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Fastpath & Interleaving ?'sWell, I had read Radiodoc's thread quite some time ago and was very excited by it of course my NID was buried under two feet of snow so I had to wait a while. I finally got around to finding the circuit ID and sending the e-mail and this is the response i got. Any thoughts on how best to resolve this? Good Morning:
Feedback is unable to make changes on your local account. You will need to call your local billing office to make changes to your services.
We are sorry we are unable to help you further.
Ameritech Feedback
Original message follows: -------------------------
Please change my account from Interleaving to FastPath. Thank You - Username = djheater@ameritech.net - Phone Number = 630-620-xxxx - Service address = 123 Main Street Lombard, IL 60148 - Circuit ID = TXNU 450068 Thanks in advance I'm really looking forward to the decreased latency |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 1:11 am · (locked) |
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Well I've had the same problem on and off for 8 months. Whenever I have written to feedback they have switched me over. However, I have been switched back on occasion. If I were you I would be writing a much stronger letter telling them that you are very dissatisfied with there service and demand to be switched. THIS DOES WORK! BTW, what are your ping times. When I've been interleaved they are 100-150 on the low end. When on fastpath I'm at 50-70. Hope that help.
When cable comes I leaving dsl in the dust.
Ron |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 3:33 am · (locked) |
toolkit join:2001-01-16 Crystal Lake, IL |
to djheater
Instead of feedback@ameritech.net, you might try support@ameritech.net. I wouldn't be suprised if these two addresses actually get answered by the same people, but it's worth a try.
I too wanted to get switched. I called Ameritech on Saturday 20-Jan around 8 PM. The person I talked to had no idea what this was all about. He went and discussed it with his boss, who he said also did not know anything about it. I guessed that I had read about it here and told me "not to believe everything I read on DSL Reports - most of those guys don't know what they're talking about."
Well, of course I didn't buy that, so I sent email to support@ameritech.net on Monday morning. I waited until a weekday and sent the mail in the morning to increase the chances that a different crew would get it. I got an auto-reply right away, then more personalized response on Tuesday telling me a trouble ticket had been opened.
Then I got a phone call on Thursday night. They told me they were getting ready to switching and would do some line testing - my connection would probably get dropped. It did. When it came back up, I was on fastpath. They called back about 5 minutes later and asked if everything was ok. It was. I was very pleased with this experience.
So: Keep trying. Eventually you will get someone who knows how to process your request.
Good luck! |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 8:46 am · (locked) |
·Carolina Mountai.. Synology RT2600ac Linksys E2000
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to djheater
The old addage: "Be careful what you ask for, you may get it" works here. I have tried fastpath twice. I am presently back on interleave.
My system 4060 USB modem, does not work well on fastpath. I can't tell you much other than it works in the morning and early afternoon, but doesn't work at night. Just doing a tracert was enough to un-lock the modem. Interlave (for me) needed that extra error protection that fastpath doesn't have. I have traded emails with other people with 4060 and fastpath, and their system works fine. Not here. It could be just my line, so don't take what I say for gospel. I hear my line is "OK", so I don't know how to proceed. Jan |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 9:24 am · (locked) |
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to djheater
There never has been an official procedure to follow for this, and the people who answer email are generally overwhelmed by it all. It's not their fault, really. Unfortunately they get flamed and abused daily and that doesn't help any.
Not to suggest that you weren't before, but be nice, positive and professional. Don't fall into the "hey, this is the fifth time I requested you do this, WTF is going on" attitude, because they don't have to switch you over. The email handlers have 0% control over this, and can only forward your request to those who do. One every couple of weeks should be enough. One every day is just going to clog the system.
It would be nice if there was a way to call in and talk to someone about it, but even PacBell & SWB have had to cut off customer access to ASI personnel. That's what's so great about the A.net-related people who take time out of their lives to post here. Without them we'd know almost nothing for sure.
Hang in there and try to not get too frustrated. |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 10:27 am · (locked) |
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Hmmmm... After reading some responses perhaps I should be happy with what I'm getting. I thought that someone had posted that the way to know you're on Fastpath is if your second ping is in the 20's here's my tracert from what you guys are saying I'm going to assume this is pretty good. Tracing route to dslreports.com [209.123.109.175] over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 77 ms 74 ms 75 ms adsl-pool25-1.chicago.il.ameritech.net [64.108.1 1.1] 2 61 ms 61 ms 59 ms ar1-1.chicago.il.ameritech.net [206.141.192.203]
3 74 ms 70 ms 69 ms 137.39.130.97 4 75 ms 71 ms 73 ms 503.at-1-0-0.XR1.CHI4.ALTER.NET [152.63.68.226]
5 74 ms 72 ms 70 ms 195.at-1-1-0.TR1.CHI2.ALTER.NET [152.63.65.58] 6 96 ms 91 ms 91 ms 126.at-5-1-0.TR1.NYC8.ALTER.NET [152.63.1.90] 7 95 ms 93 ms 95 ms 185.ATM7-0.XR1.NYC4.ALTER.NET [152.63.21.97] 8 94 ms 95 ms 95 ms 189.ATM7-0.GW7.NYC4.ALTER.NET [152.63.25.113] 9 96 ms 94 ms 96 ms internap-gw.customer.alter.net [157.130.50.86] 10 94 ms 94 ms 93 ms border3.fe2-0-fenet2.nyc.pnap.net [209.191.128.1 34] 11 110 ms 111 ms 114 ms nac-1.border3.nyc.pnap.net [209.191.130.94] 12 83 ms 87 ms 85 ms a1-0-1008.core1.oct.nac.net [209.123.11.53] 13 97 ms 87 ms 87 ms f0-0.colo1.oct.nac.net [209.123.168.226] 14 89 ms 90 ms 91 ms dslreports.com [209.123.109.175]
Trace complete. Certainly I can live with it. Just thought I might be able to improve it. |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 12:19 pm · (locked) |
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You are still interleaved. #2 would be under 40 for a USB and around or under 20 for Westell or 3060 internal. |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 12:54 pm · (locked) |
cosmicvoidInfinity Or Bust join:2001-01-02 Kingston, WA |
FWIW, Cayman 3220-H owners can tell that they are/aren't interleaved, cuz it tells you so on the DSL status monitor report.
P.S. My requests for fastpath have been uniformly ignored. |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 3:36 pm · (locked) |
xcv462 join:2000-05-10 Floral City, FL |
to djheater
Had to E-Mail about 10 times to tech support and feedback. was told a trouble ticket was made out, and the next day I was changed to fastpath. glad it works for me it would be a job to get changed back. Just keep trying.
Tracing route to dslreports.com [209.123.109.175] over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 27 ms 28 ms 68 ms adsl-pool27-1.chicago.il.ameritech.net [64.108.1 3.1] 2 13 ms 28 ms 14 ms bas0-0.chicago.il.ameritech.net [206.141.192.121 ] 3 28 ms 13 ms 14 ms aads-nap.exodus.net [206.220.243.63] 4 14 ms 27 ms 14 ms bbr01-g4-0.okbr01.exodus.net [216.34.183.97] 5 41 ms 28 ms 41 ms bbr02-p6-0.jrcy01.exodus.net [216.32.132.110] 6 28 ms 41 ms 28 ms dcr03-g3-1.jrcy01.exodus.net [216.32.223.115] 7 27 ms 41 ms 41 ms acr01-p4-1-0.jrcy01.exodus.net [216.32.222.218]
8 42 ms 27 ms 41 ms 209.67.40.14 9 55 ms 55 ms 54 ms s4-0-1.core2.oct.nac.net [209.123.11.25] 10 42 ms 55 ms 41 ms f0-0.colo1.oct.nac.net [209.123.168.226] 11 55 ms 69 ms 82 ms www.dslreports.com [209.123.109.175]
Trace complete. |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 4:09 pm · (locked) |
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to RadioDoc
I'm sorry Doc but I have to disagree. I have had dsl from Ameritech since its inception. When Ameritech was Ameritech and not SBC "positive and professional" worked just great. However, since the buyout SBC/Ameritech's customer service, tech support and anyone else you talk to acts as if they have their heads up their *&@$*@%$! They treat every phone call the same way. They assume that the customer does not know what their talking about and treats customers like little children. SBC fired some very excellent people when they took over without evaluating who they should keep. SBC simply brought in their own. (I do not have any friends or family that worked for ameritech) SBC does not communicate with their customer community. They will interleave everyone they can in order to put as many people on the smallest bandwidth as possible. Only squeaky wheels get greased.
Well Doc I just had to speak my peace. No hard feelings.
Ron |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 7:53 pm · (locked) |
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As I often say, your mileage may vary. I have had nothing but good experiences with everyone at Ameritech from sales to ASI to tech support. Of course, I have hardly needed them either, and when I have called tech support it was just to report a problem or ask a question, not to get my setup fixed. My installation was on time and OK the first time and has been since. Maybe I just got lucky.
As for interleaving "to put as many people on the smallest bandwidth as possible" I have to correct your statement. Interleaving has absolutely nothing to do with bandwidth. It has to do with the noise immunity of your individual line. The provisioned line speed is exactly the same either way. In fact, a marginal line can run faster with interleaving than without it due to the hardware error correction. An ADSL circuit on fastpath is more likely to suffer packet losses from impulse noise interference and may not sync or be unstable if enough interference is present. |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 8:09 pm · (locked) |
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to RSHands$
quote: They assume that the customer does not know what their talking about and treats customers like little children.
I hate to say it, but the end user often doesn't know what they are talking about. I'm not saying that the business should be run with that attitude though, but its true. quote: They will interleave everyone they can in order to put as many people on the smallest bandwidth as possible.
Actually, any order placed since September 2000 defaults to Fastpath. RadioDoc already covered the rest about that point. [text was edited by author 2001-01-30 20:14:34] |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 8:13 pm · (locked) |
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to djheater
quote: I hate to say it, but the end user often doesn't know what they are talking about. I'm not saying that the business should be run with that attitude though, but its true
This may be true of most end users, however the folks answering the phone "should" be smart enough to know when they are speaking to someone who does have some knowledge and not try to BS their way through a support call. That only upsets the customer in the end. It's all about customer service !! |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 8:40 pm · (locked) |
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Ameritech.net's marketing crew needs to rethink things as well. Seeing how a good number of their potential customers know nothing about computers and have probably never been on the internet before, its not a wise idea for them to try to sell self-install packages to everyone they can. Nevertheless they do it, and the customer ends up completely lost. Some effort should be made to understand the customer's PC intelligence (or lack thereof) and sell them what would be best for them. If Granny wants her first net experience, don't sell her a damned self-install package! |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 9:02 pm · (locked) |
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to RadioDoc
Thanks for the lesson on interleaving. I certainly need it. When I was on my above rant and stated bandwidth I actually was not referring to speed specifically. Whether you call it "bandwidth, Speedpath or Broadband" the company's product is a service. Service is something we as consumers experience. This experience is made up of the whole package of both speed and latency. When my original adsl (1.5Mb/s - 256Kb/s) was a static ip and over ATM my experience was fantastic. It blew the doors off anything we have today from Americrap. (can I say crap here?) I had 157KB/s downloads and 25-35ms pings nearly everywhere. I just think that this technology should be moving forward not backwards.
ps- you really know your stuff.
Ron |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 9:33 pm · (locked) |
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Unfortunately the entire industry is headed in that direction. Lower costs and easier installs for mass-market consumer (residential) connections. I missed PPPoA by 12 days (not sure if that's good or bad) but I get where you are coming from. You tasted the premium steaks and it's hard to go back to bologna. There are alternatives (Megapath is a very good example) but you pay for it. Their service runs close to $100/mo and you get what you pay for.
And yes, you can say crap here.
I guess I'm too easy to please. For $40/mo I am getting more than I really need or use all the time (although 1500/256 would be very tasty indeed) and am saving money in the process. In know a lot of people are down on Ameritech DSL but it works for me. |
actions · 2001-Jan-30 9:53 pm · (locked) |
kcazzieOne Of Jerry's Kids Premium Member join:2000-08-13 Morton Grove, IL |
to RSHands$
RShands, I read that you will move to cable as soon as it comes. Had cable(ATT@Home) before I moved and the speed was great. Was very p*ssed off that if wasn't offered at my new place. Now it is... and maybe a few months ago I would have gave up the 200 and signed back on. After reading the posts and remembering being down A LOT, I'll think I give A'tech some more time! Speed, is wonderful if pings/latency are with it... The, only problem I see with @home is after their big lost...no more free stuff... what else are they going to do to make sure they are not down a BILLION+ again, that's what worries me! A'tech isn't great nor was @home, just wish I new what the future holds...any way what ever you do good LUCK! |
actions · 2001-Jan-31 12:24 am · (locked) |
·Carolina Mountai.. Synology RT2600ac Linksys E2000
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to bassthumpa
Dark, I agree with most of your posts, regarding un-educated people and their computers. As you know, in my paticular situation, I am computer literate, just not network literate... Therefore I fall into all sorts of traps (of my own making).. My paticular situation (no PCI slots) possibly prevents me from having the real good speed/low latency, but I have other friends who have cable, and with exception of cable signal drops, they seem to be happy. I checked the Efficeint website, and specs of 4060 are V1.1 USB, as is my motherboard. I was concerned that maybe the USB modem had a USB V2 rating... higher speed than motherboard could support. I am trying to have cable friends try the same tests (at the same time)as I do, so I can try and make sense out of this... My biggest fear would be an "Apples and Oranges" comparison. I have too many variables to make sense out of the data I have presently... The ameritech system since early January has been solid, with email, newsgroups, and web access all operational... I am still using Mseng's DNS entries, and I'm kinda reluctant to change them.... Sorry for the rant.... |
actions · 2001-Jan-31 9:21 am · (locked) |
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to kcazzie
As far as the future...Hopefully FIBER! hehe |
actions · 2001-Jan-31 10:10 am · (locked) |
System |
to djheater
Here is the best way to request having your DSLAM profile changed from Interleaving to Fastpath. Please e-mail techsupport@ameritech.net and include all of the following information.
Full Name Full Address Telephone Number with Area Code The Main User ID on your account Your Service Order Number and/or Circuit ID Number
There is no need to "write a stronger letter". In addition, do not e-mail feedback@ameritech.net. Not only will this delay routing your request to the right department, it will also put your e-mail further in the queue, and not likely to be one of the 200 messages that I answer personally on a daily basis.
Believe it or not, I appreciate your feedback, as I read here daily. I understand your frustrations. I know that recently the address techsupport@ameritech.net was unreachable and I would assume many of your requests, questions, and outstanding technical difficulties were either lost, or (unbelievably) still being worked on from prior months. It frustrates me as well.
I have used the word "I" repeatedly, on purpose. I won't speak for, or justify the actions of Ameritech technical support as a whole, or any of the other e-mail technicians. I am very aware, that I don't have the answers to everything (does anyone?), I just know the job that I have been given to do, which I take very seriously and sincerely.
Keep up the good work. |
actions · 2001-Jan-31 6:01 pm · (locked) |
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Thank you! It is nice to here good words from the troops in the trenches. I will be nicer next time.
Ron |
actions · 2001-Jan-31 6:08 pm · (locked) |
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to Anon
Outstanding! Welcome Techette!
I'll go change the link to point to your post, or better yet move the info to the FAQ and link to that.
Just for the record, we really appreciate you and all the other Ameritech.net-related people who contribute to this forum. We know you do it on your own time and it shows that you really care how this all works. We do get cranky at times and I hope you don't take it personally.
As for your duties on email, you and your cohorts there go over and above the call of duty. I can't imagine the workload.
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actions · 2001-Jan-31 6:24 pm · (locked) |
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to Anon
Thanks for the info Techette. Just for the record, I work at a help desk and I wouldn't dream of taking a tough guy approach. I know the score only to well. I sincerely appreciate your advice and will heed it. Everyone else I'll post the results, if any. |
actions · 2001-Feb-1 12:32 am · (locked) |
djheater |
Thank You Techette you've made my day:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):) Tracing route to dslreports.com [209.123.109.175] over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 33 ms 32 ms 32 ms adsl-pool42-1.chicago.il.ameritech.net 2 19 ms 21 ms 21 ms bas0-0.chicago.il.ameritech.net 3 19 ms 20 ms 19 ms aads-nap.exodus.net [206.220.243.63] 4 17 ms 21 ms 20 ms bbr01-g3-0.okbr01.exodus.net [216.34.183.65] 5 36 ms 37 ms 35 ms bbr02-p6-0.jrcy01.exodus.net [216.32.132.110] 6 36 ms 35 ms 37 ms dcr04-g3-1.jrcy01.exodus.net [216.32.223.116] 7 36 ms 37 ms 36 ms acr01-p5-0-0.jrcy01.exodus.net [216.32.222.222]
8 36 ms 36 ms 38 ms 209.67.40.14 9 40 ms 42 ms 40 ms s4-0-1.core2.oct.nac.net [209.123.11.25] 10 38 ms 38 ms 37 ms f0-0.colo1.oct.nac.net [209.123.168.226] 11 44 ms 46 ms 42 ms dslreports.com [209.123.109.175]
Trace complete.
The difference is incredible, I'm very thankful that you took the time to post hope you get a good review;) |
actions · 2001-Feb-4 7:33 pm · (locked) |
djheater |
Re: Fastpath & Interleaving ?'sIn my excitement I forgot to add that I received this email.
Thank you for contacting Ameritech.net!
A Trouble Ticket (636750) was entered against your circuit. Please remember it takes 3 to 5 days for this to take place.
Thanks again for contacting Ameritech.net SpeedPath.
on 2/3 and today 2/4 I got a call letting me know it was switched over. Huzzah! |
actions · 2001-Feb-4 7:37 pm · (locked) |