Hi all, I want to share my nightmares and experiences over the last few months. And NTL has yet to fix my problem. Ok, here is the problem. My net has been running worse than a 56k modem for the past 3 months. It all started around end of August. I have called NTL customer/technical support around 15-20 times over the past months. They always find a problem in my net but never actually fix it.
NTL Technical Support has sent 4 engineer round my house, and each time they say they promised to fix my net, which I know they won't, cuz I think they can't be arsed and they don't have the knowledge to fix it.
Anyways here is what happened over the last few months, the first time I called tech support, they told me that I have spyware on my computer and that is causing my net to slow down. I told them that I am not a n00b using internet and my computer is part of my life, as in I spend most of my time doin coding and also reading and upgrading my comp. So I told them, it had to be the net on your(NTL) end that is causing this major lag/slowness. Then I spent another 45 mins on the phone with them, and they finally agreed to me that there is some problem with the modem, so they send over the 1st engineer. The engineer came, and said my mdem signal is too high, 9dB. He lowered it and the net was basically fine for 5hrs, then it went back to LagRealm. Its even slower than a dialup. Imagine.
Ok, I had enough with them, I called them back later that evening, told them the problem, then they say, I might be having a modem problem. This time he said that I have too many spyware again. I told him that I formatted my PC, did a fresh install, he simply blamed it on my P2P softwares, which I dont even use any of it. They then agreed to send another engineer, after spending 1hr 30mins on the phone talking with the tech support person. Two days later, the 2nd engineer came over then, he told me that simply there is nothing can be done because it is due to a bottleneck in my area. I simply said to him that is totally unacceptable. I am paying £24.99 a month meanwhile I am only getting a 56k modem speed, then he said that there is nothing could be done. I wasnt too happy abt it, I picked up the phone and called tech support again. There we go again. Another round.
3rd time, this time they say I have a modem failure, again, guess how long on the phone? , 2hrs. Believe me I got so sick of it. BEing passed around on the phone to 4 different person, explaining to them. OK, 3rd time, 3rd engineer coming over to fix new modem. The next day, 3rd engineer came to my hse, late in the day, he came over and replaced my old modem(NTL 200) to a NTL 250 modem, he checked it and installed it and then, tried the speedtest and guess what? Its still the same, he told me this time shouldnt have any problem. He told me to restart my modem at 12am, then my net would be fixed. Guessed what, nothing. The same.
CAlled them back again, 4th engineer coming, only needed to spend 5 mins on the phone with them, thank god. 4th engineer came, ok, cool, he fixed my speed but sad thing is it only lasted 40s. It stop loading a page. I told what that is impossible for me, it is unfair for me , while others enjoyin theirs 2mb line while i m suffering each day. He agreed to past my case to his "team leader" , yea right. It was 3weeks ago, and now I am still running at the same speed as before. He told me that they will send it to the network engineer team, then he said that they would do a modem tracking test, routing maybe?
I am on a 2MB line, I should be expecting a download rate of around, 210KB/s to 240KB/s , I am not getting no where near that speed. During the morning I am getting a speed less than 30KB/s. In the afternoon/night, I am getting a speed of less than 9KB/s. How bad can it go?
Called them again, they told me that there is nothing they can do abt the slow connectivity. WHAT?! I am paying there. Anyways, I am goin to write a strong complain letter. Might lead to legal case? Dunno.
I am also a hardcore online gamer, I play World of Warcraft(WoW) with the ping of 3.4Kms, which is totally ridiculous. Then I play Counter-Strike 1.6, I used to get an average ping of 27ms, but now I am getting an average of 80ms. Where the extra came from? I am also getting loss over this game, like really alot. Anyways.
Last week, I spent 3 days trying to upload a file into my server, 30mb file. So why my upload speed is ****e?
I have tried with seperate machines in my house, its the same. I have firewall, both software and hardware, both switched off during my tests. I have spyware remover program, that I ran each day. I dont own a cable TV either. I use a router, tried both way. Still the same.
Here is some speedtest I have done. first:
http://testmy.net
:::.. Download Stats ..:::
Connection is:: 185 Kbps about 0.2 Mbps (tested with 97 kB)
Download Speed is:: 23 kB/s
Tested From::
http://testmy.net/ (server2)
Test Time:: Wed Dec 7 23:32:34 UTC 2005
Bottom Line:: 3X faster than 56K 1MB download in 44.52 sec
Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 7.63 % of your hosts average (ntl.com)
Download speed: 23 KB/s (impressive) not duh!
Conclusion: What is goin on with my net?
2nd Test:
http://www.adslguide.org.uk
Downstream 474 Kbps (59.3 KB/sec) 511 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 195 Kbps (24.4 KB/sec) 210 Kbps (inc. overheads)
OMG. Seriously something is wrong.
Tracert: to bbc.co.uk
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
D:\Documents and Settings\****>tracert bbc.co.uk
Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 47 ms 25 ms 44 ms 10.184.87.254
2 169 ms 151 ms 136 ms nott-t2cam1-a-v126.inet.ntl.com [80.4.46.105]
3 20 ms 14 ms 18 ms nott-t2core-a-ge-wan74.inet.ntl.com [80.1.79.73]
4 36 ms 29 ms 52 ms nott-t2core-b-ge-wan91.inet.ntl.com [80.1.79.2]
5 78 ms * 27 ms nth-bb-b-so-200-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.37]
6 40 ms 26 ms 26 ms nth-bb-a-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.117]
7 25 ms 51 ms 20 ms gfd-bb-b-so-400-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.98]
8 55 ms 33 ms 27 ms redb-ic-1-as0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.138]
9 * 45 ms 41 ms 212.58.238.189
10 58 ms 56 ms 56 ms 212.58.238.133
11 32 ms * 48 ms rdirwww-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]
Trace complete.
I hope some of you guys and offer me some advice. I hope to solve this problem. I need the net to solve my work. I would change ISP, but the area I am living in, wouldnt allow me to do so. SO I am stuck. Help.
EDIT: Btw, I live in Nottingham.