Slow Internet Speed

[Wesro]

I would like to vent for a second and also ask for help. I have had Brighthouse Turbo Internet 15MB/2MB for however long they have offered it in Eufaula. I have never had a speed problem what so ever. I would regularly hit 16MB to 17MB down. About a month ago I was lucky to get 4MB down. I called Brighthouse they did checks on my line and said they were seeing some packet loss. They sent techs out six different times. They changed my MTA out and also check the line and the tap at the pole. They blame it on Birmingham and Birmingham blames it on the tech.

So, about two weeks ago I called and got my internet downgraded to the 7MB/512K speed I figured no reason in spending the extra money if it would never run that fast. After the downgrade it still never ran faster then 4MB. One thing I should mention during all of this my upstream was always perfect. I never no matter what speed I subscribed to had the upstream run slow. Yesterday, my cable was out for about three hours. When it came back up I figured I would check the internet speed. I got excited when it was hitting around 6.5MB and since I had the 7MB plan that was great.

Since I thought whatever they did to fix the cable also fixed my Internet speed I called them back today and upgraded to the 15MB/2MB package. As soon as the MTA reset I checked the speed. Now I can't get over 1.5MB down. Kinda makes me wanna cry.

So after all that here is my question is there anyone I can call or anything I can do to get this fixed? I can say they have tried to fix it but no one can figure out what the problem is.

 

[iceturkee]

my problem had to do with my network card settings. i had a similar problem because i could only get about 5mb tops. once we changed the settings i have been constantly hitting over 20mb!

 

[PALL MALL]

Go to: ( if you have windows)

Control Panel-->Network Connections

You should see something like Local Area Connection. Open it and click properties. Make sure the Client for Ms Windows Networks and file and printer sharing is unchecked. Hit ok, if they were checked try loading something or do a connection speed test. If nothing go back to the Local Area Connection windows, go to the support tab and hit repair. This may not help, they could just be over subscribing people on the same node.

 

[Wesro]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have a 16 run CAT 6 hardwired network going through a Gigabit switch and router. The odd thing is as long as I have had the 15MB speed I have never had a problem with it until a month ago. I checked my speed this morning and hit 13MB down for the first time since this problem started. So maybe it's not me and they are overloading their node.

 

[Khandurian]

Sounds like a classic case of node overload during peek times. The thing to check over the next few days is check the speeds during non-peek hours. If your back up to normal, then there are too many people on your node all choking up bandwidth.

 

[jcarrera]

My symptom is that speedtest tests show normally about 2Mbps under my supposed rate (15). But downloads are almost always in the 20 to 350kBps range, with a very infrequent one in the 800-900k range.

 

[Wesro]

It doesn't matter when I check it. It always runs around 4MB. I called Birmingham today and the 'Level 3 Tech' said they have that problem in Birmingham all the time. When people upgrade to the 15MB it only gives them around 4MB. He told me it was a network configuration issue and he would pass it on to a network tech. I am hopeful it will get fixed but not counting on it.

 

[Khandurian]

Wesro

Even though you got a level 3, doesn't always mean they know whats going on. Since you were able to hit the higher speed today, albeit it took a few months, tells me that's more than just a "configuration issue".

If it was a configuration issue, you would get random speeds every single day. Not several weeks of one speed and then it goes high, then back down to low. Anyways, getting a level 3 tech is good because it tells them that they do have a problem and that they should either start lighting up more fiber to help balance the load, or they need to go out and sweep the nodes and balance them out.

 

[Wesro]

I wished they would do something. Some days I can't even watch Netflix on my 360.

 

[meach13]

The most I have seen during the day in the birmingham market is 11 meg when nobody is home, at night we drop to 4-6 meg. I have had 8 techs, 3 modems, 2 new lines run from the street and still no fix.

 

[cablevet]

It should not be slowing down even under heavy usage. It's possible that there is noise in the return signal from appliances etc when people come home. This would suck up a lot of bandwidth. Hopefully the guys checked for this. It would take a system tech to verify this.

 

[Wesro]

The 'Level 3 Tech' actually called me back today. He said that it seems there is a bad router or hub in my area and that it is being worked on. It does seem to run faster sometimes but other times it is hard to get over 2MB.

 

[Khandurian]

Well, lets hope they get it resolved soon. Sounds like they are working on it.

 

[lalitha]

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