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tarkin96
@embarqhsd.net

tarkin96

Anon

[CenturyTel] Good internet for 3 months, then slow.

I am a century link user and lately i have had problems with internet speed.

About 7 months ago, our 5mbps package began to give us only about 1mbps constantly. For 3 months we never got the speed past 2mbps but were still paying for 5mbps.

We eventually got it fixed about two months ago and our constant speeds were around 5mbps. But about two weeks ago, our internet speed decreased again and we are still paying for 5mbps. This is the exact same thing that happened months ago. The only internet we have access to is century link, so we need thi fixed. The problem is, century link keeps telling us that they are providing our correct speed.

Any help?
Nemesis158
CTL 1G Fiber
join:2012-09-15
Spokane, WA

Nemesis158

Member

The CS personel are looking up your account and seeing that your modem is connected at 5mbps. there are a couple things you should do.

1. go into your modem settings and see if you can find where it says what it's connection speed is running at. your modem's ip will be 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 . it should show something over 5000Kbps

2. if your modem shows the correct connection rate, you need to check how consistent your connection is. Run several Speedtest.net sessions at different hours (including overnight) to see if they are different.

If the problem is with your line or modem, the speeds will be similar.
if the problem is a congested terminal, you will see higher speeds during overnight hours.

tarkin96
@embarqhsd.net

1 edit

tarkin96

Anon

I dont think you can look up my account, seeing as it is not mine, but my mother's.

And if you can offer info as into how to check modem settings, that would be helpful.

This is the highest speedtest i have been able to get for the past hour.
»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 7554.png

Thanks for the response.
Nemesis158
CTL 1G Fiber
join:2012-09-15
Spokane, WA

Nemesis158

Member

I dont Work for CenturyLink, so I cannot tell you anything about your account. What i meant was that when CenturyLink's Customer Service told you that you were connected at the proper rate, that was all they were going to do. Level 1 customer service won't look at anything other than that.

To view your modem settings/stats first open a command prompt window and type:
ipconfig /all

Depending on how many network adapters your computer has, it may show details on more than one adapter.
Under your main adapter you should see a listing for a "default gateway" IP address. This address is your Modem's IP address, assuming you dont have a separate router connected between the modem and your PC.

Open your web browser and type in the IP address you get in the command prompt, it should open the modem interface or prompt for a password. usually they wont have a preconfigured password on the router to log into its interface.

Since i dont know what modem you have i cant tell you much more, usually it will show the connection speed on the main page or under an advanced settings/diagnosis page.

If it shows a proper connection rate and signal levels (>15db SNR for upload and download) then the problem may be a congested terminal.

the only way to tell would be to run a speedtest say around 3am
if you get your full 5mb at that time, then the issue is definitely the terminal.

The only problem i foresee is that usually the only terminals that have problems are those fed by T1 (or perhaps coax, if such a terminal exists) Terminals which are fed by T1 do not provide more than 1.5mb to all their connected users.

If your connection is still slow and your connection speed and signals are good, you may need to check to be sure no one else on your connection is running something that would actively use it constantly.
For example, Someone could be running a torrent program and be actively seeding torrents. depending on how much of your upload capacity they use, it could slow your download. Your upload speed and ping seem consistent with a situation similar to that.

If you do get 5Mb at ~3am, then call Customer service again, and tell them the terminal you are connected to has a congestion problem. if they dont do anything for you or tell you they want to send a tech to your house get the call elevated and tell them they need to send a tech out and check the terminal as well.

tarkin96
@embarqhsd.net

tarkin96

Anon

Ok thanks for clearing that up and helping me get the info.

The page it was taken to shows i have a 7071/574 kbits/sec. So im guessing thats saying about 12 kbps.

And sorry for my lack of internet knowledge, but how can i check for torrent? Is it as simple as a virus scan or is it more complicated?

The thing that doesn't make sense is why the internet speed will be great or a few months then just go bad until we have some really long tech support sessions to get it fixed. I know centurylink can be this annoying, just like any other company, but i haven't seen anything like this.

Once again thanks for the help and sorry for making you wait for a response as i am still in high school.
Nemesis158
CTL 1G Fiber
join:2012-09-15
Spokane, WA

Nemesis158

Member

Your modem is connected at 7Mb down/574Kb up, which due to Overhead on DSL packets translates to a ~5Mb down/512Kb up connection

CenturyTel/Link often connected users at a download speed 20% higher than what they are/were actually paying for to compensate for that overhead. However, if you were to cancel your service and start fresh they would bill you at 7Mb instead of 5.
It looks like you are only getting half your rated throughput on both upload and download. there really isnt any way to check in the modem interface if someone is torrenting.

What does confuse me is your lower upload rate. on 1.5-20Mb connections it should be connected at least at 896K, so you may have some signal issues with your upload, which could also cause issues if you are getting lots of packet loss on the upload stream.

You said this was your brother's internet account, so how many computers are connected to the modem?

Also, did you find the signal levels?

And you still need to try and run a speedtest check overnight at some point.

tarkin96
@embarqhsd.net

tarkin96

Anon

Thanks again.

This is actually my mother's and i live with seeing as i am only in high school. But there are 2 computers and 1 other that we occasionally use the internet with.

And i couldnt run a speed test last night because the internet went out. Internet is fine now, so i will have to do that today.

And here is a speedtest from 7am.

»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 0142.png

Download seems greats but the upload is still pretty low.

Might just be upload problems.
Nemesis158
CTL 1G Fiber
join:2012-09-15
Spokane, WA

Nemesis158

Member

do keep checking with speedtests ever now and then. if you could pull up the signal levels on your modem i think it might be a combination of poor signal on your upload and a congested terminal.

Since there are other computers on the network, unless you know what the other people in the house are doing there is no way to rule out that they might be using it constantly, causing it to appear slower.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS to tarkin96

MVM

to tarkin96
said by tarkin96 :

Ok thanks for clearing that up and helping me get the info.

The page it was taken to shows i have a 7071/574 kbits/sec. So im guessing thats saying about 12 kbps.

In his discourse on modem sync rates, Nemesis158 See Profile is referring to this:

»AT&T Midwest/Ameritech FAQ »I never see the speed I ordered on speed tests. What a ripoff!!!!

A rough rule of thumb to use when DSL is delivered over an ATM circuit, which is most common, is Modem_sync*.85.

BTW, the reason for the title of that topic is that SBC would never compensate for the overhead, as other DSL providers; setting sync rate higher than the data delivery rate.

And sorry for my lack of internet knowledge, but how can i check for torrent? Is it as simple as a virus scan or is it more complicated?

"Torrent" refers to a P2P file sharing protocol. You would need physical access to each network connected computer, and use the Windows Task Manager (if running Windows) to see if a BitTorrent (the full name) client is running. There are other ways, as well.

The thing that doesn't make sense is why the internet speed will be great or a few months then just go bad until we have some really long tech support sessions to get it fixed. I know centurylink can be this annoying, just like any other company, but i haven't seen anything like this.

There is the possibility of a congested router (SBC, my old ISP, referred to it as an, "exhausted" router when I was so afflicted. The correct solution is to increase capacity of the exhausted router; but it isn't always simple. In my case, SBC switched my circuit from an aggregation router (BRAS; some are made by Juniper, others by Redback) in Santa Clara, California to one in Pleasanton, California.

Or there may be some other underlying issue.
Nemesis158
CTL 1G Fiber
join:2012-09-15
Spokane, WA

Nemesis158

Member

Yeah long ago i use to see people on Centurytel and then CenturyLink (before and after Embarq merger) get speeds like this:
Paid rate: 1.5 Connected rate 1.7
Paid rate 3 connected rate 3.5-4
Paid rate 5 connected rate 7
Paid rate 10 connected rate 12

However, since the Qwest/CenturyLink merger i don't think they are doing that for new customers anymore, since their listed services are 7 and 12 now instead of 5 and 10.
I really wish they had left it the way it was before. Now instead of people complaining of confusing connection rate numbers they will start complaining about never getting their advertised rate.