Getting what you pay for? I'm not, time to test!

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Getting what you pay for? I'm not, time to test!

darkcon

26 posts

Geek

#80658 2-Apr-2011 08:08

I've been getting this for months, and almost as bad for 2 years (1.5mbps on a good day), despite knowing "my line" can handle a hell of alot more than what sling shots been giving me

worse than dialup on a 90$ a month plan? you bet

I'll be posting the pics/data on the fatmans forums so to not pic spam this forum
(sorry for the offsite link, I'll be linking back to this post on them tho)

http://fatmansrepair.t15.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12&p=13#p13

In 6-10 days I'll be changing from Slingshot, to Telstraclear, no changes to the physical phone line, no changes in router/filter/computer/software, just a change of ISP, and see what happens

Keeping in mind Slingshot offers me Full speed, defined as the max my line can handle

And telstra clear, has also given me the same quote

Lets find out who is the liar, I've been told over the phone I'm getting the max my line can handle, I have my doubts.

I'll be running speed tests every 6-12 hours to somewhere(Random) in the usa, Cali USA, and adelade australia and posting results until my Telstra gets connected then do the same amount of tests for the same number of days for telstra

If you're interested in the results, follow along, consider doing the same test before you change ISP

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#454658 2-Apr-2011 22:38

Residential internet services have no guarantee of performance or reliability, they are best effort shared network.

1Mbit/s of dedicated international transit costs around $100/mo, so 8Mbit to match your line rate would cost $800/mo.. obviously you are not paying $800/mo for your plan so how does this work?

Contention

ISP's buy a pool of bandwidth and share it out between active users, obviously not everyone is using bandwidth all the time and every second and this works well as long as the contention ratio isn't too high.

The closest analogy is that of a motorway, 800 people going south at 8am on monday.. you don't build a 800 lane highway.. you have a 8 lane one and traffic queues and flows.

The problem is you are on the cheapest ISP with the highest contention with the worst demographic users (all the leechers).

Ergo, you are getting what you pay for... the solution is to change to a slightly higher priced ISP that runs less contention and has better peak time performance like Telecom, Telstraclear, Maxnet etc.

NZCrusader

646 posts

Ultimate Geek

#454674 2-Apr-2011 23:29

It depends on how the ISP reacts to the pipe's avaliable bandwidth filling up.

Some ISPs will (eg) purchase more bandwidth when they hit a 95% utilization of the link at peak time.

Some may have this value/threshold higher or lower.

Some may take alternative means, such as increased prioritization & handling of the bandwidth ( maybe increase in local caches, encourage users to use the broadband more in the off peak hours to spread out the load throughout the day, encourage more national transit.... etc etc... )

Essentially, ( im only speculating here ). Slingshot may use the purchase of more bandwidth as a last result option. Its possible that the only way to get more purchased & higher in the priority queue is to lodge complaints that can be processed.

Im not defending slingshot with this post.
Ive generally been happy with the service of AYCE. But I too have noticed a trend of declining speeds. Im of the opinion that probably more national & international bandwidth is needed to re-ballance the scales from more customer signups they have probably got. ( If this is what is causing the slow speeds, i might add. )

NZ / AU Battlefield 4 Gaming Community
http://www.sonsofvalour.net/forums/forum.php

darkcon

26 posts

Geek

#454694 3-Apr-2011 02:09

I'm also not getting 1mbps dedicated a month.

Even with those fake figures(its not 100$permb/month for them at all.)
Those prices haven't been accurate since pre 2008.
get your facts straight.

So even with the messed up figures, IM STILL NOT GETTING WHAT I PAID FOR.

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#454711 3-Apr-2011 08:20

What are your router stats incl sync speed? Despite all the bad things people say about Slingshot 1.5Mbps still very low and could indicate poor cabling within your house limiting your speeds.

hellonearthisman

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#454712 3-Apr-2011 08:23

If I was you Darkcon, I would change to SNAP as they have the speeds your looking for.

Telecom only proves something like 45kbps per user to Slingshots users, so it will be hard to get the 1mbps your looking for.

Slingshot current has it's cache system down for an upgrade and that could be effecting speeds too.

If you really upset you could try an exit your contract early without a fee as your not getting the service advertises and move onto another ISP, like SNAP which has won more awards for it's service than Slingshot.

maverick

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WorldxChange

#454720 3-Apr-2011 09:21

darkcon: I'm also not getting 1mbps dedicated a month.

Even with those fake figures(its not 100$permb/month for them at all.)
Those prices haven't been accurate since pre 2008.
get your facts straight.

So even with the messed up figures, IM STILL NOT GETTING WHAT I PAID FOR.

What do they pay ?, i'm guessing you must know exactly

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

https://www.facebook.com/wxccommunications

darkcon

26 posts

Geek

#454724 3-Apr-2011 09:31

for answers to both questions, the link to the post with all the stats is in the first post.

Sharesies

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

Talkiet

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#454749 3-Apr-2011 10:46

darkcon: I've been getting this for months, and almost as bad for 2 years (1.5mbps on a good day), despite knowing "my line" can handle a hell of alot more than what sling shots been giving me worse than dialup on a 90$ a month plan? you bet

Read this

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=49&TopicId=78340

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Talkiet

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#454752 3-Apr-2011 10:52

darkcon: I'm also not getting 1mbps dedicated a month.

Even with those fake figures(its not 100$permb/month for them at all.)
Those prices haven't been accurate since pre 2008.
get your facts straight.

So even with the messed up figures, IM STILL NOT GETTING WHAT I PAID FOR.

Expecting ANY ISP to provide a dedicated 1mbps even for what you pay is unrealistic. I'm not defending Slingshots performance - it's widely considered to be at the budget end of the performance range, but I'd like to know what you think you are paying for...

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

cisconz

cisconz
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#454785 3-Apr-2011 13:09

Ragnor: 1Mbit/s of dedicated international transit costs around $100/mo, so 8Mbit to match your line rate would cost $800/mo.. obviously you are not paying $800/mo for your plan so how does this work?

I wish my dedicated cost this much, I can get 5:1 ratio for $100 per mbit and Dedicated for $350 per mbit.
Both of those are cheep prices.

The other option is to get 10mbps for $250 or 100Mbit for $1250 month to Sydney then buy international from there.

Hmmmm

darkcon

26 posts

Geek

#454812 3-Apr-2011 15:01

Its pretty simple at the end of the day, You dont have your power company advertising/selling power at a set rate, then have the lights go out for 23 hours a day, or power so low you can't turn on any appliances

you don't have gas advertised at 2$ a litre, then get 1 litre of gas for 100$ because they can't provide more

You dont buy a 1 litre of coke at the dairy, and get 10ml of coke cause its costing them more

If they can't (at least) come even close to what they claim, they shouldn't be claiming it. at all.

why would you defend such blatant false advertising, and recycle 5 year old reponces to this problem?

They are screwing you over and you are happy with it?

Next lot of tests is up

In 2013-2015 when the new international line comes in at flat rate per customer what excuse will they pump out then?

joff_nz

446 posts

Ultimate Geek

#454813 3-Apr-2011 15:09

I'm not familiar with Slingshot or their plans or advertising.

What speeds do they advertise that you will get?
What speeds do they have dictated in their contract?
What minimum service do they agree to?

Do they state that traffic will be shaped or otherwise modified away fro what your line allows?

Talkiet

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#454816 3-Apr-2011 15:21

darkcon: [snipped some bad analogies]

If they can't (at least) come even close to what they claim, they shouldn't be claiming it. at all.

[Snipped some wild optimism about new pricing models for international connectivity]

I'm not necessarily defending Slingshot, remember I said they are broadly viewed as budget...

BUT, you haven't told us what level of performance you would define as acceptable for what you pay, you've only told us that it's totally unacceptable.

What DO Slingshot claim their performance will be? Do they even make claims for sustained or peak hour throughput? I'd be surprised if they do, but you seem to be suggesting that they are making. these. claims.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Talkiet

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#454817 3-Apr-2011 15:22

Also, I note you ignored my link to what Dialup Speed really is - or are you still claiming you're getting sub dialup speed from Slingshot?

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

darkcon

26 posts

Geek

#454833 3-Apr-2011 16:36

dialup speed, 5.6kbyte/s an hour before the first post, and what made me start doing tests, was getting 4.8kb/s off a rift update server while my friend next door to me is getting 710kb/s on telstra

was Ignoring due to stupid question attempting to troll.

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