Say What?? DSL Issue

Does this make any sense? It doesn't to me.

My DSL was hooked up today.

Now keep in mind the telco DSLAM is withing sight of my house. It is very close.

My bandwidth is showing 600k down/500k up.

This is a local bandwidth test provided by my ISP.

An ISP tech told my wife (I'm at work) that it should get faster in a couple days after hookup?

That makes no sense to me at all.


Is he giving her a line? I'm thinking he is.

 

Can't imagine on what basis that statement was made. I've had DSL for about 5 years-- 1.5Mb/256Kb advertised, and was having connectivity problems. They replaced my Alcatel 1000 with an Alcatel SpeedTouch Home, and the connectivity problems went away. Then, one day, I noticed how much faster my friend's connection seemed than mine, and I checked it-- 420Kb downstream average. I got the phone company to roll a truck to come out and check the line-- no mean feat. The tech checked it from one end to the other, and, ultimately decided all he could do was change out the 20 year old drop from the pole to the house. That put me up to 600Kb downstream. A phone company data services tech who helped me replace my modem the first time suggested buying another modem as a last resort. On a whim, I hooked up the old Alcatel 1000 and have been rock-solid at 1.2Mb/212Kb ever since. Ya just never know...

 

I cannot speak for the telco you named, but, my telco (SBC) has what they call a "10 day ramp up" where they gradually test and upgrade the speed. They point out the importance of leaving your modem on 24/7 for at least the first ten days. It has to do with only giving you the bandwidth that your line will allow. I understand that it only applies to COs and not RTs. You can read all about on dslreport.com .

Hope this helps. It is not all rubbish

 

Oops! Read about it at dslreports.com .

 

That makes me feel better---maybe

Thanks for the info so far folks.

 

cor, i didn't know about any of this. I'm just glad the dsl works, and that its faster than the dial up. Hawaii is such a strange place that I'm not even sure its worthwhile me trying to find out if its supposed to be faster still. (not to mention the fact that i don't know how!) aloha

 

Well, if I was coming off dial up, I would be pleased.

However, I've been spoiled by 1.5 megabit service in the past through wireless.

 

No, its typical ISP bullcrap. We called again.

My speed fell to 200k last night.

Their explanation?

"Well its during peak time..."

So we asked. What is peak time?

They said:

Anytime before 5pm, and anytime after 6pm-8pm.

LOL.

Thing is I did tests up to 9pm.

It never improved.

We've given them a deadline of two days to fix it, or we are dropping them like a bad habit. After the BS line of it being peak time, they now say its not their fault; its either Qwest, our line, or our modem. So they said to expect a call within two days. Great service for day one of DSL.

1!! time our speed was 1.2 megabits. Our line supports it.

Everyone at work is telling me that my ISP is cutting corners--they aren't leasing enough lines from Qwest. So whats happeneing is there isn't enough bandwidth for everyone. They say that its too many users in my area--yeah maybe for their POS lines. DSL hasn't been in the area for more than 6 months. And its rural, not too many people around here. I'd hate to see what they tell their Tucson, AZ, customers. Tucson has a population of ~500k.

I'm pretty upset right now. This is a local ISP, I've been with them since 97. They had awesome dial up, and for about 6 months, awesome wireles.

Then it went to crap.

Their DSL is worse!!

I guess there is something to be said about a company that has ~20 or so employees and only a few phone techs.

At first I thought they were maximizing their efficiency maybe so that they could provide better performance for their users without jacking up the price too much.

Now Im guesing that they CAN'T AFFORD to pay more employees because they are sucking so bad. They have tried so hard to keep us on as a customer. My guess again is because they are losing too many.

I have no advantage of staying with them, other than month-month, no contract DSL.

I'm paying 51 bucks a month for this BS.


I'm going to do my homework, but I think I may go to Earthlink.

Its 11/mo cheaper, and at least they have deep enough pockets to keep the bandwidth acceptable. They also give me a free dial up acount.

I guess there is something to be said for local ISPs.

For dial up: They are great.

For DSL:

 

Yeah I knew what they are saying about it being a Qwest problem was BS when I saw the speed almost hit 1.3 megabits--once.

Its not Qwest, its not my line (The dslam is a 5 minute walk from my house, and these phone lines are new enough to support full 56k connection speeds, on both phone lines, at the same time). All telephones have DSL filters--the 2 line phone has a 2 line filter. It COULD be the modem (Doubt it though), but as you say, I think its my ISP cutting corners and not providing bandwdith.

Some of these places need to realize you don't make money without spending some.

So, for the next two days while they allegedly work on my problem, I'm ISP shopping Crap, its been 7 years since I've looked around for another ISP hehe.

Any suggestions for good DSL providers?

 

I'll check it out at work, thanks xflat

 

Looks interesting, very interesting.

I can't help but not overlook the 128k upload though...

 

i use verizon. its the only way to have dsl here and they've made it impossible to have another isp because you end up paying verizon AND the other isp. having said that i dont have a choice, i also hafta add that i dont know how fast its supposed to be in the first place. However $51 is $22 MORE than im paying. it sounds to me like the same thing ....ie. that you are paying twice for the same service. dont know if that helps. aloha

 

I have DSL through Qwest and my ISP. It has rocked from day 1. I'm thinking that X-flat has it nailed.

 

Update:

My ISP has checked and double checked and says they are not tapped on bandwidth.

So I called Qwest.

Qwest tech blamed my ISP.

Yet, he still put in a work order on my line.

Phone tech called today.

The CO has bridge ports on my line, whatever that means.

Qwest is going to remove them today or Saturday and say that will fix it.

Apparently, the routing is looping around, and when it gets rerouted, it kills my connection speed.

 

don't you hate the run-around crap..

 

entry level techs.. bastards... all of them.

 

W'ell blame USWest here, because Qwest is relatively new to the area.

So this would definately cause my problem, xflat?

 

I have $BC as my ISP and i have had nothing but problems. I have memorized there Tech Help phone number. My serviece would go down half the time and they had no clue why. It took me 3 months to get them to send a truck out to box about 1mile away. Then they say i have a port problem and it would be fixed in 3-4 days. Well 2 weeks later im still down. We got to the point where we where not going to pay the bill untill out service was back on and they rufunded us for the time it was down...which was like more then half the time it was up...So then they started to charge us late fees.

They upgraded our service for no charge and sent out a new modem and hardware, and fixed the port, but they where charging us for the upgrade, the modem, the hardware, and the service on the port!

We fought for weeks with them and finally got all those charges pulled and got my dsl working again. I would have switched providers but sbc is our phone company and the only isp in the area..so i was stuck and didnt want to pay $80 a month for Comcast Cable Internet

Any way my download is 1.5MBS and im not sure what my upload is. Anyone got a good test?



cooked

 

www.dslreports.com

Qwest is being good about this.

Called yesterday afternoon, they examined and found the problem today, and may have it fixed today as well.

 

Its been happening for so long, what am I going to do with all newly gained free time?

Oh yeah.

Play games online

 

Not only did they remove that xflat, but they REPLACED 2 miles of phone line as well.

But I'm still slow.

Sounds like a compound problem. My ISP isnt out of the hot water yet.

 

All my friends have cable...LOL. I don't have that choice.

As you said, they are cheap. I may just go buy one, if I can find an onlien retailer.

Suggestions anyone?

 

And what brand/model do you guys reccomend?

 

This is what i use. It works well and thats good for me.



cooked

 

Moment of truth tomorrow.

Someone from Qwest is coming to my house to check the connection from here.

I will then know if its my modem, line or ISP.

 

Hey i did the test and i got to say i am happy! Adrynalyne good luck! I hope it all works out for you soon!



cooked

 

Thanks

I'm really considering Covad, thanks to xflat for bringing it up.

Someone at work has it.

Solid 1.5 connection for the last two years.

I'm just waiting on them to email their terms and conditions.

Still.

Not too happy that they haven't responded in their "24 hour" period.

 

Apparently the DSL fairy visited my computer while it was sleeping last night. So..maybe they didn't finish the work from yesterday, or something. They were supposed to come to my house today. So, I don't know whats up.


I woke up this morning with a 1.2/1.1 connection. The upload is higher than what I am rated for. I'm only supposed to be getting 896.

Its holding so far.


Yeeeha! I've been stuck with a 200-600k connection for the last 2 months.

 

Spoke too soon, I guess.

Its dropped down again.

 

Ok, Qwest rocks.

Qwest came out to my house and measured my line.

I am getting a full 1536/1024 signal to the CO.

They called up my ISP, and for lack of better words, handed their ass to them

My ISP then tried to blame the modem, so he switched modems.

The Qwest tech talked to my ISP for close to an house.

My ISP is at a loss of what is wrong, but Qwest and I know what the deal is.

Not enough bandwidth!

So my ISP will call me on Monday to see what they can do about it.

In the meantime, I'm ISP shopping

 

Yeah, I kept thinking back to what you were saying, Cowboy, every time they said it was peak hours.

For some reason I originally thought you meant the pipe was more between me and the telco, than me and the ISP.

I now know better. Cutting corners does not pay!

Well, I won't pay for it anyway.

 

Glad you're getting it sorted Adryn



This whole mess is a great example of how the average home user gets fooked. As a savvy geek, your knowledge and persistence is forcing them to get it working properly. Probably 95% of their customers are clueless about whether or not they're getting their money's worth.

Aren't telecom companies wonderful?

 

Yeah, its unfortunate that people just don't know how much a ride they are being taken for. I don't even download that much anymore, but I-want-what-I-pay-for.

I'm grateful for what Qwest did today. They had the equipment and resources to prove my case, and they certainly didn't have to.

I've got a whole new level of respect for them after all of this.

 

We called my ISP today.

The tech reccomended that we try another DSL provider.

The end.


LOL

 

so, are you going direct with Qwest?

 

Yep!

I'm waiting on a call back from a manager at my ISP (why they are calling me, i have no idea), then I will put the order in, then cancel my ISP as soon as Qwest's service is live.

 

Heheheh.

Qwest DSL setup today.


Anyone want to guess my speeds?

Rated at 1500/896.

Getting 1220/802

From a busy test server.

Now thats they way it should have been all along

Much better!

 

Where did you go to check yoru speed? that is pretty good analysis.

 

Wehey, at last!

 

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