| Hi Jason
I recently complained to AT&T about my cruddy line speeds - I was getting about 300KBS upload and 330KBS download. I'm paying for download at 1.5MBS and 330KBS isn't in my estimation a reasonable approximation of what I'm paying for.
I first connected to AT&T via their on-line chat. The technician couldn't really help and recommended calling for a live person the next day. Interestingly - just after the discussion, my DSL modem reset itself. I re-ran my speed test and found that my download speed mysteriously doubled to about 630 KBS!
I called the next day and the service rep said that my cruddy download speed was within my terms of service - even though I'm paying for a premium download speed of 1.5MBS! I mentioned the mysterious speed enhancement. Technician said no changes were made to my service. I wasn't happy about those comments!
I asked that a technician be sent to test my outside line, as I have had problems with poor physical connection at the street impacting performance. They'll do that for free. Technician came and his report was interesting
a) line quality was actually pretty good, but AT&T was throttling my download speed to ~700KBS as I'm at the very limit of a copper circuit 15000 feet vs 16000 feet max on a copper circuit - well - I kinda knew that - They tried to upgrade me to 1.5MBS before and my modem couldn't connect any more. Been using AT&T DSL for about 8 years and I accepted what I had as what was available.
b) the on-line technician HAD made a change and I was now getting some sort of interleaved download which uses more of the available bandwidth for download. That's what immediately improved my speed.
c) Technician asked why I was still on a copper circuit when everyone else (and he showed this on is laptop) in the neighborhood was on what he called an RT (remote terminal?) circuit. This has fiber to a local connection point and then copper to the house. No changes to anything on my end - just a rerouting on AT&T's end. Technician showed me that neighbors were getting 1.3MBS download and better. He told me he'd put in a service ticket to change my service to this RT delivery method. He did. Still waiting.
Questions I'd pose to AT&T DSL servicedesk:
a) are you throttling my download speed for some reason.
b) what kind of circuit am I on - copper or fiber
c) if copper - how far from the CO (central office) am I (if you're like me and at the limit of technology for copper you're in need of a change)
d) Is a fiber connection available (i.e this RT technology - can I get on this RT circuit - is so, do it, please.
The technician that came to the house said that all my download speed issues would be cured with this change and that I probably wouldn't see much of an outage while this change was in process. Hasn't happened yet and if it doesn't by Friday, I'll call again for status.
Hope this gives you a few ideas.
Peter
Fremont CA |
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