TekSavvy → [SOLVED - quickly!] DSL Move, Bad synch: Tek's explanation?

Hey guys,

I need your help to determine whether I am SOL over here, and whether what the teksavvy tech supp. guys told me makes any sense.

I live in Downtown Montreal and just recently moved with my 5Mb DSL Line about a measly 5 blocks aways (okay, maybe 8 blocks away).

Before the move, I was synching at 5056/800K no problem. The bell tech came to my new apartment today, and I am now synching at 2496/800K. As you could guess I am not happy.

I have spoken to TSI. After getting randomly transferred (insulting my intelligence), finally got to talk to a nice tech supp named John. First of all my current line stats:


Fast Path
Synch: 2496/800
SNR: 19.0 Down/ 11.0 Up
Atten: 39 Down/ 23 Up
Output Power: 11.9 Down/ 18.1 Up

My line stats look OK, they aren't great, but they should be adequate for 5056/800 synch. Besides, I'm in the heart of Montreal - in building built in 2003.

Basically the Teksavvy guy eventually told me this, "Well, it looks like your downstream is only at 53% capacity, which could handle 5Mb, but your upstream is at 82% capacity, which is pushing the limits. So Bell put you on the highest stable profile that they could. I suggest you wait a few days and see if they switch you to a higher profile."

Now, I have no way of evaluating that statement. It seems to me, since I'm already synching at 800Kb up, the upstream capacity shouldn't matter. It's the downstream (which is at 2496 right now) that needs to go up. According to John, the downstream is only at 52% capacity, so it should be able to handle 5Mb.

What should I do? John said he didn't want to put in a ticket with Bell because if it's not their fault, I pay $80. I understand this is not Tek's fault, but it's still BS. Basically, they can set your profile at whatever the F they want, and then charge you $80 to get what you're supposed to be getting. Brilliant.

Do you guys have any suggestions? Is there anything I can do in my house to check that my wiring is good? I set up two extra phone jacks myself so I can piddle around a bit. If I am not able to get 5Mb DSL at this place, I'm leaving teksavvy after many years of service.

$44 a month in the heart of the 2nd largest city in Canada for crappy 256K connection is just preposterous.

Why are they concerned about upload? like you said, its 800k already and it doesnt go up with going to 5056/800...

Before it was never a problem for them to contact Bell to ask to raise profiles, from what people used to post... Why is it that it costs now $80 just to see what will work for the customer?

These stats should support 5meg sync. They should issue a ticket to Bell and have it raised, and see if it's stable.

Yeah I don't know what the issue was for putting in a ticket. I think he said that he saw the option to put in a ticket for "Put customer on highest possible profile" (i.e., whatever the F Bell wants to), but there wasn't an option for "Raise profile to advertised speeds."

He said that if he called Bell to come back and investigate the issue, they would charge me $80 if the problem wasn't on their end.

Hey there,

Let me through my 2 cents in here.

So... First of all, let me apologize for what I am about to tell you. The first tech that you spoke to wasn't 100% wrong in transferring you to customer service. It should have came with better explanation when they did so that you wouldn't get bounced around some more.

It looks like when we submitted the order to Bell, we pushed it through requesting a 2Mpbs profile. (Facepalm). The agent noticed that hence why she got you in touch with customer service to have it changed. I apologize that this wasn't explain to you. I am not sure why it wasn't.

As for you line stats... They are not the greatest, but they should support you at 5Mbps (IMO). It's a good thing that a ticket wasn't open because I would have eaten that fee.

As far as tickets go... It doesn't matter how simple the ticket is. It comes down to if Bell doesn't see a problem on their end, they bill us. So the second tech did have good reason to be concerned for you however it should have been noticed that the line was requested at a lower speed.

Here is what is needed, I need to place an order to change you to a 5Mbps connection which we will cover for obvious reasons. This process doesn't happen over night. We can attempt to expedite it however I doubt that Bell will approve the request.

I have addressed the issue in this forum and now I would like to discuss with you in private what I can do to remedy this situation.

Can you please PM me with the best contact number and I will give you a shout when I receive it.

Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience. I will try my hardest to make it right.

Andre

Hey Andre,

Thanks for the information. If someone would have told me that the order was pushed through at 2Mbps, that would have explained a lot. I know that that particular point was probably *my* fault, because I didn't request the move sooner. At the time I requested the move, I would have definitely elected to have it go through a few days or a week later if it maintained my profile. Good to know.

Also, I do appreciate John not putting in the ticket right away. I understand he was looking out for my best interest and I appreciate that. I did realize that it's a cost that neither your company, nor I want to eat, and that neither of us has a lot of control over it. I sympathize.

About the profile change - I'm patient. It's not that I need it now, now, now, it's really just that I wanted the assurance that it would get done eventually, and that someone was working on it. I'll be in touch with you in private.

Again, thanks for your reply. This kind of immediate response is what I've come to like about teksavvy.

No worries.

You may not need it Now now now, however I am such a cool cat that I will try for now now now... Just can't guarantee it.

I was in the escalations department so I have a few tricks up my sleeve :P

Has Tek considered trying to have a Bell tech colocated on site at their offices? With VPN access, that tech could have access to things like speed profile changes, and other line tests that Tek doesn't have at all, which could help reduce the number of issues that get escalated which don't need to be escalated, and also could help streamline fixing issues like this one.

I know that there's tools Bell's test centre has access to that I didn't even know existed when I was working for a reseller based in Ottawa (that doesn't exist any more).

Hello,

I have no idea if this has ever been entertained or though of. Its not a bad idea, and I don't know if it could work or wouldn't and for what reasons.

I tell you what. I will take your comment and poke around to see what I get.

Stay tuned

Andre

Knowing teksavvy and how great they tend to be, I'm sure they've considered all sorts of options like having their own techs, and better communication with Bell, and etc. etc. only to get roadblocked at every stop by Bell or the government.

Also, I'd like to point out that this thread and experience has reminded me why I joined Teksavvy in the first place. I think we should all remember:

"You don't judge a company by it's problems, but rather by how they solve them". And teksavvy has consistently gone to great lengths to keep me happy. And that's something you can't get in very many places.

Thanks again Andre and John.

You are most welcome. I will let John know as well.