ADSL advice needed

[Redline231]

hi guys, can some you more knowledgeable fellows please help me out?
I stay in centurion, max adsl speed is 4mb. I was with mweb , then moved to telkom (all in one package works out cheaper) this setup worked fine for about 80% of the time. over the last few weeks it just degrade completely to a point where internet is of no worth to me. getting hold of telkom is also a struggle phoned them three times. twice I was o n the line for 10min without getting to speak to a person. so line is fine apparently.

so, my question - do I switch ISP's again? move back to mweb or cyber smart? or fork out extra cash for neobroadband

ps: my usage is mainly internet radio streaming, with some video at night - usage is not high though 100 to 150GB a month

 

[Johnatan56]

What do you mean, the speed degrades? Or does it lose connection and then degrades?

 

[adam_g]

Mind posting your line stats and a trace route?

 

[Redline231]

will get the info tonight
performance slows ie netflix starts cashing

 

[dtj]

I had the exact same issue for basically the whole of Dec and most of Jan and I also stay in Centurion. The DSLAM I connect to also only supports up to 4meg and it was sorted only after about 4 technicians came out to find the issue, each time they promised it will be sorted but lo and behold a few hours later the same thing.

I tried different accounts, routers and cables and they even did a port refresh but to no avail. The SNR margins and line attenuation was always perfect and there where no errors on the line, eventually the last tech told me that they will rebuild the port and that's what fixed the issue.

I never had to call the call centre, but instead made use of the Telkom app for smartphones to log faults and almost each time they came back to me the same day.

Good luck

 

[Redline231]

thank you very much, will try the app

 

[Redline231]

I have uploaded pics into my gallery - don't know if it is correct, or viewable. but, I have seen last night that I can still stream before 5.. speed test reckons 3.5 Mbps, then it drops to 3 and the trouble starts. Unotelly has a post about netflix and hulo buffering in S.A.
http://help.unotelly.com/support/articles/182353-heavy-buffering-in-south-africa
so it seems that telkom might be throttling streaming when demands pick up?

ps: I have even set netflix quality settings too low -(very grainy) and it still buffers