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ADSL slowing down?
- Thread starter mlungu1
- Start date
Nice to see we're not the only one. And yep, it's international especially. Also in Cape Town area. Telkom of course says there is no problem whatsoever but my service provider Cybersmart who are great by the way for anyone who is thinking of changing/signing up, think that Telkom is doing maintenance somehow somewhere. Whatever it is, good to see I am not only one. Will keep on pushing Telkom and post back if I hear anything useful.
pompomJuice
Active Member
Yes indeed! I have monitored my ADSL status closely over the past month and yesterday ( 18th April 2005 ) things went horribly wrong.
Basically I play allot of wow on USA servers and never have any problems. Yesterday I was getting intermittend LAG spikes like crazy. This prompted me to go check my settings and there it was! My Router now connects at 640kbps/384kbps instead of 2048/512.
My internet downloads have dropped considerably because of this! I ran a couple of tests about a mounth ago. The test consists of downloading the latest NVIDIA patch from nvidia. Because this file is usually downloaded I assume the file would be in cache somewhere and hence I should get speeds representing a download from my ISP ( saix ) instead of nvidia directly. I also use netlimiter to see exactly what is going on.
A month ago: DL 48 Kbytes/s = 393kbps ( ADSL conneted at 2048/512 )
Today : DL 37.3 Kbytes/s = 305kbps ( ADSL connected at 640/384 )
( Both connecting at FASTPATH )
I would go as far as to say that this is the actual speeds I am getting to telkom and makes me wonder why I NEVER EVER get anywhere near my 512kbps mark which should be 62 KB/s.
If I look at my netlimiter I do indeed NEVER EVER get above 48KB/s. This means that the average download speed of 48KB/s is not achieved by fluctuating bandwidth that sometimes peaks at 62KB/s and floors at say 38KB/s. ITS A STRAIGHT LINE! This indicates to me that I am indeed being limited to 48KB/s whichs makes me VERY sour! This also cannot be because of protocol overhead, the percentage is to great!
TODAY I got flat lined at 37KB/s which is where I draw the line! THIS IS REDICULOUS! I payed for 512 and im getting no more that a 384kbps ADSL user!
Someone please explain to me what is going on here!?
{EDIT}
Ok so I tried a different file. I downloaded winamp from winamp.com and wala 48KB/s ( Telkom dude told me to go there ). The main issues still remains! Why Do I never get above 48KB/s. Netlimiter still suggests that I am being limited because it draws a DEAD straight line on 48KB/s.
Basically I play allot of wow on USA servers and never have any problems. Yesterday I was getting intermittend LAG spikes like crazy. This prompted me to go check my settings and there it was! My Router now connects at 640kbps/384kbps instead of 2048/512.
My internet downloads have dropped considerably because of this! I ran a couple of tests about a mounth ago. The test consists of downloading the latest NVIDIA patch from nvidia. Because this file is usually downloaded I assume the file would be in cache somewhere and hence I should get speeds representing a download from my ISP ( saix ) instead of nvidia directly. I also use netlimiter to see exactly what is going on.
A month ago: DL 48 Kbytes/s = 393kbps ( ADSL conneted at 2048/512 )
Today : DL 37.3 Kbytes/s = 305kbps ( ADSL connected at 640/384 )
( Both connecting at FASTPATH )
I would go as far as to say that this is the actual speeds I am getting to telkom and makes me wonder why I NEVER EVER get anywhere near my 512kbps mark which should be 62 KB/s.
If I look at my netlimiter I do indeed NEVER EVER get above 48KB/s. This means that the average download speed of 48KB/s is not achieved by fluctuating bandwidth that sometimes peaks at 62KB/s and floors at say 38KB/s. ITS A STRAIGHT LINE! This indicates to me that I am indeed being limited to 48KB/s whichs makes me VERY sour! This also cannot be because of protocol overhead, the percentage is to great!
TODAY I got flat lined at 37KB/s which is where I draw the line! THIS IS REDICULOUS! I payed for 512 and im getting no more that a 384kbps ADSL user!
Someone please explain to me what is going on here!?
{EDIT}
Ok so I tried a different file. I downloaded winamp from winamp.com and wala 48KB/s ( Telkom dude told me to go there ). The main issues still remains! Why Do I never get above 48KB/s. Netlimiter still suggests that I am being limited because it draws a DEAD straight line on 48KB/s.
Last edited:
Kalvaer
Expert Member
pompomJuice said:
I've just checked after having the same problems and sending in my Log reports to a a telkom Tech again today. Seems Telkom has again changed the profile without letting anyone know what is going on.
About 1-2 months ago Telkom changed the "profile" from 2048/512 with a "fast" Latancy to 640/384 kps with a different latency (cant remember what it was now but I have it saved somewhere).
My line was down for almost a month during this, and the Telkom tech who helped me (who I also think is the only Tech at telkom who knows anything as he was actually brillent) told me that he hadn't even been told the profile had changed and only found out 2 days prior because of somebody with the same problem as me.
For the last few days I've been loosing connection like mad, and even asked about it here on MyADSL http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=19538 Got home today and guess what.. the profile has again been changed to 640/384, but with the "fast" latancy
Stupid question I know.. but can Telkom just change the profiles how they see fit when they want to?
pompomJuice
Active Member
I talked to a Telkom techi guy and he said they lowered it because of connection issues. One can kind of understand that it would help because at a lower signalling rate the signal would not be as susceptable to interference and attenuation as with a high signalling rate.
What bothers me is that I am limited to 48KB/s. I think that telkom thinks we are morons! They think if we buy DSL 512kbps and get ~50KB/s we would think "yeah 512 ~ 50KB/s +overhead."
Bull!@#$!@# I want my 62KB/s and I will harass them till they give it to me. They are CLEARLY limiting my bandwidth to 48KB/s. I've checked netlimiter's results and I never get a single drop above 48KB/s. It's absolute rubbish. They think they can fool us, but they cant fool me! I've paid to much money for this to be fooled.
Dude you have more seriouse problems than me. ( But maybe not mentally ) There is clearly somethin wrong with your local loop or you are to far away from the exchange and getting signal ateniuation as a result.
What I suggest you do is the following ( Cause I have done it and it works )
1. Get a mic
2. Get some speakers for you computer
3. Get the phone close to your computer
4. Make sure you call in callmore time. They actually charge you for the phone call, I mean why would they not!? In 10 years time we will be talking about "Death and Telkom" and not "Death and Taxes" if you get my drift.
Procedure.
1. Switch the mic on
2. Call 0860008700 and follow the steps, the first guy that anwers never has a clue so ask for a ADSL person.
3. Now every time you hear that annoing music put the mic close to the earphone and boost it through your computer speakers.
Now you can roam around for hours while you wait for these chops to pick up the phone! Make some coffee kill some flies; do what you have to do but get them on the phone and start tj00ning!
glhf and beware of "Death and Telkom"
What bothers me is that I am limited to 48KB/s. I think that telkom thinks we are morons! They think if we buy DSL 512kbps and get ~50KB/s we would think "yeah 512 ~ 50KB/s +overhead."
Bull!@#$!@# I want my 62KB/s and I will harass them till they give it to me. They are CLEARLY limiting my bandwidth to 48KB/s. I've checked netlimiter's results and I never get a single drop above 48KB/s. It's absolute rubbish. They think they can fool us, but they cant fool me! I've paid to much money for this to be fooled.
Dude you have more seriouse problems than me. ( But maybe not mentally ) There is clearly somethin wrong with your local loop or you are to far away from the exchange and getting signal ateniuation as a result.
What I suggest you do is the following ( Cause I have done it and it works )
1. Get a mic
2. Get some speakers for you computer
3. Get the phone close to your computer
4. Make sure you call in callmore time. They actually charge you for the phone call, I mean why would they not!? In 10 years time we will be talking about "Death and Telkom" and not "Death and Taxes" if you get my drift.
Procedure.
1. Switch the mic on
2. Call 0860008700 and follow the steps, the first guy that anwers never has a clue so ask for a ADSL person.
3. Now every time you hear that annoing music put the mic close to the earphone and boost it through your computer speakers.
Now you can roam around for hours while you wait for these chops to pick up the phone! Make some coffee kill some flies; do what you have to do but get them on the phone and start tj00ning!
glhf and beware of "Death and Telkom"
Kalvaer
Expert Member
Sorry for the long reply 
I am currently 2.8 km's away from the exchange (telkom test results) maximum is between 3.5 and 5 km's. So I am perfectly within the range. next my SNR Margins and Attenuation. Here is a list from http://www.dslreports.com on how lines are rated for what service you can get and what they mean
SNR Margin: 20.7 - 13.0
Line Attentuation:38.4 - 26.5 dB
Output Power: -38 dBM/Hz
So if I'm reading those states right:
For SNR margin I'm getting excellent results for down and good for upstream
For Line Attenuation I'm getting very good results for downstream, and excellent for Upstream
For Output Power I am WAY WAY withing the spec.
So why am I having all these problems? For interests sake my old results from last week are:
SNR Margin: 29.3 - 22.0
Line Attentuation:18.7 - 12.7 dB
Output Power: -48 dBM/Hz
I also used to have a SNR margin above 45
So since the profile change things have gotten worse, My stats from last week as far as I know would of been good enough to get a 6meg line in the UK, No such luck here though. I've also been told (by Telkom of course) That i'm getting one of the best stat rates in the country. Just wish my line would stay up now! Needless to say I'm completely confused and I Hope somebody here knows anything to help.
I will try testing your way of phoning. My last attempt was as follows:
1) Phone Telkom
2) Wait
3) Have a smoke.
4) Have a smoke
5) Grab cell phone and phone Tech
Me: "Hi X, you told me to report my line next time it goes down and then phone you, I've been holding for 30 min, but thought I'd let you know.
Tech: "Chris, try this number, Cape Town doesn't know what they are doing"
6) Put down phone and get rerouted
7) Get disconnected
8) Rephone, Get through to somebody
9) Explain situation, Get rerouted... TO CAPE TOWN again!
10) Burst out laughing
11) Wait and have 2 more smokes while I wait
12) Start Crying (1 hour and 40 minutes from my first call)
13) Tech phones me back
Tech: "Chris did you come right?"
Me: Your joking right" ... explain situation
Tech: "Sorry, Put the phone down, I'll phone my boss now and sort it out"
14) 3 hours later (22:35)
15) Tech Phones back.
Tech: "Chris sorry, I just went and checked, head Office forgot to strap your port and set you up, Some Idiot Other tech went into the exchange today and removed you from the port I set you up on, Its fixed now I'll try make sure it doesn't happen again"
That was about 3 weeks ago... I'm also wondering if that IDIOT tech didn't go back to the exchange
Well at least yeah I have the only decent tech in SA and I think the one person who actually knows what the hell he is doing in Telkom, and NO you guys cant steal him!
With lower signalling rate do you mean the SNR margin? If so the higher the number for that the better, and the lower the attenuation the better. Thats one of the things that I am really upset about, since the change of the profile, the SNR margin has dropped and the line Attenuation Rate has climbed!pompomJuice said:
LOL well I'm not so sure that I dont have more mental problems, but that is the next thing that drives me up the wall.pompomJuice said:
I am currently 2.8 km's away from the exchange (telkom test results) maximum is between 3.5 and 5 km's. So I am perfectly within the range. next my SNR Margins and Attenuation. Here is a list from http://www.dslreports.com on how lines are rated for what service you can get and what they mean
If I look at my results as of two days ago
SNR Margin: 20.7 - 13.0
Line Attentuation:38.4 - 26.5 dB
Output Power: -38 dBM/Hz
So if I'm reading those states right:
For SNR margin I'm getting excellent results for down and good for upstream
For Line Attenuation I'm getting very good results for downstream, and excellent for Upstream
For Output Power I am WAY WAY withing the spec.
So why am I having all these problems? For interests sake my old results from last week are:
SNR Margin: 29.3 - 22.0
Line Attentuation:18.7 - 12.7 dB
Output Power: -48 dBM/Hz
I also used to have a SNR margin above 45
So since the profile change things have gotten worse, My stats from last week as far as I know would of been good enough to get a 6meg line in the UK, No such luck here though. I've also been told (by Telkom of course) That i'm getting one of the best stat rates in the country. Just wish my line would stay up now! Needless to say I'm completely confused and I Hope somebody here knows anything to help.
I will try testing your way of phoning. My last attempt was as follows:
1) Phone Telkom
2) Wait
3) Have a smoke.
4) Have a smoke
5) Grab cell phone and phone Tech
Me: "Hi X, you told me to report my line next time it goes down and then phone you, I've been holding for 30 min, but thought I'd let you know.
Tech: "Chris, try this number, Cape Town doesn't know what they are doing"
6) Put down phone and get rerouted
7) Get disconnected
8) Rephone, Get through to somebody
9) Explain situation, Get rerouted... TO CAPE TOWN again!
10) Burst out laughing
11) Wait and have 2 more smokes while I wait
12) Start Crying (1 hour and 40 minutes from my first call)
13) Tech phones me back
Tech: "Chris did you come right?"
Me: Your joking right" ... explain situation
Tech: "Sorry, Put the phone down, I'll phone my boss now and sort it out"
14) 3 hours later (22:35)
15) Tech Phones back.
Tech: "Chris sorry, I just went and checked, head Office forgot to strap your port and set you up, Some Idiot Other tech went into the exchange today and removed you from the port I set you up on, Its fixed now I'll try make sure it doesn't happen again"
That was about 3 weeks ago... I'm also wondering if that IDIOT tech didn't go back to the exchange
Well at least yeah I have the only decent tech in SA and I think the one person who actually knows what the hell he is doing in Telkom, and NO you guys cant steal him!
Last edited:
pompomJuice
Active Member
Those are some very interesting numbers you posted ... I cant wait to get home and check my values. I did check them last night but I'm nut sure. My values are very good though, I think I live right next to an exchange... if the guy laying down fibre near my house the other day was talking the truth.
I will go read up myself on these sync issues on the web. What completely BLOWS my mind is that every time telkom finds a solution for some chop that lives 6Kms from an exchange we all get affected by it. IF SOME OTHER CHOP HAS SINC ISSUES DONT COME CHANGE MY VALUES AS WELL!!
About my explenation of the signalling rate. This is the rate you send signals over the line right? It clearly must be lower if you only connect at 640 which means the signal would not change as fast from one bit to another. This means the modem has more time to decern between ones and zeros.
My main concern yet again is still this bandwith limitation thats going on. I know I can connect at 2048Kbps, so why am I only getting 393Kbps if they advertise the line as a 512Kbps. Is this not illegal or somethin?! IMO they must be able to give me download speeds higher than 48KB/s if I can connect at 2048kbps.
I will go read up myself on these sync issues on the web. What completely BLOWS my mind is that every time telkom finds a solution for some chop that lives 6Kms from an exchange we all get affected by it. IF SOME OTHER CHOP HAS SINC ISSUES DONT COME CHANGE MY VALUES AS WELL!!
About my explenation of the signalling rate. This is the rate you send signals over the line right? It clearly must be lower if you only connect at 640 which means the signal would not change as fast from one bit to another. This means the modem has more time to decern between ones and zeros.
My main concern yet again is still this bandwith limitation thats going on. I know I can connect at 2048Kbps, so why am I only getting 393Kbps if they advertise the line as a 512Kbps. Is this not illegal or somethin?! IMO they must be able to give me download speeds higher than 48KB/s if I can connect at 2048kbps.
Kalvaer
Expert Member
I'm not 100% sure and hopefully somebody can explain it to everyone, But as far as I know the rate at which we sync is the max allowed "space" you can use on the line. However if you are using the 512 ADSL you are only allowed to use 1/4 of that space. I was also informed that they dropped the profile so that it was closer our "capped" line speed of 512 so that our modems would be more stable as it would not have to go through all the available frequency ranges (I have no way of knowing if that is true or not).pompomJuice said:
Some modems seem to state it as "max available rate" So i'm really not sure
I think it was changed more due to the fact that they are planning on releasing the 1mbit service soon and need to make sure that those who haven't paid for it are not using ranges
This was the same reason they tried to change the profile to "interleaving" (yeah I remembered the word!) Which they quickly got rid of due to everyone moaing about bad ping times as it causes extra resistance to noise bursts on a line, but increases the latency.
I'm completly stumped otherwise. Though i'm thinking of importing a newer modem, or at least try a modem that gives more details than what I currently have, I see there are some on the market that keep extensive logs and will really help when reporting a problem
ie: http://www.2wire.com/?p=106 Model 1070
Page with details it gives so I can tell Telkom to STICK IT AND THERE LINES ARE BROKEN! http://www2.dslreports.com/faq/12336
EDIT: mlungu1 can you post your specs.. Would be nice to see what others are getting, infact would anyone and everyone post them?
pompomJuice
Active Member
My stats are:
Downstream Upstream
SNR Margin 39.9 15.0 dB
Line Attenuation 18.3 11.5 dB
Errored Seconds 1 0
Loss of Signal 1 1
Loss of Frame 0 0
CRC Errors 0 0
Data Rate 640 384 kbps
Latency FAST FAST
The loss of signal is new. I have never had a loss or error before they switched it!
Downstream Upstream
SNR Margin 39.9 15.0 dB
Line Attenuation 18.3 11.5 dB
Errored Seconds 1 0
Loss of Signal 1 1
Loss of Frame 0 0
CRC Errors 0 0
Data Rate 640 384 kbps
Latency FAST FAST
The loss of signal is new. I have never had a loss or error before they switched it!
Kalvaer
Expert Member
mlungu1, all of the stats, would at least tell you which of the lines are better.
pompomJuice, those stats are brillent from what I can see, and are close to what I was getting a month ago... Did you just reset your modem though!!! 0 error seconds or CRC is something I have never seen before. The lose of signal means you failed to sync or you lost connection dont worry though because I just got home of course and wanna shoot somebody my stats tonight are: (for the last 19 hours)
SNR Margin 14.8 12.0 dB
Line Attenuation 41.1 27.5 dB
Errored Seconds 10941 181
Loss of Signal 99 99
Loss of Frame 0 0
CRC Errors 8488 62
Data Rate 640 384 kbps
Latency FAST FAST
Even though i'm still in the good catagory.. it doesn't explain why I'm dropping all the time, are there any technical people here who could explain it?
pompomJuice, those stats are brillent from what I can see, and are close to what I was getting a month ago... Did you just reset your modem though!!! 0 error seconds or CRC is something I have never seen before. The lose of signal means you failed to sync or you lost connection dont worry though because I just got home of course and wanna shoot somebody my stats tonight are: (for the last 19 hours)
SNR Margin 14.8 12.0 dB
Line Attenuation 41.1 27.5 dB
Errored Seconds 10941 181
Loss of Signal 99 99
Loss of Frame 0 0
CRC Errors 8488 62
Data Rate 640 384 kbps
Latency FAST FAST
Even though i'm still in the good catagory.. it doesn't explain why I'm dropping all the time, are there any technical people here who could explain it?
pompomJuice
Active Member
Omg! Those are some nasty stats! Call them up! There is something wrong with your local loop! Pick up the phone and press any digit, then listen... does it make a scratshy noise!?
Kalvaer
Expert Member
Yes it does.. Its almost like I can hear the ADSL modem through the filter, I'm was beginning to wonder if it wasn't the filter causing the problems.. but those stats where after it had been removed the whole day while I was at work..
Oh and had to type this 3 times as my line dropped everytime I hit submit
Oh and had to type this 3 times as my line dropped everytime I hit submit
pompomJuice
Active Member
Yea something is wrong there dude... it should be crystal clear!
Kalvaer
Expert Member
Well its 2:00 am in the morning.. I reset my modem since my last reply and my stats aint to bad again...
Check the stats below please if anyone knows what the mean and please explain to me what the bold parts mean???
WEB100 Enabled Statistics:
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 182.91Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 354.21kb/s
------ Client System Details ------
OS data: Name = Windows XP, Architecture = x86, Version = 5.1
Java data: Vendor = Sun Microsystems Inc., Version = 1.4.2_05
------ Web100 Detailed Analysis ------
Cable modem/DSL/T1 link found.
Link set to Full Duplex mode
No network congestion discovered.
Good network cable(s) found
Normal duplex operation found.
Web100 reports the Round trip time = 985.09 msec; the Packet size = 1432 Bytes; and
No packet loss was observed.
This connection is receiver limited 61.88% of the time.
Increasing the current receive buffer (62.0 KB) will improve performance
This connection is network limited 38.09% of the time.
Contact your local network administrator to report a network problem Web100 reports TCP negotiated the optional Performance Settings to:
RFC 2018 Selective Acknowledgment: ON
RFC 896 Nagle Algorithm: ON
RFC 3168 Explicit Congestion Notification: OFF
RFC 1323 Time Stamping: OFF
RFC 1323 Window Scaling: OFF
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
Server says [165.146.44.248] but Client says [10.0.0.14]
Attenuation is worse than normal, but other stats seem ok.. Ran a Speed test at http://netspeed.stanford.edu/ and i'm "happy" (not jump up and down ahppy) with the results , but some things worry me... Now please if anyone here can tell me.. why does my line perform perfect for a few days, then run bad for a few days... only thing i've thought of is... it rains between the good days and the bad days... does that mean telkoms copper cables are at fault???
Check the stats below please if anyone knows what the mean and please explain to me what the bold parts mean???
WEB100 Enabled Statistics:
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 182.91Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 354.21kb/s
------ Client System Details ------
OS data: Name = Windows XP, Architecture = x86, Version = 5.1
Java data: Vendor = Sun Microsystems Inc., Version = 1.4.2_05
------ Web100 Detailed Analysis ------
Cable modem/DSL/T1 link found.
Link set to Full Duplex mode
No network congestion discovered.
Good network cable(s) found
Normal duplex operation found.
Web100 reports the Round trip time = 985.09 msec; the Packet size = 1432 Bytes; and
No packet loss was observed.
This connection is receiver limited 61.88% of the time.
Increasing the current receive buffer (62.0 KB) will improve performance
This connection is network limited 38.09% of the time.
Contact your local network administrator to report a network problem Web100 reports TCP negotiated the optional Performance Settings to:
RFC 2018 Selective Acknowledgment: ON
RFC 896 Nagle Algorithm: ON
RFC 3168 Explicit Congestion Notification: OFF
RFC 1323 Time Stamping: OFF
RFC 1323 Window Scaling: OFF
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
Server says [165.146.44.248] but Client says [10.0.0.14]
vinesh
Well-Known Member
stupid question, where do i get my stats from ?