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uniqs
2015
paradox665
join:2011-05-16
Aiken, SC

paradox665

Member

Major node saturation problem in Aiken, South Carolina.

Hey, everybody.

This is my first post and I apologize if I sound a bit ticked, but this problem has really gotten to the point of ridiculousness now and I'm quite sick of it.

I live in Aiken, South Carolina and I have Atlantic Broadband's Megamax (15mbps) service. Around the hours of the late afternoon and evening, my speed decreases EXPONENTIALLY. I'm really good with computers, so I figured my router may have been going bad, and I replaced it with a Linksys WRT54GL running a fork of the Tomato firmware. That didn't solve my issue at all. So, I did some Google-Fu and found some posts from people (different ISP's) about "node saturation" and their issues are exact matches of mine.

I'd like this to be fixed but don't know the avenues to go about getting it fixed. I've tried to call ABB about this problem for what has to be close to a year now, but they insist there's no problem. Also, it seems to be that they can only send a tech out in the middle of the day or early in the morning, not when the problem occurs, so naturally, the techs don't see the problem and think I'm just wasting their time. I've attached some pictures of the speeds I'm currently getting at 9:17 PM on May 16, 2011 and I think you'll all agree that I'm definitely not getting anywhere remotely near the speeds I pay for.









hybridhavoc
@24.145.81.x

hybridhavoc

Anon

Node saturation is definitely an issue that all up-and-coming internet service providers deal with. First and foremost, the key is to come at them loaded with data, and information that they cannot refute. It is true that they will not be able to schedule a technician to come to your home at anytime but regular business hours, but having a tech at your home is useless in this instance anyways.

Since you are using a router, your data will always be somewhat circumspect to an ISP. So step one is to remove that from the equation for some time. Have a direct connection between the modem and your computer. Second, run a lot of ping tests and traceroutes. Narrow down the issue. I have found a program called PingPlotter that essentially runs a traceroute every specified number of seconds, and charts the information nicely. Leave this running for as long as you feasibly can, to build up an extensive history for when you speak with the ISP.

Also, try to run speed tests not only when you're having a bad connection but when it seems good as well, so that you can provide this information to them as well. This way they understand that you're not complaining of CONSTANT speed issues, but intermittent speed issues.

Finally, understand the kind of solution that is available for them. This does not have anything to do with the setup at your home, at the pole, or even on your street. In order to resolve this, they essentially have to build a whole new node and rework all of their current infrastructure, basically splitting it in half to reduce that "saturation." There is quite a bit of time and money involved in this.

For reference, I am also an Atlantic Broadband customer and am having issues of my own. But through my own experience and investigating, and through talking to their tech support online, it appears to be an issue with my modem itself. So I will need to have it replaced as soon as I can.