Unusual Speed Problem

[loonytoon]

That's why I was wondering about the Upstream levels. I told the guy on the phone that I thought the Upstream power level was high and causing a problem. His answer was "The levels are fine, the higher the better", although I still had my suspicions about it. I repeated the same thing about the Upstream levels potentially being the problem but he was insistant that everything was working as it should.

I again ran a speedtest a couple of mins ago to show the problem is still as bad as it was:

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:40:12 UTC

Test 1: 1024K took 7828 ms = 130.8 KB/sec, approx 1078 Kbps, 1.05 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 5172 ms = 198 KB/sec, approx 1632 Kbps, 1.59 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 5359 ms = 191.1 KB/sec, approx 1575 Kbps, 1.54 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 11828 ms = 173.1 KB/sec, approx 1426 Kbps, 1.39 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1428 Kbps, 1.39 Mbps


BBMax

Download Speed: 1674 kbps (209.3 KB/sec )
Upload Speed: 689 kbps (86.1 KB/sec )

[loonytoon]

New modem, better speeds

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:30:47 UTC

Test 1: 1024K took 407 ms = 2516 KB/sec, approx 20732 Kbps, 20.25 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 656 ms = 1561 KB/sec, approx 12863 Kbps, 12.56 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 734 ms = 1395.1 KB/sec, approx 11496 Kbps, 11.23 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 1047 ms = 1956.1 KB/sec, approx 16118 Kbps, 15.74 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 15302 Kbps, 14.95 Mbps



While not exactly 20 meg it's better than what I was getting. Also I'm downloading at a constant rate of 2.3MB/s so that's as good a speed test as I will get. I guess it's safe to say, problem sorted.

[Techiedog]

So, after repeated calls to customer service and Tech support, finally I landed on a guy who listened to my symptoms, checked his DB and had the answer in 10 seconds flat.

"You've been upgraded to 10MB service but your modem (old Terayon) can't cope with that data rate - I'll order you a new one"

The new modem arrived 2 days later - I just plugged it in, called 151 with the MAC address to get it activated and Ta-da ... everything is working great.

Scanning through some of the other threads on this forum I see some common themes, I never spotted my issue as a modem problem because the symptoms I experience weren't the same as other people had documented.

So my advice if you have some weired connectivity issues is check your modem is up to spec. Apparently all 'large' broadband package subscribers are being upgraded to 10mb on a rolling program which started in June (when my problems first started). I don't know whether its because I've had the modem so long (since 2000) that meant it wasn't up to the speeds, putting me in a minority, or whether there are many more people out there with the wrong modem for their new speeds. I suspect some people might not even notice if they just do a bit of Web and email.

Originally Posted by Techiedog

So, after repeated calls to customer service and Tech support, finally I landed on a guy who listened to my symptoms, checked his DB and had the answer in 10 seconds flat.

"You've been upgraded to 10MB service but your modem (old Terayon) can't cope with that data rate - I'll order you a new one"

The new modem arrived 2 days later - I just plugged it in, called 151 with the MAC address to get it activated and Ta-da ... everything is working great.

Scanning through some of the other threads on this forum I see some common themes, I never spotted my issue as a modem problem because the symptoms I experience weren't the same as other people had documented.

So my advice if you have some weired connectivity issues is check your modem is up to spec. Apparently all 'large' broadband package subscribers are being upgraded to 10mb on a rolling program which started in June (when my problems first started). I don't know whether its because I've had the modem so long (since 2000) that meant it wasn't up to the speeds, putting me in a minority, or whether there are many more people out there with the wrong modem for their new speeds. I suspect some people might not even notice if they just do a bit of Web and email.

I am amazed it took so long to spot what modem you have as it is the first thing we look at

Terayon Terajet TJ210
From approx October 2001 Customers started to receive the Terayon TJ210. It is Docsis only (so will not work reliably if at all, on the parts of the network that use Eurodocsis). The TJ210 was Ethernet and USB and remained in use until April 2002.

Does not support 10 or 20Mbps Tiers of Service

There are also reports that the TJ210 does not work well in the newer 256QAM environment under circusmstances like heavy download.


Image used from http://www.chetnet.co.uk/

[Techiedog]

Yeah, like I said, they guy who finally sorted it worked it out immediately. I think most of the problem was that no one listened to the symptoms before launching into the reboot cycles and also not knowing the difference between the Internet and the Web - if Web pages were loading the everything was OK apparently. One tech support guy told me that I had a blockage which he just "sent some signals" to clear, another told me that I had to take my router into a different room because it was "causing interference" despite the fact that my Mac was plugged directly into the modem and the router was unplugged from the mains.

[Ed2020]

I had a similar problem a while ago (although not to that extent). I assumed it was something to do with my VM connection. Speeds for individual files were always either much lower than they should be or fluctuated constantly.

A couple of months I installed Linux (previously WinXP) - everything else with my setup is the same. Speeds from VM servers are now a rock steady 2.4MB-2.5MB *every time*. I believe it is because Linux's TCP/IP stack is implemented much better.

EDIT - Whoopsy. I seem to have missed that there is a second page to this thread and that the problem is solved. Oh well, it may still be useful information to somebody!

Ed.

Originally Posted by Techiedog

Yeah, like I said, they guy who finally sorted it worked it out immediately. I think most of the problem was that no one listened to the symptoms before launching into the reboot cycles and also not knowing the difference between the Internet and the Web - if Web pages were loading the everything was OK apparently. One tech support guy told me that I had a blockage which he just "sent some signals" to clear, another told me that I had to take my router into a different room because it was "causing interference" despite the fact that my Mac was plugged directly into the modem and the router was unplugged from the mains.

They are truly annoying, the "Logical Reboot" brigade because most callers assume we will go through that reboot cycle as if we are on autopilot.

IF I ask you to reboot I explain why first, or if I can see the modem with my online tools then I will reboot it if required and tell you that I am doing so.

The is so much garbage that some agents ask people to do it almost comes into the realms of urban legend.