lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
| Elite speeds continue to drop over past week,
We recently upgraded to Elite within the past month or so, and while I have never seen 6mbps on a speedtest, I was seeing 3.5 to just over 4mbps until recently. The past few days I am lucky to see anything over 2mbps. Here's a speedtest.net report from about an hour ago:
»www.speedtest.net/result/503476413.png
Also, I have been noticing the slowest speeds seem to begin at night and get worse into early morning, and have also seen that every morning at 6:28, any load at all (a speedtest, YouTube, heavy flash pages) will kill my connection on both PCs (one connected to the router, the other by WiFi) until I reset the router.
Can anyone offer any advice? Any ideas why my connection has suddenly turned to garbage? Multiple modem and router resets haven't helped. Thank you. |
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McSummation
Mmmm, Zeebas Are Tastee.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-08-13
Round Rock, TX | 1) Which modem do you have?
2) Could you post the stats from the modem?
3) Run this test »/linequality and post the resultant URL. |
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lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
1 edit | 1) Speedstream 5260
2) I actually tried to figure out how to access the modem via browser to do just this after reading some other posts, however I can't find how to do it for this particular modem.
3) »/linequality/nil/2535455 |
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McSummation
Mmmm, Zeebas Are Tastee.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-08-13
Round Rock, TX
 ·AT&T Southwest
| The 5260 is an older modem without the capability of getting stats. (At least not easily, if I remember correctly.)
The Line Quality Test doesn't indicate any particular problem with your line.
How about doing a speed test from the AT&T site - »helpme.att.net/dsl/speedtest/. Pick the Houston site. Sometimes the speed tests from other sites don't work very well for diagnosing problems. |
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lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
| Hrm, the AT&T speedtest (using the Houston location) doesn't seem to work. It takes me to a page which says "The test is now running. Please wait," but never refreshes. I let it sit there for about half an hour with no change. This is on my PC connected via the WiFi. I'll try it again later on using the PC connected physically. I'll post what happens. Just for curiousity I ran a speedtest.net test again and managed to hit 2.23 Mbps down, but lost the connection on the up test (this has been common the past few days). 10ms ping. |
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lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
| reply to McSummation
McSummation, I just tried running the AT&T speed test on the other PC which is physically connected, and it too simply sat at the screen with the message "The test is now running. Please wait." It never changed or refreshed. I thought perhaps it was an issue with router security but even with those features disabled, the same thing still happens. |
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McSummation
Mmmm, Zeebas Are Tastee.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-08-13
Round Rock, TX
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to lustacular
said by lustacular  :Also, I have been noticing the slowest speeds seem to begin at night and get worse into early morning, and have also seen that every morning at 6:28, any load at all (a speedtest, YouTube, heavy flash pages) will kill my connection on both PCs (one connected to the router, the other by WiFi) until I reset the router. Let's go back up to this issue. You said you have to reset the router. Is it just the router that needs a reset or both it and the modem? Dieing at exactly 6:28 would imply that there is a timer doing it. Check the router to see if you have something set to happen at that time.
BTW, what router do you have? |
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lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
| Belkin wireless pre-N with MIMO (model # F5D8230-4). I've been all through the internal setup for it and haven't found anything that seems like it would be causing the router to do anything funny. It won't actually die at that time of the morning so long as all I'm doing is very light load browsing.
I've been using it for..I want to say two years now? Been very happy with it. Bought both it and the matching pre-N MIMO card at the same time. |
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McSummation
Mmmm, Zeebas Are Tastee.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-08-13
Round Rock, TX | Back to the question about what has to be reset - is it:
a) just the router
b) just the modem
c) both the router and modem? |
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lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
| Sorry about that. Lack of sleep.
It seems to be just the router. I waited for it to go down a few times and resetting the router while leaving the modem on brought the connection back.
Today I've been back to 3+ Mbps with the connection disappearing only two or three times.
Also, when I began trying to figure out what is going on, I went into the router and changed all the security parameters on the off chance someone had broken into it and was hogging my connection via WiFi access. Didn't help. |
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McSummation
Mmmm, Zeebas Are Tastee.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-08-13
Round Rock, TX
·AT&T Southwest
| With the Elite plan, you should be showing speeds of about 5mbps. For instance, my Pro plan (3 mbps) shows 2.57 mpbs from the Austin Speedtest site.
I see nothing wrong with your line.
The 5260 modem is easily capable of the 6 mbps speeds.
So, you've either got a modem that's on its last legs or a router that's acting up.
Since the 5260 doesn't have stats, it's impossible to determine what it thinks is going on. It might be best to replace the modem with a new one. That might fix the problem and, at the least, you can then see what the modem thinks is happening. |
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lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
| Thanks for the replies and the help. Sorry I didn't get back to this sooner.
I suppose I should contact AT&T for a new modem? Or buy something online? Any idea if AT&T is going to charge me for it or not, or if what unit they're currently sending out to customers is decent?
One last thing I don't think I mentioned before: This trouble began very soon after we were offered Uverse by AT&T. At first I was excited but after looking into it, I didn't want to risk experiencing the install woes and other problems a lot of people seemed to be having, and I didn't want to make a leap of faith with an entirely proprietary service that would have my internet, television and phone all on it. So I declined, but was then offered the Elite DSL plan (which had previously been unavailable in my area). Very soon after having turned down Uverse and upgraded to Elite is when I began noticing these problems, especially how the connection won't support any load at all around 6:30am. Part of me wondered if the DSL network of AT&T hadn't been moved to second class and now has bugs that are going unfixed, or just a lack of available bandwidth now that the push is on Uverse. *shrugs*
Seriously though, thanks for the help so far. |
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McSummation
Mmmm, Zeebas Are Tastee.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-08-13
Round Rock, TX | The modem that AT&T sells online is $49. You won't find one much cheaper than that. |
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NormanS
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to lustacular
said by lustacular :Thanks for the replies and the help. Sorry I didn't get back to this sooner. I suppose I should contact AT&T for a new modem? Or buy something online? Any idea if AT&T is going to charge me for it or not, or if what unit they're currently sending out to customers is decent? That model has long been out of warranty. Unless you are upgrading (rather unlikely, since 'Elite' is their top tier), you probably won't easily negotiate a free replacement. The latest modem they are shipping is the Motorola 2210, a problematic beast; though there have been a couple of reports of an SBC-style Westell 6100 being shipped. To date, though, the best modem has been the Siemens SpeedStream 4100/4100b. If you can find a used SS4100 for under $20, jump on it.
One last thing I don't think I mentioned before: This trouble began very soon after we were offered Uverse by AT&T. At first I was excited but after looking into it, I didn't want to risk experiencing the install woes and other problems a lot of people seemed to be having, and I didn't want to make a leap of faith with an entirely proprietary service that would have my internet, television and phone all on it. So I declined, but was then offered the Elite DSL plan (which had previously been unavailable in my area). Very soon after having turned down Uverse and upgraded to Elite is when I began noticing these problems, especially how the connection won't support any load at all around 6:30am. Part of me wondered if the DSL network of AT&T hadn't been moved to second class and now has bugs that are going unfixed, or just a lack of available bandwidth now that the push is on Uverse. *shrugs*
Actually, that is entirely possible. Uverse requires conditioning of the F2 span of copper (B-Box to premises), but Uverse rides on fiber to the B-Box (actually to an adjacent powered VRAD box). So the F1 span, from the B-Box back to the DSLAM could well be ignored during line conditioning, and have problems which would then afflict DSL customers, while their Uverse neighbors on the same F2 span are not affected.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
| reply to lustacular
Still having the same issues, though the speed has been back up around 3mb. Tonight it went down twice in the span of about ten minutes, and did not come back up the second time after my routine power cycling of the modem and router. I had to cycle the modem twice the second time to get the connection back.
This is getting old. I don't know if it's the modem, if it's the line inside or outside my house, if it's some BS problem with AT&T's service, what. All I know is that this began immediately after they offered me Uverse, which I declined, and then upgraded me to "Elite."
So do I buy a new DSL modem off eBay and hope it just works when I hook it up, since I no longer use any of the connection manager software, hoping it'll just magically talk to my router and everything else just fine? Or do I buy Uverse, and A) risk having one of the bad installs I'm still reading about, and B) be stuck with the same IP constantly. |
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Flippant
So Much For Subtlety
Premium,Mod
join:2000-06-04
Katy, TX
Host:
Filesharing Software
Earthlink Cable
Texas Gulf Coast
AT&T U-verse
AT&T Southwest
| You might pop into the »/forum/sbcdirect and post a thread requesting a line check. If the line proves solid then new modem may be in your future. That particular modem has been known to gradually die. But it would be nice to see what is going on with your line first.
Read the posting rules and provide the info, it is private between you and at&t techs. Good luck. |
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lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
| reply to lustacular
Current update:
Found a new SpeedStream 4100 on eBay for $30 or $40 and bought it. Will see if THAT fixes both of my mysterious problems of slow speeds and losing connection every morning at 6:30. If not, I really don't know what else to do. Eight years ago after we first got SBC DSL, a line tech had to come out and do some sort of service to the small green metal post-like box in the backyard that houses all the telephone line connections. He was back there for about an hour, and then just left............leaving our DSL line disconnected. So I'm not really keen on the idea of a technician coming out and looking at anything. Which is one of the reasons I haven't switched us over to Uverse - the horror stories I've been reading about it.
Sometimes I feel like I'm participating in some giant beta test as far as broadband internet is concerned. *sighs* |
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d_l
Barsoom
Premium,MVM
join:2002-12-08
Reno, NV
| reply to lustacular
lustacular All I know is that this began immediately after they offered me Uverse, which I declined, and then upgraded me to "Elite."
By buying the 4100 modem, you have made a smart move because you will be able to diagnose (or at least narrow down) your problem. Plus it has the ability to pull in the DSL signal better than the 5260 if your line is less than perfect. |
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lustacular
join:2009-04-09
San Antonio, TX
| If I still experience the same problems after setting up the new modem, am I looking at having to call to have lines worked on, or what?
Also, any idea how difficult it will be to get the new modem working once it arrives? I don't use the connection manager software, only my router. It was actually an SBC/AT&T CSR who walked me through setting the router up a year ago.
I really do need to learn more about all this, since broadband internet is obviously far from a straight forward product anyone can just buy and have work... |
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d_l
Barsoom
Premium,MVM
join:2002-12-08
Reno, NV
| reply to lustacular
As long as you know your UserID/Password, set up is pretty easy with an AT&T modem. There is no need for connection manager software.
Your problems may be due to something in your inside wiring and that should be checked prior to calling AT&T or posting here in AT&T Direct (the better choice). |
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