DSL Extremely Slow ISP No Help

[billbreed]

I have ATT (Covad) DSL at 3Mbps advertised speed. My home is near the switching station. Over the past few months my DSL download speeds have severely eroded. Often it is so slow that I can't even run a speed test because it can take up to 1 hour to load the web page. No exaggerations, last night it took me 45 minutes to receive a 30k email.

The speeds vary greatly throughout the day. In the mornings the speed is best, sometimes around 200kbps (still slower than dial up) it then jumps around usually staying around between 35kbps and 100 kbps. Then it seems that in the early evening it gets so slow that it doesn't even work.

It is not the computer, this I know. I have connected a new pc and new mac, both with the same results (also these were connected directly to the modem - I disconnected the router to make sure it was not that. Also, I have voIP phone and when the connection slows down the phone stops working. In addition the DSL company sent a tech out and his computer had the same results. Therefore I am certain it is not a prob with the computer.

I called the ISP and they say that the signal from them to me is very good and they also say that I have great margins (whatever that means) and they did not know what the prob was.

They sent a tech. He installed a nid splitter (I have a burglar alarm and phone line on the dsl line) and said that that should fix the prob. It did not. He got the same results that I have been getting.

He said the wiring looks new and it should be ok. He only looked at the box and the jack (he didn't get under the house) so I don't know if that is correct or not.

Ultimately he said he didn't know what was wrong so he called to have the card rebooted and said that the next day it should be ok. It is still very bad.

I called support again today and they were no help. They tested and said I was getting very good signal and they have done all they can do. They said maybe if I call back when it is so slow that I can't even pull up Yahoo maybe they can see what is happening.

When they had me do a ping it looked good, but my speeds on a speed test are so bad that dial up is looking good (but not an option).

I have had DSL for 5 years (I recently switched to this ISP a few months ago) and I know that DSL works in this area.

I am really desperate, it is impossible to work this way. Does anyone know what could cause this?

Please help.....Thanks

[Spider]

I called the ISP and they say that the signal from them to me is very good...and they did not know what the prob was

That is unacceptable from your own ISP. Their job is to correct your problem...that's it. Even if they have
to go through all their installers until they get a person who can find the fault.

With all the other computers you tested (and the techs computer) there isn't really anything a tech here
can do for you because all we'd do is run you through some tests for spyware and virii but that's moot
because of the multiple computer test thing.

What I would suggest is you get your cable company to hook you up and if your speed is good then dump
the phone company pronto.

It really sounds like you've been "capped" and/or there have been some hardwire changes at the switch
your near and no one knows what the dilly is going on over there.

Did anyone try another DSL modem/router with you or did they try a firmware flash on your modem/router?
The DSL modem/router is the only constant there so that's all I can really thing of that wasn't mentioned.

Sorry I couldn't get you beyond that.

[chingoo04]

Im having the same problem.. i dl during the morning around like 200~300kb and is all good but then when it gets around afternoon it dls around 15~25 kb.. and im getting really sick of this issue is been around 2 weeks now.. and been doing this for like 3 month now. My first 5 month of dsl was fine i was always dling around 250~300kb.. now is sooo bad during the afternoon.. My case was usually around 4pm to around 8pm was really slow sometimes til like 10pm.. but after that it got fine again but.. now is like getting worse and worse.. so i called the company and the tech looked today and said it looks good... but then i told him around the morning is fine.. so he wants me to call them when the speed goes down again.. and i have dsl pro. -__- meaning i should be dling at least 250kb sigh.. hope they fix the problem.. but hey is not the only one that u are getting this problem so hang on hope we can fix the problem... ill post again if the problems are fixed and let me know if ur problem get fixed =) thx

[Miz]

Mine did the same thing, only not as badly. I know that about a half hour after school lets out, speeds will drop. They will also drop between 4 and 4:30...that's when the Courthouse closes to the public so they can "close out" their computers. That takes them a couple of minutes; so between 4 and 4:25, they're cruising the net. It drops again around 6...when everybody's home, got something to eat and starts checking email and cruising the net. It stays that way until around 11 p.m. when people start quitting for the night.

Fortunately, I have an ISP with a congenial "head geek." When speeds were bad he told me things would improve in about a week when they got their new gateway online. He was right.

A year later, he told me they would be getting yet a third gateway...they're growing fast...and, again, he was right.

So, I'm betting it traffic on your ISP's equipment and they don't want to admit they need to upgrade.

[fast68]

i had problems with verizon online DSL
i was only getting 700kpbs out of 4megs i was supposed to of been getting, so i called them and told them and they said it was my computer and something about its memory that was doing it

well i dumped them and got cable

the cable is 15 bucks less than the crappy DSL

some ISP's dont care about customers,

Verizon online is garbage, bad reps, bad service, bad all of that

and apparently some other ISP's too

good luck