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Re-provisioned, Optimized, Speed Capped Due to Congestion

I've had Verizon 3Mbps / 7868k DSL for many years now. We live in the country, admittedly some distance from the Verizon CO, but for a long time my DSL circuit has worked. I have been content with the 3Mbps download service; however, recently I’ve discovered that my line speed has been permanently re-provisioned, optimized, capped (whatever you want to call it) to 1.5Mbps dwn and .4 up. My DSL is noticeable slower. I can verify that my line speed has changed by logging into the modem admin page and also thru speed tests. When I contact Verizon thru their chat service and/or via the telephone I get this run around that my line is set at 3Mbps. (In other words, I am flat out lied too). After spending hours on the phone, they will eventually acknowledge the speed has been “reduced due to congestion”, "the speed they’ve determined is what’s best for me", and “there is nothing I can do about it”. If I persist they transfer me to sales. The sales team doesn’t know what to do, and they tell me I should be set at 3Mbps, so they eventually transfer me back to tech support.

A few years ago my circuit started acting up every time it rained. Verizon sent a tech out a few times and finally determined that a nearby telephone pedestal had been knocked over. Once that was fixed my line was back to normal...until now. Verizon technicians have tested my line from the NID and jack on more than one occasion, and have determined that it will support speeds twice than what's being offered in my area. (3Mbps is the max speed that Verizon offers in my area.) So my question is, if I have a plan for 1.5Mbps to 3Mbps then shouldn’t I be provisioned at the top end? If I get download speeds within the 1.5 Mbps to 3Mbps range I would be a happy customer. Is it reasonable to ask Verizon to set their equipment on their end to match that which I am paying for? Is congestion a Verizon problem or customer problem? It seems to me that congestion is something that Verizon should address with their equipment.

Comments

pjsutton

Verizon only has two pricing plans "up to 1 Mbps" and "everything over 1 Mbps" - so you aren't paying any more than you should be.

Sounds to me like there is something going on with your line that caused the optimizer to drop it down to 1.5 Mbps.

What modem do you have? Can you log in to 192.168.1.1 and find the line stats?

DavidRocket

I have a D-Link modem that was supplied by Verizon, but I only use this modem when I call Verizon tech support. I normally use my own Netgear DGN2200M modem.

Here are the current stats:

Line Attenuation 51.0 db

Noise Margin 16.3 db

Given these stats I shouldn't have any problem with gettting a 3Mbps. I am approximately 2.2 miles from the CO. I think you are missing my point in my previous post. The circuit has worked @ 3Mbps for years despite my distanace from the CO. When they leave it alone I don't have any complaints and the circuit always appears to work fine for me. I don't want Verizon to try to fix something that's not broke. In addition, I don't want the line capped because the CO can't handle the traffic in the area. My expectation is that they address the problem with their equipment.

pjsutton

It doesn't necessarily mean that something didn't suddenly happen to your line between you and the CO - especially if the copper is old. If it has been on the edge of failing for years and something happened, it could have suddenly gone past that point.

Especially in winter with the constant freezing, thawing, "wetting" of the cables, etc. Could just be that water has finally gotten in and messed everything up.

ibmssr

David, you are correct. Verizon has cut back on their speed in my area too. This occured over a year ago. I was constantly near the 3 mps and suddenly my max speed was 1.5 mps. I thought it was just me, but after speaking to my neighbors, I discovered that they were having the same problem too. Verizon has cut the speed in the entire area. As long as they are within their specified range of 1.1 to 3.0 mbs, verizon won't do anything. The thing the really gets me mad is when I first got DSL from verizon, the specified ranges were 0 to 1.5 mps and 1.5 to 3 mbs. Now suddenly the speed range is 0 to 1.1 mps and 1.1 to 3 mps. I believed that change happened the same time verizon cut back on their speed. verizon just doesn't want to spend the money to upgrade their equipment to handle more customers. They cut the speed instead.

My only other internet choice is comcast and they are worse than verizon in speed and customer service.

bobbyjean

David,

You're not alone. Recently Verizon supposedly "had a problem" in Roanoke and we were without dsl for almost 2 days before they got it back up. Afterwards I noticed that my internet connection speed had dropped by over a 1000 bytes per second in my downloads. And it has remained constant since. Generally when I reboot the wireless router the the connection speed can vary widely. But, like I said, since the outage we experienced my connection speed has remained exactly the same no matter how many times I reboot the router. Obviously my line speed has been capped...and I don't like it one bit.

Later...

Bob

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