Being screwed by T-scum on line speed?

I have a 4mb line and for a while I've been a bit suspicious of what Telkom is/isn't doing in the background.

A while ago I had a problem with the line - the usual no sync error. I phoned Telkom and the support guy found an error and told me it was because my line "cannot run at 4mb". His suggestion was that they drop the line speed down to 1mb. I told him to #*&$ing sort it out and that it was the most retarded solution I'd ever heard of because the line had been operating perfectly (at 4mb) the day before. Anyway, a techie came out and fixed the problem - at least I think he did.

That was about 3-4 months ago.

Ever since then I've been suspicious of what speed my line is actually operating at and it would not surprise me to find out I'm being billed for a 4mb line when in fact my line has been downgraded without my knowledge. I know the amount of users on my exchange has grown a lot since I upgraded to 4mb and I've heard a few dodgy stories about performance degradation as more users come online (although it's all hearsay).

Here's what makes me suspicious:

Right now I'm on saix games ftp server downloading a patch. I've always had peak download performance from saix - usually 400-430kb/sec. Now I'm getting a constant 106kb/sec. The download opened at 120kb/sec. WTF?!

Speedtest.net - 87kb down 43kb up!! (other download finished)

One factor that's making me question the integrity of the line itself is the fact that some days I get disconnected (lose sync) somewhere in the region of 10-16 times a day. This only happens some days - maybe one or two days a during the week. Some days I can stay connected without any problem. Why are some days better than others? If the problem was the line itself, wouldn't this be consistent? I have factored in things like weather etc. but in JHB during the winter the weather is constant - cold and dry.

I know that in SA we've been conditioned not to expect a full 4mb service on international traffic (although you can receive 4mb from some sites) but what really grates my carrot is that I'm paying for a 4mb service and receiving 1/4 the speed even in SA.

Its the line imo. If its a borderline case anyway then anything can tip it over. Slight temp/humidity difference and who knows what else.

Perhaps the increase in the number of users on the exchange affected the line stats slightly.

You can download the routerstats application to monitor the line....but I think you'll have to live with this unfortunately. Telkom guarantees the line speed....but not the full 4mb...only 512k of it I think. So they can bill you for 4mb and provide you with 1mb since the 4mb is a "best effort" thing not a guaranteed 4mb.

Our line also started giving crc errors from one day to the next.

flanders, have you recorded any data such as your sync speed, line attenuation and snr margin over the past few months?

I know exactly where you're coming from as I had the exact same problem a few months back. I've had 4mbit since the trial began and achieved the maximum sync rate 4096 downstream until a few months back. I noticed both a drop in my sync rate and a degradation of service. I contacted Telkom to try find out what the problem is but was given a story that it's a non-guaranteed "up to 4mbit" service and that my line isn't capable of reaching such speeds. I proceeded to explain that I'd had this service since the beginning and achieved 4mbit speeds up till then, leading me to think that it must be a Telkom problem. I gave up with level1 support and proceeded to post on hellopeter, after which I promptly received a follow up message on the site and a phone call from Telkom. I'm happy to say that my line is now running back at 4096/640 sync rates and am no longer experiencing any problems.

I'd recommend that you try the same and post your complaint on hellopeter. I think Telkom are quite active there these days...

To the OP Flanders, I'm in exactly the same boat as you. 4Mb line working fine for a while and then all of a sudden, a few times during the week, my line attenuation and margin will be CRAP and I'll lose sync like 50 times (seriously). Telkom downgraded me to 1Mb without my consent and I'm gonna crap on them tomorrow and tell them to bump me up back to 4Mb.

Not good news.

So what's the point in offering 4mb and charging for it but only guaranteeing 1/4 that speed? Why don't they give us all 4mb and charge us all for 512k??! Right now I see no difference between having a 4mb line and a 1mb line except for what I pay. This is ridiculous. Gonna give them a rev tomorrow and see what happens. If the line is screwed then they must fix it.

Yup I had same problem with telkom, line kept losing sync and when they fixed it they dropped me to 2Mbit line gave em some words they upped me back and it happed again 3-4 times in 5 months and when the 43th technian came....what he said? (me) (Techie) Its a fault in the line....I will fix it....Il be Back!...2hours later hes back and he fixed it YAY! the other 42 techies dont know whats happening...

Ok, phoned Telkom now and the guy "reset my service" on the port. Seems to be much better.

Speedtest.net - 3336kb/s down 437kb/s up with 18 ping. Sound about right?

Anyway, I'll say this much. Their call center has improved big time. I didn't wait at all to be helped on Friday as well as today. Tech support very friendly.

I guess Neotel's a good thing whether you stay with Telkom or not.