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| [DSL] Consistently slower speeds than advertised and charged for The last month with DSL Extreme has a been a complete pain. I pay for their 7Mbps download speed service (not sure that the upload is and don't really care). However, it's been a month now that I get speeds of anywhere between 0.5Mbps till about 5Mbps (and only in the best of circumstances), and mostly lingering between 0.6Mbps and 1.5Mbps. I have had 4 or 5 tickets opened regarding this issue. They had asked Verizon to check their line on two occasions and both time it was deemed to be working in perfect condition. They keep claiming they see the line being at 7Mbps, but doesn't help me since this is not the real life speeds I've been getting. Netflix streaming keeps stopping and buffering, Skype calls dropped all the time, etc, etc.
They also did a "radius reset" and PPOE_all (not sure that that means) which seemed to help for a few hours. They claim to also have moved my to a different circuit (in case the old one had gotten saturated). I changed to a new modem yesterday, and there's very little difference, but my latest tests are still at 2.7Mbps.
I keep trying and test with any of my 4 computers and TV, with and without my router (I have actually tried it with two different Linksys routers).
I'm running out of ideas here. Does anyone have any suggestions when dealing with DSLExtreme?
Any help would be appreciated. | |
 dslx_nick
join:2011-12-24
Chatsworth, CA
kudos:11 | Re: [DSL] Consistently slower speeds than advertised and charged PPPoE is a connection type which means you need your username & password to authenticate on one of our servers, referred to as a radius server. Radius reset is a process by which we basically reset the server with regards to your credentials.
If you're seeing slower speeds on your end, there are different possibilities why that would be occurring. One common cause one encounters is a router splitting the signal to multiple devices (since your 7Mbps connection is being split up at that point... and you've got a total of up to 5 devices fighting for bandwidth? 7/5=1.4), but you've specified that you tested both with and without a router and you're still getting no more than 5Mbps, so there's probably something else occurring here.
Hardware failure is a possibility too, but you've tried two different routers and two different modems and are still seeing the same symptoms... so that seems less likely as well.
Congestion is also a possibility, although that usually tends to come and go at various times (since it's not like the entire neighborhood is maxing out bandwidth usage all the time); congestion wouldn't be my first guess, which would explain why a circuit change wouldn't have made a significant impact.
Line problems are also possibilities. Verizon has checked their lines twice and both times are seeing good speeds on their end (which goes up to the NID, the phone box outside your house)? At this point, taking into account the other possibilities presented above, process of elimination would suggest a potential inside line issue. This could be as simple as a faulty CAT5 or phone cord, or could be a problem with the building wiring itself. Have you had a technician check the building wiring, by chance?
Of course, there's always the chance that I'm missing something here. If you'd care to PM me your account info, I can have a tech review your ticket history and see what's going on. | |
| I am obviously not testing the bandwidth while the other devices are streaming or downloading, so your 1/5 suggestion is a bit offensive to my intelligence.
Also, I did try 3 or 4 different CAT5 cables as well as all the phone jacks in the apartment (there are 4 of them) with three different phone cables (the last one was included with the new modem I received from you)
I wouldn't be contacting you guys to replace my modem if I hadn't exhausted all my options.
I just did another test and got 0.7Mbps (10% of advertised speeds).
So, please any other ideas would be highly appreciated. | |
dslx_nick
join:2011-12-24
Chatsworth, CA
kudos:11 | I'm sorry if I wasn't clear; I wasn't insinuating that I thought you were testing the bandwidth while using the other devices. I merely meant to point out that such IS a common cause of perceived slow speeds, but I had considered and dismissed such as impossible in your case ("but you've specified that you tested both with and without a router and you're still getting no more than 5Mbps, so there's probably something else occurring here."). No offense intended.
If Verizon tested the outside lines - twice - and are showing a full 7Mbps hitting the phone box, then that usually means the slowdown is occurring somewhere inside. You've tried multiple CAT5 cables, multiple phone jacks, multiple phone cables, and multiple modems, none of which are resolving the issue. Having eliminated those as factors, that leaves the inside wiring of the building itself. A damaged wire in the building can cause interference on the line, even if the modem isn't plugged into that jack specifically. One test I would strongly recommend (if possible) is to test the modem out at the phone box. Newer phone boxes come equipped with test jacks; by unplugging the plug already in the test jack and instead plugging in the modem directly into the test jack, you disconnect ('lift') the inside wiring and get a straight connection right at the box.
You mentioned that it's an apartment, so I'm assuming the phone box is probably not right by your apartment specifically; it's probably a larger unit set aside in another room to service the entire building. As such, it probably isn't feasible for you to hook up a desktop system out there to test; if you have a laptop, that'd be much easier. Either way, if you want to send me your account details then I can have a tech coordinate with you; we can run line tests on our end if you have the modem connected, without needing to have to have your computer connected as well. | |
| After over a month of constant and fruitless troubleshooting with DSL Extreme support, I gave up on them and signed up with TimeWarner.
I never managed to reach the 7Mbps advertised speed which I was paying for. My averages almost never even reached 50% of that.
I now pay $6 less per month with TimeWarner ($50/20Mbps download and 2Mbps upload) and consistently reach 21Mbps and sustained at about ~18Mbps.
I advise anybody having issue with DSL Extreme to just go ahead and cancel their service. Not only are they horrible at troubleshooting their customers' issues, but they're service is a bad deal to begin with.
Here are my readings for the past couple of weeks:
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 scatmanPremium
join:2000-09-29
Corona, CA | My service is starting to get unreliable as well and won't be renewing and as a matter of fact might be moving in the next month or two so I can legitly be released from my contract and will be getting time warner or fios as I will strive to locate in a fios served area.
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a work in progress... | |
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