Time Warner Cable - Legacy → [TWC] My internets has slow upload speed Milwaukee

Since mid-February I've noticed terribly slow upload speeds...downloads seem acceptable...online speed tests show good readings but when it comes to sending out a file via Apple Mail, over iChat (AIM) or when uploading to a webiste like sendspace etc. etc....it worked great from Dec. 1st when I moved here so I'm thinking it's not a computer issue since I have two Mac's and the both have the same upload problem.....the only time I have any luck sending data is when I skip my airport extreme and hook straight to the modem....but even then I can only send over iChat, not mail or sendspace or FTP etc. etc.....really weird problem...I've attempted to use open DNS..no luck...any ideas?? Otherwise I may have to switch to DSL since I upload of files to clients for my work.
thanks.

I would call a tech out before you switch. That's what I'm going to do (also in Milwaukee).

It could be anything. We've had an insane amount of snow here this season, and cable boxes have been buried for months. It's possible that moisture could have penetrated your line if the sealant wasn't done well or is old or whatever. I've noticed some strange disconnect problems over the past couple of months that replacing a cable modem didn't fix, so I'll be calling a tech out to check my lines.

Have you checked the tweak test here?
»/tweaks

Sometimes various network settings get changed affecting data transfers.

I am also in Milwaukee - check for my other two posts in this forum. I also experience the same upload problems as you described since mid February. I had a tech supervisor confirm that the area is being traffic shaped.

You can do this, but I guarantee it will do nothing. Believe me, I tried. The techs don't even know about the traffic shaping. Try a speed test on speedtest.net and choose the Chicago, IL server. I show that both my upload and download speed are maxed out. In the real world, speeds suffer. It's TW throttling, pure and simple.

Hmm. You and I may be having two different problems.

I seem to have no problem getting my max advertised speeds, both upload and download, from speedtests as well as normal http, ftp, scp, torrent traffic. It's just that my modem has been rebooting under moderate download loads.

I don't know if this is aimed at me or the original poster, but I think the OP and I are having the same issues. Our (or at least my) cable modem isn't rebooting, it's that our upload stream is being throttled down to around 10k/sec. My speedtests always show 15/1, but my uploads to usenet, p2p, ftp, gmail (http) all slow to a crawl within seconds. This effect is caused by Time Warner. Thankfully, I haven't had my modem ever reboot through any of this slowing. (knock on wood)

don't waste your time. a friend and i live in the same area in milwaukee city. both have road runner with time warner and mac macbooks.

in the last 2-3 weeks the service with road runner has been abysmal. they are absolutely no help. we have each purchased brand new modems, routers, had techs out many times.

speant HOURS and HOURS on the phone with time warner, in the "help" chats etc.

speed tests ALWAYS show that we are getting the "normal" speeds for uploads and downloads.

SOMETHING has changed in the last month....this is NOT how it has been in the past. we both have had roadrunner with time warner since last summer....with zero problems. speed was fine...could upload easily.

TIME WARNER has changed something. they will not admit to ANYTHING. quite frankly...they are the WORST company i have ever dealt with. EVERY single person i have talked with at their company has been ZERO help...and honestly quite rude.

i know they are shaping the traffic here in milwaukee. i have NEVER had this problem with any service until the last 3 weeks. there are TONS of posts on the internet about this.

i work in music...and need to upload files daily. these are SMALL files....3-50mb. it should NOT take 30 minutes plus to upload a 3mb mp3 file.

it is utterly rediculous.

i am switching service. i have exhausted EVERY possiblity with time warner...as has my friend. we have both speant 20+ hours dealing with this. we have had techs out several times to check everything. the speeds show correct.

THERE IS AN ISSUE that time warner is not admitting.

if they are shaping...it sucks. even right now, i am trying to send 2 emails with less than 3mb of data attatched....it WILL NOT send...it has timed out many times.

not sure if there are enough of us experiencing this to make a difference. i am fed up...will be switching to dsl !!

please feel free to contact me if you are having the same issues. i plan on getting together a letter to time warner. they are NOT providing the SERVICE i have been PAYING them for !!

i can be reached here:

jchristopherhughes @ yahoo . com (remove spaces..)

This is very interesting. I have had several clients now in Mequon (Milwaukee burb) start complaining that they cannot send email via a Road Runner/Time Warner connection. The emails generally contain attachments that aren't even that large, several hundred k.

One client called TW and they had him hook up directly to the modem (bypass his dlink router) and his speedtests were "normal." Behind the router the speedtests were abysmal (10k i believe). I figured he had some Outlook/Virus scanner/spyware problem but he did not have any of those. I was going to show the client the web portal to road runner mail but when he tried to upload his attachment to an email, the site timed out.

I had my brother verify at his house about 1 mile away and sure enough, he couldn't send a file either, in Outlook or with Gmail (gmail timed out waiting on the upload).

All 3 of these cases use Dlink routers. Two of them use the 51xx and 1 of them uses the Webstar (I think?) with phones/internet so the common thread for me so far is Dlink routers.

Had a fourth client call up this morning and mention he couldn't send emails with attachments in Outlook but he had TDS metrocomm. He switched to Outlook Express and could send emails.

That's all I've got. I sense something is amiss......

Sorry I posted that quickly and realized my Dlink paragraph was confusing. All 3 of my cases I've seen use Dlink routers (DI-524, DI-624, and the Dlink gaming router 4300 or something). Two of the cases use Surfboard 51xx cable modems and the other uses the Webstar combined digital phone/cable box.

Sorry for any confusion.

On top of all the other issues I've posted about in the past few weeks, I can also add to what you just posted...

Last night (this morning) at 1am, I tried sending my mom a 700k picture as an attachment through Gmail. It timed out THREE times before going through on the fourth try - and that try took about 60 seconds. I have the "turbo" 15/1 plan. There's NO way a 700k attachment should take a minute and four retries! I also suffer the same slow attachment through my godaddy online web mail client and Outlook 2007.

I have had the same problems. My wife tries to send attachments through Gmail, 500k or so and it times out. Speed tests are normal, but web surfing is very slow. There is a noticeable delay. Thought it might be a DNS issue till I came upon these. Will call TW tomorrow to complain. The problem is that there are not many alternatives here in Mequon.

I think that's what all of us in the Milwaukee area need to do. I'll call them tomorrow also and complain. I think I'll even stop in this weekend when I'm at the mall and complain. If enough of us complain and get the word out, *maybe* it'll force TW to do something. My hopes aren't very high, but why am I paying for a connection that is throttled to no use? What would they think if I throttled my monthly payment to them?

Unfortunately, there isn't much of a choice in the Milwaukee area other then roadrunner and DSL, and I can't stand at&t...

I complained to RR National Support last night after getting them to admit the problem. Tech Support said it would be fixed by 4/1/08.

While I won't hold my breath when it comes to Time Warner, that is semi-promising news. So they actually admitted to traffic shaping? Did they say exactly what the problem was?

No. Just 'a known problem' in my area. I said traffic shaping which was not denied.

I called them to complain about the same thing - no problem doing anything other than sending attachments (which I was better off not even trying...)

When I mentioned packet shaping, it was denied (take as you will) but they did state that there was a problem that was being worked on.

The odd thing is that they had me do two different speedtests - one on their own site (»speedtest.wi.rr.com) and one on speedtest.net. The internal network one posted perfect speeds (488Kbps up), but the speedtest.net test was crap (81Kbps up)

Based on past B.S. I've had to deal with (comcast blacklisting the entire WI roadrunner IP pool for three weeks...) I'm assuming it's more likely to be a cat fight between providers, but I've been wrong before.

If we're lucky, the quote of 4/1 for the fix won't be too far off of reality.

I agree with this. I'm in the Milwaukee area. I've had trouble connecting to various websites for the last several weeks, like a DNS problem, but also uploads to photo sites continually time out.

Same in Cedarburg 53012. Uploading to smugmug photo site is a few k/sec....worse than dialup.

Bob

From Mequon, also having a terrible time sending email with photos attached along with a whole lot of pitifully slow web browsing. Sometimes it feels like I'm using dial-up. I tried level 3 and opendns for DNS servers but that didn't speed up my web browsing experience. Download and upload speeds test normal and usenet download speeds are normal. I've tried 2 different routers and multiple computers with no change. After spending 3 months and several visits due to signal quality problems and random modem lockups, I had about 9 months of internet bliss. Now this. Anyone know when Verizon plans on offering FIOS to the Milwaukee area?

A workaround to the problem has been found, and hopefully the fix will be implemented soon.

I posted this in another thread, but it is just as useful here:

The problem with craptastic upload speeds has been lined to a few IP pools.

72.131.xx.xx
72.228.xx.xx
75.86.xx.xx

If you have an IP address that falls into any of those three groups, you have upload speed issues. Force an IP change by cloning a different MAC in your router or swap your modem and pray you get an IP ouside of those three ranges.

As long as you don't have an IP in the above ranges, your upload speeds will be fine.

I did have a couple of my home office clients switch to business class Time Warner (which I hope TW appreciates!!!) and the problem went away. Uploads went from 10k to 1.9Mbit/s. This would make sense since they likely receive a new IP address not in the problem address subnets.

Thanks all for your posts.

n

I had the slow upload speeds with Time Warner and I solved the problem. My IP address starts with 75.86.xx.xx and I have a Internet and Phone modem (Webstar). I feel the problem is in the combo modem. Before I upgraded to the "All-In-One" program I had just Internet and cable T.V. and I never had problems. The Internet has been terrible since I received the new combo modem (internet and Phone webstar).
I went the to TWC store and told them to give me another modem - Just an Internet modem and I now have two modems. The Webstart modem is used excusively for phone. I "T-eed" the cable line to each modem and I run my internet just through the "internet modem only" modem. (Transfer your RJ-45 cable or USB cable to the Internet modem) My IP address is still the same and my upload problems are gone. You must call TWC when you hook up your new modem as they need to initialize it for you.

I had the slow upload speeds with Time Warner and I solved the problem. My IP address starts with 75.86.xx.xx and I have a Internet and Phone modem (Webstar). I feel the problem is in the combo modem. Before I upgraded to the "All-In-One" program I had just Internet and cable T.V. and I never had problems. The Internet has been terrible since I received the new combo modem (internet and Phone webstar).
I went the to TWC store and told them to give me another modem - Just an Internet modem and I now have two modems. The Webstart modem is used excusively for phone. I "T-eed" the cable line to each modem and I run my internet just through the "internet modem only" modem. (Transfer your RJ-45 cable or USB cable to the Internet modem) My IP address is still the same and my upload problems are gone. You must call TWC when you hook up your new modem as they need to initialize it for you.

In the last few weeks I have noticed about a 4 to 1 reduction in my upload speeds. I upload files ranging from 1MB to about 20MB to two sites using an FTP client. The sites are ftp.ibackup.com (Offsite backup) and our church website. In the past uploads have been consistently about 60KB/s or about 500 kb/s.

I have checked my modem upload speed with RR test site »speedtest.wi.rr.com/ and the upload speed has been consistently about 510kb/s. I have included below tests that I ran this morning May 15, 2008 at about 10:15 AM. As you can see all of the tests show about a 4 to 1 reduction from the local rr test site.

TEST WITH »speedtest.wi.rr.com/

Upload #1
------------------------------------------------------------------
File size transferred : 3.02 MB (3167484 bytes)
Total time taken : 48.9 seconds (51404 milliseconds)
Throughput : 64.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
= 0.06 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
= 512.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
= 0.51 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]

TEST WITH »speedtest.wi.charter.com/

Press Start to begin
Preparing Speedtest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 167.41Kb/s

TEST WITH »www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ (CHICAGO SERVER)

Upload Speed: 141 kbps (17.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload a 31.5MB test file to

ftp.ibackup.com

Upload = 10.2 KB/s

Upload to church web site

Upload = 14.7 KB/s

Note that my IP does not fall into the ranges mentioned above. I emailed my info to the local tech support people who said they would forward to the network people.

We will see.

My problem is resolved. Took less than 24 hours.

I am impressed.