What ADSL speed should I expect - would logging an Fault help?

[Cassady]

What ADSL speed should I expect - would logging a Fault help?

Hello All,

This is not a complaint, but a sincere question.

Running a 4mb uncapped line - very low to moderate user - I just want sufficient speed to be able to browse and stream occasionally, and download some updates through the App store, at a speed significantly faster than photosynthesis.

I don't do torrents or online gaming.

As can be seen below - my current DL speed is sitting at 2.5mb or thereabouts. Ping is good. This speed has been fairly consistent over the past several weeks (ignoring the few ups and downs with TI).

Prior to the end of July, something changed. I'm not suggesting that anything changed on the network, or that TI are doing something different - all I know is that before the end of July, if I were able to upload my Speedtest results going all the way back to May 2013 (when I switched to uncapped) - it will be quite clear that my consistent DL speed, was sitting at 3,45mb.

This is what I was expecting, and happy with, for a 4mb line.

Question:

Would it be worth it to log a fault and get Telkom to come and have a look?
How expensive is that "unnecessary call-out fee"...
If it's a case of a full/blocked/congested exchange - is there anything that Telkom can do about that, by coming out to my residential premise?

I guess the main question I'm asking - should I be satisfied with a consistent DL speed of 2,5mb on a 4mb line - or should I expect a return to something closer to 3,45mb?

I would really appreciate feedback from anyone who were also seeing consistently low speeds - and had their problems resolved through a on-site visit!

Many thanks!




Telkom:


Afrihost:

 

[SpoonTech]

My line was down. And then very noisy. Telkom guy came out in one day. Fixed it.

 

[Cassady]

My line was down. And then very noisy. Telkom guy came out in one day. Fixed it.

Thanks. That's part of why I am posting my Q - since my line is stable and working - it's simply seen a consistent slow-down in speed...

 

[Hectic]

I have had a similar experience last month.
Not sure why.

I do game and and make use of torrents, but torrents are scheduled for early morning hours.
Speeds looked beter yesterday.

 

[Cassady]

I have had a similar experience last month.
Not sure why.

I do game and and make use of torrents, but torrents are scheduled for early morning hours.
Speeds looked beter yesterday.

Checked this morning - just to be sure it's not going to improve AM and during day (as opposed to evening when everyone is on the net) - and it's still the same. 2.4mb down.

Just not sure if a Telkom technician will be able to come out and "find" my missing(?) 1mb...

 

[Rocket-Boy]

What speed is your line syncing at in your router?

 

[Cassady]

What speed is your line syncing at in your router?

Cannot recall what it is now off the top of my head - but last time I checked, it appeared to by ok with what a 4mb line should have been. Will check that again this evening.

IF my line is synching below par - what would that mean? Something to fix via 10210 - or c/o a technician call-out?

 

[SpoonTech]

Some portion of my Original Message got cut off from Tapatalk for some reason. This is what I would recommend.

1) Check your sync speed - you are paying for the Telkom 'Fastest' Line, which means your sync speed should be 4096kpbs or greater. Mine syncs at 6144kbps. (I get 18 - 40ms pings and 5 mbps line speeds on speedtest.net, which is what I expect from a 6 meg line).

2) If your sync speed is 4096kpbs or higher, and your SpeedTest stats are low, this could be something on your ISP side. What I would recommend is trying an unshaped capped account, you can buy a 2 gig for R29.00 per month with Afrihost, or you can get prepaid from them. My 2 Gig Afrihost account gives me consistently good speeds, day or night, which helps to check for errors on my uncapped account with a different provider.

3) Check your noise stats on your router, and post them up here. If those look good then I think the best option would be to get a Telkom guy in, saying low speeds, and dropping connections. But do the above two steps first.

If your line is syncing at low speeds phone telkom, and ask them to do a port reset, this helps a lot of people with sync speeds. If your line is noisy, then your router sometimes drops your sync speed. There are a lot of variables at play, but make sure that it is not your ISP first.

 

[Cassady]

Some portion of my Original Message got cut off from Tapatalk for some reason. This is what I would recommend.

1) Check your sync speed - you are paying for the Telkom 'Fastest' Line, which means your sync speed should be 4096kpbs or greater. Mine syncs at 6144kbps. (I get 18 - 40ms pings and 5 mbps line speeds on speedtest.net, which is what I expect from a 6 meg line).

2) If your sync speed is 4096kpbs or higher, and your SpeedTest stats are low, this could be something on your ISP side. What I would recommend is trying an unshaped capped account, you can buy a 2 gig for R29.00 per month with Afrihost, or you can get prepaid from them. My 2 Gig Afrihost account gives me consistently good speeds, day or night, which helps to check for errors on my uncapped account with a different provider.

3) Check your noise stats on your router, and post them up here. If those look good then I think the best option would be to get a Telkom guy in, saying low speeds, and dropping connections. But do the above two steps first.

If your line is syncing at low speeds phone telkom, and ask them to do a port reset, this helps a lot of people with sync speeds. If your line is noisy, then your router sometimes drops your sync speed. There are a lot of variables at play, but make sure that it is not your ISP first.

Many thanks for your comprehensive reply Spoontech!

1.) Re my synch speed - your post jarred my memory: synch speed was at 4096, with upload being 512(? - or something thereabouts). Will double check tonight - but pretty sure this is where it was at.

2.) I have an Afrihost "free" account that I set-up during last month, for this very reason... When TI had a few hiccups towards the end of July/early August - I would switch between the two. Afrihost consistently stayed up at the speeds I was seeing before the TI issues - i.e. 3,45mb vs the 1,5-2,4mb TI was showing at the same time...

But here's the clanger - or the past few days, regardless of when I check - TI and Afrihost are now running neck and neck, at about 2,5mb... Which offers me a glimmer of hope that it might very well be a line issue - since if it was ISP side, Afrihost would still be where it used to be running?

I will do another test this evening, and pop up the comparative speedtests again...

BTW - note how my PING has always stayed at between 18-22ms [TI issues aside].

3.) Noise stats - are those the "Line Attenuation" and "SNR" up & down stats? Will pop up the info as soon as I am home!

Thanks again!

 

[Cassady]

So. Twilight zone this side.

Get home - access the Router interface/network analysis section/ADSL log. Line speed down = 2087kb. Up = 511kb. I facepalm.

Dial 10210. As I'm sitting watching things, the line gets dropped. Reset. Up again - synch speed down = 4086kb; up = 511. This repeats several times while I'm waiting on 10210. Each time the synch hits 4086 - a Speedtest sees the return to the old faithful 3,45mb download speed that I so loved.

In the space of 10 minutes - this whole cycle must have repeated itself 6-7 times... And then - stability. It's still synching at 4086kb, and Speedtest is cruising. Everything is purring along....

Sometimes I think some Omnipotent Internet Deity cruises around, waiting for some mortal to pop up on the interwebs, that they can tempt with connected bliss for a short while - before hitting the smite button again...

Regardless - thanks for all the feedback. I will watch things closely, and hope like hell that whatever has changed - stays this way.

When I get back in front of the pc, will pop up the two screenshots I took, seconds apart this afternoon - just to remind myself that I'm not losing the plot completely...

 

[Tim the Techxpert]

Hi There,
Sounds like you are now stable. Let the forum know if something changes.

Regards

Tim

 

[Cassady]

Hi There,
Sounds like you are now stable. Let the forum know if something changes.

Regards

Tim

Hi Tim,

I did some more digging yesterday - and think I managed to work out what was going on...
The downstairs phone packed up several weeks ago - and the wife moved the cordless from upstairs, and plugged it in where the kaput one used to be - shared with the ADSL line-in.

I don't use the landline - and whereas she had mentioned that the line/reception was bad - I never thought too much of it, since it was a cordless phone...and she walks all over the house on it (so ja - reception/call quality would vary). Yesterday, things were intermittent again - with the line dropping at stages, but then being fine at others.

Eventually, the light-bulb went on, and I checked the phone connection.
The splitter had been installed incorrectly. Phone line went through it, but the ADSL went straight into the jack. Fixed that - and all has been running smoothly since then - 3,4-3,5mb constant.

The line noise was obviously bad at times - and presume this was interfering with the ADSL synch speeds. I'm not even sure if that is possible - but that's kind of what I'm thinking was happening... And I was the rocket scientist that set-up the splitter initially (when things were good) - but somewhere between then and now - the lines were swapped around. Possibly when I [former rocket scientist] installed the new modem...

Regardless - all purring along now - so here's hoping it stays as is.

Moral of the story - if something is odd with ADSL - check even the most basic things, such as phone connections!

 

[Tacet]

The line noise was obviously bad at times - and presume this was interfering with the ADSL synch speeds. I'm not even sure if that is possible - but that's kind of what I'm thinking was happening...

A noisy line can interfere with your ADSL. Voice and ADSL runs on the same copper, and is only separated in terms of frequency (ADSL runs at higher frequency than voice). If the voice line is noisy, it might well be that it causes harmonics in the ADSL frequencies, which will decrease your quality. Your indoor setup can be every bit as important as Telkom's setup. For instance: I recently had new security gates installed. They welded close to the telephone line, and every time the welder starts up, the ADSL would go down. The welder simply caused more EMI than the modem can handle.

 

[Cassady]

Thanks for the info Tacet! Good to know.