| [speed/latency] Low Speed Verizon DSL FIXED! Hints to pass on.. I've been having awful problems with my Verizon Enhanced DSL for over a year now. The last and worst was the last month, with top download speeds at around 1.23 and low speeds at a few hundred kbs. I exhausted the troubleshooting inside the house (disconnecting all devices, only the modem and 1 computer, etc.). Then I researched like crazy on sites like this and was getting pretty sure it was either the outside lines being damaged by Sandy last year, or that it was my service being capped for optimization (or lack of "FastPath").
It got so bad that my wife's VPN remote connection would slow to a crawl (30-60 second delays between key clicks) even if I was doing something rather mundane on another computer on the network (surfing, downloading a smallish file, downloading some music from Amazon, etc.)
Ok... now to the fix. I FINALLY (after a week of phone calls, cancelled repair tickets and jerking around from tech reps from India, the Phillipines to Arizona and Jersey) got a repair tech to come to my house--via the PHONE repair department. Of course, the last person I spoke to on the phone got it wrong AGAIN--telling the repair tech there was noise on the voice line. (shaking head) Nevertheless, he asked me about the real problem and got to work.
This guy tested my signal at the network interface (the NID outside the house) and it showed a tad more than 3mbps. So... it wasn't the signal being degraded before it got to my house as I thought.
Here's his fix:
(Note: I have 2 phone lines--2 separate numbers--the current DSL is on my second line... I'm getting a second DSL this week on the other line).
First, he noticed a small line filter in there. He snipped it off and bypassed it--apparently a filter on the entire line BEFORE it comes into the house will degrade the signal a bit. He tested. He gained some signal right away.
Then he put in a new type of modular jack that isolates the dsl... from the phone jacks. He then connected (inside the house) home runs (so to speak) to 2 locations in my house-where two separate DSL jacks would be connected to 2 different modems. One is in my 3rd floor office where my wife does work-at-home on her VPN, the other on the first floor where I do my work and most of the entertainment devices are located.
He explained that the way I had it wired, every phone jack in the house (there are around 10) had the DSL running to the jacks. (lots of cable runs) So, each jack added to the loss of signal... even though I really only needed one location-where the modem was (I need 2 when the new DSL is active).
Luckily, I already had unused wiring running to jacks in the two locations (from 2 long disconnected phone lines) so he was able to tap into each of those rather than installing new runs.
In essence, these two jacks are DSL ONLY jacks--one phone number on the 3rd floor jack, the other number on the first floor jack.
He then hooked up two new Verizon supplied modem/routers and we then did speed tests... 3.3 mps!
The speed has been solid with slight fluctuations, the lowest DL speed at 2.7 or so, the highest 3.9!
So... My advice to some here is as much as we'd like to believe that Verizon is capping our service or we need then to turn on FastPath or whatever, there's nothing like getting a knowledgeable repairman--an American one at that!--to come and troubleshoot the problem. In the end it cost me just under $160--he was here for a bit over an hour.
After all, as long as we are getting DSL over copper, it really a phone line issue that can be solved by and new-fashioned phone repairman. This guy was not a DSL tech repair, but he had all the necessary equipment and smarts to test the DSL, find the problems and fix them. Period.
Hey, my time spent researching and troubleshooting on my own was just not worth it!
The only real problem I have is with the Verizon idiots all over the world that have no idea of real world technologies and repair methods. I mean, I had people unable to set appointments that would actually stick... others who said I couldn't have 2 DSL services at one location... still others who kept transferring me to wrong departments... and even one disgusting guy from Arizona that gave up, and transferred my call to a sex/dating phone chat service!
(I'm going to calm myself now and stream some Pandora while my wife is on her VPN...)
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