Does anyone with a 4Mb line actually get 4Mb?

T

TheREV

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We have had our 4Mb line since day one - along with endless drama. We occasionally get bursts of up to 2Mb - but I have never actually seen anything approaching 4Mb speeds.

In fact, it is so bad at the moment that we are averaging about 220Kb :mad:

Is there anyone who actually gets more than 2Mb on a regular basis?
 
I always get full speed with local content or threaded links internationally.
 
I do - or very close to it.
 
So what makes all of you special? :rolleyes: Any idea how far you are from your nearest DSLAM? Please post your nearest exchange name so I can find out what equipment they have installed. Thanks!
 
Not me!

It seems that there are two kinds of 4Mb triallists - the lucky ones who get solid connections at full speed, and the others, who struggle, but get no attention from Telkom.
I'm an "other" - my Netgear DG834GT negotiates the fastest rate it can with the DSLAMs in the Bryanston exchange, but never reaches more than about 3.2Mb. The negotiated rate usually results in a noise margin of around 6dB, which results in a highly unstable connection, lots of lost packets, and much frustration! I would gladly settle for a solid 1Mbps connection, but despite calls to Telkom, am unable to get them to drop my maximum connect speed.

Does this sound familiar? Wouldn't it be smart, if you are conducting a "trial" of a new service, to brief your helpdesk staff on how to handle customers with problems - and to be ready to offer a pull-back from the trial as an alternative?
 
TheREV said:
So what makes all of you special? :rolleyes: Any idea how far you are from your nearest DSLAM? Please post your nearest exchange name so I can find out what equipment they have installed. Thanks!
Click to expand...
When they installed they said 6.5km - I dont know the name of it though.
 
440kb/s for me, with 17 to 18ms pings to IS on a good day
 
I usually get full speed from local IS servers, sometimes on international threaded downloads.
 
The people with stable 4mb lines, what routers do you guys have?
 
Get about 430KB/s maximum when my line decides to connect at 4096kbps
 
It's not your router, I think it's the exchange. I run an IT shop, so I've tried a couple of Routers (SMC, CISCO, NETGEAR ETC). Current Linksys syncs at 4MB's and I've got crystal clear lines to the DB(Great SNR & low ATT), then onto the fibre backbone. Very, very stable, but 1.2 - 1.6MB's (MAX). I think some of the Telkom Exchanges do get throttled down a bit, must be. I know I connect to the Bromhof Exchange (I'm in Rand Park Ridge). I've got a cuzzie with lousy line conditions, but they get the 400KB's download speeds. Maybe one day we will find out......
 
Hades said:
Get about 430KB/s maximum when my line decides to connect at 4096kbps
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's just me but for the past 2-3 weeks I've been getting some insane speeds on my 4Mb line. I often average local downloads at 680 - 700 Kb/s...I've even had spikes (of roughly 5 mins) to 1200Kb/s. How is this possible?? Do you think they're testing DSL 2+ or 8 Mb lines?

Ps...I'm in Cape Town.
 
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