Orcon-- what am I doing wrong?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon-- what am I doing wrong?

meremaiden

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#44466 28-Oct-2009 08:36

A little background -- Moved into a house in July, had great speeds (3.5) for a month. Now, my Internet is CRAWLING. Called, emailed, begged, pleaded with Orcon (I work from home, and all of our family's entertainment is from home as well). We have a Belkin wireless modem, one computer connects wirelessly, one is wired. Wrote to Orcon to ask what is wrong with our connection, and 3 weeks ago, sent the following speed tests... (along with answers to other questions they asked...)

- Christchurch, NZ https://www.speedtest.net/result/592697344.png 2+
- Sydney, AU https://www.speedtest.net/result/592698020.png 2+
- Maidenhead, UK .39mbps DL speed https://www.speedtest.net/result/592699206.png
- Tucson AZ, USA .9mbps https://www.speedtest.net/result/592700378.png

.39mbps??!?!?!?!?!? Does that seem like a total joke to anyone else or am I going insane?

They finally respond (after several phone calls from my end) with this:
Thank you for your email regarding your connection speed.

We have ordered interleaving (a form of error correction) to be enabled on your internet connection; this should stop burst errors from occurring on the line, in turn increasing the connection speed.

I hope this information was helpful and if you have any other queries please do not hesitate to email me back or call me on the number below.

Surprise, surprise, nothing has changed, speeds are still ridiculously slow..
https://www.speedtest.net/result/603849736.png
https://www.speedtest.net/result/603850648.png
https://www.speedtest.net/result/603851737.png

I'm just venting here to see if anyone has any ideas of other things I can do BESIDES waiting 3 weeks for customer support, or leaving Orcon. I'm SO tempted to just leave them outright, but I DO like the company and I think competition for Internet is SO important in NZ, its hard to just pack up and leave to Telecom (I have to get over the fact its TELECOM after all).. Any ideas or feedbackwould be so appreciated... at the end of my rope a bit!
Can anyone offer any ideas and or tell me if my area (Northern Porirua, Wellington) would be better served by Telecom?

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#267577 28-Oct-2009 09:12

Can you show me your line stats please.

Also where in the country are you? Are you on Orcon or Orcon+?

rscole86

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#267580 28-Oct-2009 09:17

Seriously, I would not be complaining about an my internet speeds based on speed tests to servers on the other side of the world.
You should only ever test to local servers, as that is all any ISP can get to close to guaranteeing a decent speed to.
If you download itunes, what speed does it download at?

As sounddude said, and little more info would help.

Have you done isolation tests?

meremaiden

134 posts

Master Geek

#267581 28-Oct-2009 09:19

I'm on Orcon, and my line stats are as follows... thank you!

- What type of modem are you using? (Brand and Model): Belkin_G_Plus_MIMO_ADSL
- Line Rate (Downstream and Upstream) 7104 Down/ 160 up
- Line Attenuation (Downstream and Upstream) 15 down/ 7 up
- Noise Margin (Downstream and Upstream) 12.1 down/ 7.0 up

Sounddude

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#267584 28-Oct-2009 09:23

- Line Rate (Downstream and Upstream) 7104 Down/ 160 up

Are you on one of the 128k up plans?

Also, do you get the full 7mbit when doing a speedtest to the Auckland site?

meremaiden

134 posts

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#267586 28-Oct-2009 09:23

Yes, done all the isolation tests asked... no change. Done the power offs, no change. No Sky, no monitored alarms, and no real change from my end since we moved in July. In the past month everything grinded to a halt, that's why I was concerned becaused the speeds were okay then all of the sudden, slow.

That's kind of why I'm posting here, I want to know if complaining in this instance is acceptable, or if I'm in the wrong-- I'm open to any possibility, it just seems really slow!
ITunes download hovers at around 300-400kB a sec.

meremaiden

134 posts

Master Geek

#267589 28-Oct-2009 09:26

To Auckland I get about 4-5mbits. I'm on the platinum plan..

meremaiden

134 posts

Master Geek

#267592 28-Oct-2009 09:31

here's my results to ChCh and Sydney during peak times

Christchurch, NZ https://www.speedtest.net/result/592697344.png 2+
- Sydney, AU https://www.speedtest.net/result/592698020.png 2+

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

rscole86

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#267595 28-Oct-2009 09:41

meremaiden: To Auckland I get about 4-5mbits. I'm on the platinum plan..

Are you on orcon+, if not then by default that is a rate limited plan, which will affect your download speeds.

meremaiden

134 posts

Master Geek

#267599 28-Oct-2009 09:44

We're not on the +...
But, are you sure the plan is by default limited then? Here is the plan we're on...

Platinum

Orcon Broadband with a 20GB monthly data allowance (data upgrades available) and Homeline rental with an unlimited number of calls to landlines around New Zealand and one International destination.

FROM $129.95/ month

* 20GB monthly broadband data allowance (upgradeable)
* Maximum download speed that your line can support and an upload speed of 128kbps (upgradeable to max/max)
* Homeline rental
* An unlimited number of calls to landlines anywhere in New Zealand (up to 1 hour per call)
* One included International landline Calling Zone destination from our top 15 (up to 1 hour per call)
* Great value international and mobile calling
* Free single port modem rental, or rent the awesome Orcon Homehub for just $5 per month
* $2 per GB for any additional data used
* No term contract

rscole86

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#267602 28-Oct-2009 09:53

* Maximum download speed that your line can support and an upload speed of 128kbps (upgradeable to max/max)

So your line speeds that you reported are right, based on the limited upload.

However your real life speeds do seem lower than expected.
Hopefully Sounddude will get back to you soon, to clarify if more investigating is needed at your end, or he they can fix it from theirs.

Sounddude

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#267610 28-Oct-2009 10:05

Looks like meremaiden is connected via a Cabinet.

Since its an ADSL1 cabinet, its probably a old coklin which generally has framerealy or E1 backhaul.

Not much can be done about this problem I am afraid. The only real option is to wait for the ADSL2+ upgrade, as Chorus will then provision fibre into that cabinet.

meremaiden

134 posts

Master Geek

#267917 29-Oct-2009 07:09

Thanks for the help Soundude and everyone!
The only other question I have, is this. How does it work with companies like Orcon and Telecom and the cabinet? Does Orcon buy a small amount of usage in the area and then distribute it? Would Telecom be more likely to have a share of the area that is larger and therefore more speed to distribute to its users?

Sounddude

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#267951 29-Oct-2009 08:54

In areas which are not covered by Orcon+, DSL ports and backhual are purchased from Telecom Wholesale.

All ISP's who purchase from Telecom Wholesale share the backhaul from the Cabinets.

meremaiden

134 posts

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#267966 29-Oct-2009 09:21

Okay so presumably the backhaul is less good than the non-backhaul?

Sounddude

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#268134 29-Oct-2009 14:39

Sorry i don't get what you mean?

Backhaul from an old ADSl1 cabinets are generally old technology (Frame Relay or E1's) . The ADSl2+ cabinets use fibre to get your data back to the local exchange.

The bandwidth from the cabinet to the local exchange is all shared by all ISP's/Customers hosted of that cabinet.

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