Orcon Linespeed & support

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon Linespeed & support - take 2

timslim

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#39986 22-Aug-2009 12:43

Not sure what happened - apologies for the triple post of nothing - this is attempt #2.

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Hi,

Have signed up to see if anyone here can lend a hand. I'll try to be as clear as possible and to explain the issue.

Have been with Orcon since 2007 - was on their 256k/128k 40Gig plan for a long time. Have never had issues with the service, was able to get speeds of 3Mb dl at times. Not sure why, but never complained about it. Have recommended Orcon to several people. Live in Wellington, so coverage has been good.

Since July my connection speeds have dropped - so I figured the linespeed had been chopped back to 256k. That was fine - I upgraded to Purple, I'm outside the Orcon+ coverage.

I now get average linespeeds of 1Mb dl/120kup - on average. During peak times (evening) the DL speed is lower.

I'm aware that there are many factors that can cause slowdown - but felt that 1MB dl for a fullspeed plan wasn't all that good - especially considering that I had been getting 3Mb dl previously.

I've checked the telecom wholesale maps area - and my area has recently been upgraded and has ADSL2+ capacity.

Question 1: Does that mean if I'm on an Orcon account - I should have ADSL2+ capacity, based on the availability of ADSL2+ on the Telecom network? Or will I only get that capacity if I'm on a Telecom account?

I've followed the steps here - have unplugged all other phones in the house (2 phones) and the Sky box - and checked again. No change. I have unplugged all filters - and had my main DL-G604T router plugged straight into phone jack. No change. I have tried a different modem - an Orcon supplied Dynalink RTA1320 - no change to linespeed.

The only thing I have not checked is the wiring underneath the house. I'm happy to do that - but I would think if the lines had been damaged I would not be getting any connection at all. It's not something I could probably fix, so if it comes to that I'd imagine I'd have to call an engineer. My main thought is that I've not made any changes to my system, so apart from actual wire damage, I don't know of any other factors that I have control of that are affecting my linespeed.

I have worked with Orcon tech support - and changed several settings, in particular the modulation .gMT I think. This brings me to my next issue - my conversation was friendly and the tech support was helpful. They sent me an email with details to check - several speedtest results, ping and traceroutes. I have done so - and sent them off to Orcon.

That was on Wednesday - and the response I'm now getting to my emails - is "Messagebox full" - please resend the message". Which I'll keep doing. I'll also post some feedback via the website, and if necessary sit on the phone for a while longer.

I'm not furiously annoyed at Orcon - mildly underimpressed at the service. As said, I'm aware there are many issues that affect linespeed. I feel I'm doing my part to rectify what I can - and I'm happy to pay for an engineer if need be. It would be nice to hear back from somebody at my ISP though. And so I thought I'd ask out here and see if anyone can help.

From what I'm reading - Telecom's services are possibly currently the best. Personally I'd prefer to stay with Orcon, I've had good service so far - but will move if this issue remains unresolved.

Here are the details I emailed to Orcon, just the speedtest and modem settings. If anyone has any tips or ideas - or in fact if you're able to tell me that it's probably the best I'm going to get - please do so. I can post ping and tracert results if needed. TIA for any help.

tim

These tests were 11:30pm on Monday 17th

Please provide at least 1 test to each of the following at speedtest.net:

- Christchurch, NZ Down: 0.91Mb Up: 0.13Mb
- Sydney, AU Down: 0.74Mb Up: 0.13Mb
- London, UK Down: 0.85Mb Up: 0.09Mb
- San Francisco, CA Down: 0.56Mb Up: 0.13Mb

DLink G604T:
Line Rate: Down: 1312kbps Up: 160kbps
Attenuation: Downstream: 40dB Upstream: 27dB
SNR (Signal to Noise): Downstream: 13db Upstream: 31db

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#249694 22-Aug-2009 16:51

Hi, are you sure there are no other devices across your line, like an alarm or some other device. Are you in the Titahi bay area as alot of homes have loading coils/LPFilters inplace in the leadin to trap the AM transmitters these totally shag ADSL.

I would be going to the demarc or just behind it and connecting your modem there to see what gives, ie bypassing all your house wiring. 40dB attenuation at 300kHz should be able to support 6Mb/s or more, so something is plainly wrong.

Cyril

old3eyes

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#249713 22-Aug-2009 19:03

timslim:

Question 1: Does that mean if I'm on an Orcon account - I should have ADSL2+ capacity, based on the availability of ADSL2+ on the Telecom network? Or will I only get that capacity if I'm on a Telecom account?

I'm on UBS with Orcon and I won't get ADSL2 until the cabinet goes in around here next year or unless I go to LLU which I tried and gave up on..

Regards,

Old3eyes

timslim

43 posts

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#249748 23-Aug-2009 01:53

cyril7: Hi, are you sure there are no other devices across your line, like an alarm or some other device. Are you in the Titahi bay area as alot of homes have loading coils/LPFilters inplace in the leadin to trap the AM transmitters these totally shag ADSL.

I would be going to the demarc or just behind it and connecting your modem there to see what gives, ie bypassing all your house wiring. 40dB attenuation at 300kHz should be able to support 6Mb/s or more, so something is plainly wrong.

Cyril

Hi Cyril,

Thanks for the reply - I'm in Miramar.

The "demarc" - is that the main point where the cable enters the property? Sorry - not sure of the terminology.

There are no other devices in the house - no central alarm or anything like that.

I haven't tried plugging the modem into different sockets in the house - there are a number in different rooms that the previous owner installed. I will have a go at that, and see if there's any change.

The bit that's confusing, is that I've made no change to my system - wiring or hardware - but Orcon's speed has totally dropped away in the last month.

Tim

cyril7

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#249754 23-Aug-2009 08:04

Hi, Mirimar has had major cabnetisation upgrade in the past few weeks, also I dont think there is now anywhere in mirimar that would be more than 2km from a cabinet or the exchange. Therefore leading me to think either your house wiring or a cable joint between you and the dslam is bad or a MDF jumper is not good, or the DSLAM port is bad.

Yes the demarc is the point where the ext2 cable changes to your internal house wiring. In modern homes or older ones where Telecom has had need to visit over the years it should now be a small white box for the joint, in older homes without the box it could be anywhere, and simply just a transition.

Cyril

nzkiwiman

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#249826 23-Aug-2009 15:41

Hi timslim. I did the exact same move as you did at the start of August. Was on the 256k Advanced 40 plan and was getting a good 4.5Mbit line until the end of July when it all went pear shaped and dropped back to the 256k speed I was actually paying for. I tried a few days of this, but since I was used to FS, I decided to upgrade to a FS/FS plan with 50GB of data.

Since the change over, off peak speeds are fantastic but I am never home to use them, while peak speeds drop to bearly useable and under 256k line speed. I have done the same tests you did (though I am still waiting for my email to be replied to) and am 150% convinced that either Orcon have put a heap of filtering at their end or I have a higher contention ratio that the previous plan.

I am giving them to the end of the month to fix, then I am taking my business elsewere.

timslim

43 posts

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#249918 23-Aug-2009 21:13

Hi nzkiwiman.

Yeah - I'm really not sure. As I said, nothing has changed at my end, so I can only check with Orcon. I'm not sure about the contention issue either. I can't imagine that suddenly all of Miramar has moved to Orcon and is sharing the cabinet I'm connected too.

Will keep emailing Orcon - but like you, will be moving ISP if it's not able to either sorted, or at the very least explained.

Kyanar

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#249922 23-Aug-2009 21:26

timslim, you're not sharing the cabinet with only Orcon customers. In fact, you're sharing it with EVERY ADSL customer in your area. I would agree that it's unlikely to be contention though as you're right that the chances of everyone in your suburb switching to Orcon is... a little difficult to stomach.

Cyril's suggestions are the most likely. Just a note though, don't email. Pick up the phone and call - you'll get much faster response that way.

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nzkiwiman

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#249931 23-Aug-2009 21:46

Kyanar: Cyril's suggestions are the most likely. Just a note though, don't email. Pick up the phone and call - you'll get much faster response that way.

How can the lines INSIDE the house suddenly be the issue after (in my case) over 2 and a half years of SOLID FS/128k performance, when all we have done is change plans.

Is contention at the exchange or at Orcons end? Somewhere, somehow with the plan change there is a really big noose now on the internet pipe killing/throttling traffic.

timslim

43 posts

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#249938 23-Aug-2009 22:01

Kyanar: timslim, you're not sharing the cabinet with only Orcon customers. In fact, you're sharing it with EVERY ADSL customer in your area. I would agree that it's unlikely to be contention though as you're right that the chances of everyone in your suburb switching to Orcon is... a little difficult to stomach.

Cyril's suggestions are the most likely. Just a note though, don't email. Pick up the phone and call - you'll get much faster response that way.

Yeah, of course - there would be other ADSL users on other ISPs.

I have called a couple of times - made myself dinner whilst waiting on hold once. Speaker phones are a great thing. :)

Apart from the wait, the only bugger with the phone call - is having to re-explain myself to the support staff. I'm hoping my details have all been copied onto my account file though.

I will try calling again this week - I've emailed via the website - and direct to the technical support person who I initially spoke with.

Thanks for the help and suggestions here.

cyril7

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#249975 24-Aug-2009 07:49

How can the lines INSIDE the house suddenly be the issue after (in my case) over 2 and a half years of SOLID FS/128k performance, when all we have done is change plans.

Because it happens hundreds of times a day country wide, wiring that has worked perfectly for dozens of years finally gets corroded enough to stop working, maybe still good enought to do voice but not DSL.

Cyril

timslim

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#251130 27-Aug-2009 22:35

Just a quick update.

Had some generous help from a forum member - and was able to check my linespeed at the demarc on Monday. Confirmed with that testing that I was only get approx 1.4Mb downloads - and that the line attenuation was approx 47db.

Called Orcon on Monday night - managed to get through after about 20 minutes and had a good chat with tech support. I'd also emailed via the website feedback on Sunday, and got both an email and a follow up phone call to my house - so that was a pleasant surprise.

Told them results of testing, and Orcon could see details of the cabinet - confirmed that it was within 1km range of my house. Orcon also told me that they'd had a note back from Telecom/Chorus - as they had passed my fault ticket up on last week. That note had said that 1Mb speeds should be about right for my area. The Orcon tech support was also sceptical of this - as he could see where the new cabinets had been installed. So he said he would resend the fault ticket.

Called tonight - and got through in about 5 minutes - and no further work had been done - although a technician was scheduled to check yesterday. Orcon support confirmed that I should definitely be getting a higher than 1Mb downloads. Spent another 2-4 minutes on hold, while Orcon support spoke to Chorus (I think). Was told after that wait, that due to the various strike actions - non-essential work had been delayed. So my work is scheduled for the next couple of days.

I will call back next Tuesday and see how things are going.

Orcon Tech support on both occasions have been friendly and professional - so that's sorted out the second part of my complaint on my initial post. Cheers Orcon.

First part of my post is still waiting to be sorted though - here's hoping this time next week it'll all be good.

cyril7

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#253185 4-Sep-2009 14:37

Hi Tim, any progress on this.

Cheers
Cyril

timslim

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#253365 5-Sep-2009 11:38

Hi Cyril,

I've called Orcon several times this week - and after waits of up to 60 minutes have been able to talk to a support person.

I've been told that Telecom are no longer accepting DSL faults/tickets due to the strikes. So basically the message from Orcon is "We can't do much, so we can't really help."

Meanwhile my line speed has gotten slower - I'm now getting approx 256k - 300k download speed and 140k uploads.

So I'm a little less positive about Orcon than I was this time last week.

cyril7

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#253528 6-Sep-2009 13:15

Damn, oh well do keep us posted once the dust settles on the Chorus/Visionstream front.

Cheers
Cyril

goodie

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#253672 7-Sep-2009 09:36

I think this must be a issue wide to orcons '256k/128k 40Gig' plan, rather than all (now 3) of us having similar wiring issues in a similar time frame, as I've had the exact same experience. Brilliant speeds up to 2mb and then it suddenly dropped out down to 256k or even lower during peak times during this year.

When I did get through to orcon on the phone i essentially got told that everything was ok and they weren't going to do anything about it, rather unimpressed there.

-Goodie

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