modem/router and according to everyting I can see on the web it should be ADSL2+ compatible because I am using the latest firmware, and I synch up at around 8.6 Mbps on the Telecom Pro package (FS/FS). As far as I knew, I had been on ADSL2+ for quite a while.

Well the rep looked at my modem declared it was not ADSL2+ compatible and I should take up their offer of a "free" ADSL2+ wireless modem. The only catch was you need to commit to a 24 month plan and if you exit the plan early you pay $199. Since I wasn't inclined to leave Telecom anyway I figured what the heck, plus I had a 7 day right of return.

Well my modem showed up this morning, so like a kid on Christmas morning I unpacked it, hooked it up, fired it up and went to the Administration panel to see how fast I was synching. I was truly amazed to see it showing 8.4 Mbps! (lol)

I went to another of my laptops and when I went to connect to my Telecom modem found I also had a strong link nearby from a neighbor. So on a whim I connected to that and found it was synched at 12.2 Mbps on Orcon!!

So now not only are they getting their modem back, I'm thinking that maybe I don't really want to be on Telecom after all!!

Funny how life can turn on the smallest issue.

Anyway, beware the roaming Telecom rep and take anything they say with a huge grain of salt.

Orcon have a lower SNR (signal to noise ratio) which allows a higher sync rate, at the expense of signal stability (potentially). Telecom probably have a slightly higher minimum SNR on their equipment and as such, gives you a lower sync rate. I assume you're in Auckland and your neighbour is on the Orcon Plus network.

– J

pcrosley

49 posts

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#180682 27-Nov-2008 14:19

Apologies for the multiple posts!!! Received a 500 error when posting and hit reload!

paradoxsm

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#180696 27-Nov-2008 15:43

Lol, I got the "2wire" wireless modem from them also and hooked it up with glee, connected at 18Mbps... Yahaww....

I did not like the web interface in the 2Wire so unpacked my 3 year old ADSL1 old 3Com 3CRDW router and it also connects flawlessly at 18Mbps, go figure. Those things must have been the first ADSL2 routers. Mine is from the US and has old firmware 1.0 it's also by far the most stable and best perfoming wifi router I have ever used. Not saying the 2wire is bad, it's superb but I'm just used to old-faithful.

tonyhughes

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#180711 27-Nov-2008 17:16

pcrosley: I had a Telecom rep knock on my door

I would be very surprised to hear of a rep employed by Telecom doing any of this (knocking on door, trying to upgrade your modem).

What does it say on his business card?

Wills1

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#180719 27-Nov-2008 17:51

tonyhughes:
pcrosley: I had a Telecom rep knock on my door

I would be very surprised to hear of a rep employed by Telecom doing any of this (knocking on door, trying to upgrade your modem).

What does it say on his business card?

They have teams out doing this at the moment. They are trying to lock you in to a 24 month contract with the perk being a free thompson wireless router.

eXDee

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#180738 27-Nov-2008 18:43

jermsie:Orcon have a lower SNR (signal to noise ratio) which allows a higher sync rate, at the expense of signal stability (potentially). Telecom probably have a slightly higher minimum SNR on their equipment and as such, gives you a lower sync rate. I assume you're in Auckland and your neighbour is on the Orcon Plus network.

If you want you can buy a modem compatible with DMT Tools such as dynalink, and lower your SNR yourself, to improve your sync rate.

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n00dy

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#180741 27-Nov-2008 18:52

Wills1:
tonyhughes:
pcrosley: I had a Telecom rep knock on my door

I would be very surprised to hear of a rep employed by Telecom doing any of this (knocking on door, trying to upgrade your modem).

What does it say on his business card?

They have teams out doing this at the moment. They are trying to lock you in to a 24 month contract with the perk being a free thompson wireless router.

I agree with Tony, they dont have reps door knocking telling you that the exhange has been upgraded, however they do have teams door knocking ( street fighter program ) encouraging householders to either retain Telecom as their provider with offers like total home or those households that may be with another telco seeing if they want to switch back (sometimes offering incentives)

As for the original post, you must take into account also the condition of your lines as well, there a many factors that can influence connection speeds, even from one neighbour to the next. As a matter of courtesy, you should advise your neighbour that his connection is unsecure and should take measures

JimmyLizar

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#180743 27-Nov-2008 18:58

I am tempted to say that the neighbour should learn their lesson the hard way, but ultimately I agree, let the neighbour know (if you can ascertain who it is) that their connection is available for all and sundry to use.

.....c'mon sucker lick my battery........
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pcrosley

49 posts

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#180753 27-Nov-2008 20:06

1) Telecom do have people out door knocking and signing people up on a Telecom contract form, and when I called telecom back to say no thanks they said "no worries".

2) I'll be happy to tell the owner they have an unsecure connection, but with the number of neighbours around me I'm not goinf to canvass the neighbourhood.

nzbnw

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#180780 27-Nov-2008 21:47

pcrosley:
Anyway, beware the roaming Telecom rep and take anything they say with a huge grain of salt.

I think that may be just taking it a little too far. Granted they (the reps) will not know if every single modem is ADSL2+ capable, however the Thompson Modems are good, plus @ $199 disconnection, i.e. the retail price it's usually not a deal breaker for most. You can also get this modem for $49 on a 12month term via 123.

I would be more interested in real world downloads (i.e. large files) than speed tests. Speed tests can provide a good indication, but I really do take those (not your results, but speed test in general) with a huge grain of salt!

nzbnw

NonprayingMantis

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#181326 1-Dec-2008 11:17

House wiring is one of the biggest causes of poor internet speed. Your neighbour may just have superior wiring compared to yours.

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Nightwyrm

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#181351 1-Dec-2008 13:00

nzbnw: ...the Thompson Modems are good...

OT from the OP but the guys here at work who have been given the Thompson (albeit the wired modem) have found they can't turn the VPN Passthrough on or there's no option to allow it. They've ended up buying other modems so they can connect to work. May be something to watch out for.

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jfnz

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#181418 1-Dec-2008 18:19

nzbnw:
I would be more interested in real world downloads (i.e. large files) than speed tests. Speed tests can provide a good indication, but I really do take those (not your results, but speed test in general) with a huge grain of salt

I definitely agree. OP, I speak from personal experience when I say you should try and put anything other than http or mail traffic through that Orcon connection and see the speeds plummit before passing judgement on how great Orcon may be. You may be able to pull 12mbit via HTTP on a national link, however anything international or P2P and you're shaped like nothing else on earth.

What I would be interested to see would be whether you were able to obtain a better sync rate with the modem isolated before whinging that Telecom equipment is subpar. While the SnR margins might be different between the two connection, I'm relatively sure that without outside influence (e.g. you having your CPE incorrectly configured) they won't cause a 4mbit difference in sync rates.

ADSL2+ will sync slower than G.DMT (up to a maxmium of 8mbit obviously) on a connection with excess noise/attenuation affecting it.

Please note: Any posts, comments, or contributions in this forum are posted by me as an individual acting in my own right and do not necessarily reflect the views of any company I work for, clients I've consulted for, or anyone else.

paradoxsm

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#181426 1-Dec-2008 18:50

pcrosley:

2) I'll be happy to tell the owner they have an unsecure connection, but with the number of neighbours around me I'm not goinf to canvass the neighbourhood.

Do what I do, log into the router (if the connection is unsecured you can bank that the password is "admin") and find their username and ISP and then just flick them an email letting them know, I have had about 20 people "thanks" me, I have had only one email back stating I was a hacker (oh well! his connection is the only one still unsecure too)

pcrosley

49 posts

Geek

#181437 1-Dec-2008 19:44

Cheers, mate. I'll give that a try.

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