Internet is SLOW

[Marcin]

I have the 20MB/5MB plan.  I've ran several speed tests, and the average is 14.3MB/1.3MB.  I have 2 PCs, a laptop, and VOIP service.  I disconnected every device except for my main, gaming PC, and closed every application that would use the Internet.  It's still slow.

I started noticing the problem when I would go to gametrailers.com, try to stream more than 2 videos at the same time, and the browser would lose the connection, but I was still connected to xfire and teamspeak.  I reinstalled Firefox, but that didn't solve the problem.  I also ran virus/spyware scan, and just as I expected, my PC is clean.

So, I lose the connection, and when I dont, it's SLOW!  Any "Conact Us" form doesnt' work, and I dont wanna talk to customer service from india who have no idea what' i'm talking about.

[CharlesH]

First off, all the tech support people you will talk to are living in the United States.

You didn't mention whether what OS you are using... if running XP, you may need to run the speed optimizer, found here: http://verizon.net/optimizesettings/ 

If you are using Windows Vista, you can find some good information here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939006

Naturally, it is expected to keep your computer as clean as possible, and to try other speed test websites at different times of the day...speedtest websites can fluctuate depending on how many users are hitting the website.

Sometimes you can powercycle the router and see an improvement, along with reseting to factory settings (warning: this will clear all port forwarding and etc changes you have made in the router).

[CharlesH]

List of speed test sites:

http://speedtest.net/

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

http://myspeed.visualware.com/

It anyone has any other dependable speedtest sites let me know!

[Brennoko]

http://miranda.ctd.anl.gov:7123/ is a good site, give more information about where the problem actually is.

[G-Pon]

Can ‘ya tell by all these employee posts we’re excited about the internet speed and are responsive to its issues more than any other? We are! This is the premier internet service product on the planet! Remember too the video streaming speed is not only governed by the throughput available to you through Verizon, but also the server you are attached too. Video streaming has its own bandwidth limitations at the other end. Providers would rather service 2 customers at a slower rate than one at a higher one. Just because you can download it at 20 does not mean they are going to let you.

You may see closer to the 20 down if connected only to the test site, download speed is a metric measuring a potential result, not an absolute, there are many variables. Also there is some video data (guide, digital VOD content, etc.) that also consumes a small part of your ONT’s  bandwidth. You should be within 10% to 20% above or below of your 20 at any given time.

We have test potential into the situation we can use to aid you too, we can test the ONT and the ONT-to-Router connection for you. Another test tech support could run is to check to be sure your speed was not accidently set to 15. There is potential for a provisioning issue in your case as you consistently get speeds near that. Occasionally the OLT (the next Vz device after the ONT) gets a different speed setting than you are supposed to have. Let one of the kind employees posting here know via a private message and they can do some testing for you.

Your PC may have been clear of malicious programs, but not clear of ones you agreed to. If you have clicked “yes” or OK’d some video or music streaming activities then behavior similar to that of a virus may be present and a small price to pay for the convenience.

Connecting to two separate streaming sites while attached to port-specific game sites also might be enough to cause this behavior, more than one of the sources may be fighting over the same port/thread, the lost packets resulting could account for the speed loss & the browser disconnect the result of one or another of the streams loosing that battle.

While unpleasant, returning to the default settings and re-testing a basic simple connection is good advice, then re-test between each change to isolate which setting or activity is triggering the behavior. Let us know what you find.

[Marcin]

I was getting 20.1Mbits down, 4.5Mbits when I got the service.  Now it's 14Mbits down, 4Mbits up.

 

I was getting about the same results as bullfrog posted on page 2.

I am not streaming anything, uploading, or downloading.  I dont need any optimizers because I should be getting the ADVERTISED speeds without ANY help.  I scanned my PC again 2 days ago with AVG, Spybot, and Malwarebytes.  All clean.  To me it looks like Verizon-end problem, especially that when you have several people reporting the same/similar issues.

Message Edited by Marcin on 01-19-2009 07:11 AM

[Snapper3]

I live in Washington DC suburbs and also have the same 20/5 plan.  Just as is reported by Marcin, my actual speed is well short (25% below) of the advertised numbers. 

My download is usually around 14.8k and my upload around 4.7k.  The upload does not bother me, but the download speed is so far from what the advertisements say that they should change the advertisements.  Truth is a slippery commodity in American advertising but if real speeds are 25% under advertised numbers, as is the case for Marcin and me, then perhaps someone should notify the FTC about deceptive advertising.

To be fair, the fine print does say that not all users are gauranteed the 20/5k speed.  But, Verizon should be honest up front in the ads about what most users will experience in real life use.  Indeed, I would not have switched from Comcast to Fios if I had known what my real speeds would be.  Perhaps we can hope that Comcast reads these forums and will press Verizon for more fairness in their ads.

[CharlesH]

Again, your download speed has several factors, odds are, you ARE getting what you pay for. The hosts or websites you download off of, most likey do not provide download speeds as fast as your FiOS internet connection.

[Snapper3]

Thanks for the quick response, Charles.  Since posting my comments I've run multiple tests to various speed test sites recommended above.  The results are exactly as I reported.  

The Argonne labs site, as someone mentioned above, provides the most info.  I recommend it.  Nevertheless, my actual numbers are, as I said 25% lower than advertised.  Now I think it would be OK if people were given was only 5% or even 10% under the ad's promise.  But 25% below promise, even with carefully worded fine print that says not all users will get the promised speed, is surely not something you guys want to stand behind.  

Ads by their nature always--umm "embellish."  I'm not naive.  But, as more people begin to notice the gap between what is advertised and what is delivered it will come back and bite you on the bottom line.  So, be honest, tell people what their real speeds are likely to be.  If real world speed on a 20/5 line is usually closer to 15/4, then call it a 15/4 line in your ads. You'll feel better for it and your reputation will be enhanced.

Best regards.

[CharlesH]

If you still are not getting the speed that you are paying for, I would recommend calling into tech support and verifying everything, making sure you are provisioned correct. There are problems that lead us to the ONT needing to be replaced that can fix the issue.

[anemone]

Sorry, but I have to laugh at this one.

My Verizon 'plan' is for 10/2. I assumed this was 10 down, 2 up. OK, so I go to Verizon's speed test. I check off the 10/2 test. guess what? It doesn't work.

SO.... I check off the 'I don't know' option. Presto! I get 10.xx down, and 1.88 up as results. GREAT. The problem with this, amigos, is that this is shoveled (sheepdip) in megaBITS per second, not megaBYTES.

The Verizon sales people swear its in megaBYTES. The Verizon tech people who installed it said so, too. But flat out? IT IS NOT. I had Cablevision (still do, it's just disconnected momentarily while I've tried FiOS) , and no, i don't work for them. I get 1.4 to 2 megaBYTES/s with Cablevision. With Verizon? 1.2-1.3 TOPS. (THAT'S megaBYTES/s as well) 

My point? Why does Verizon keep pushing their FiOS as megaBYTES/sec? Someone in the company must know the **bleep** difference. I sure as hell do. Simple excercise? divide by 8, and there goes the blazing speed claims. TEN times faster than cable???? Baloney. As CharlesH duly notes: Speakeasy.net is a good, unbiased test site. So is Adobe.

Last night, I downloaded a trial of Audition 3 (sound software) about 230MB. The speed via Firefox browser, off their site was 1.2MB/S. GET IT? MEGABYTES per SECOND.

Seems to me there's a lot of Verizon employees on this forum. Respectfully? Ask Verizon to clean up the claims. To Joe 6-pack consumer like myself (with 1/2 a brain about ftp/download/tcp-ip etc) You guys gotta stop selling {please keep your posts courteous} , the speeds are what they are.

And? As an added favor, I hope both Verizon and Cablevision stop the insipid, unrelenting ads. Enough is enough. {please keep it relevant} 

But back to business...... my FiOS service has been problematic for the 2 weeks I've had the service. (it goes out almost every day, seemingly at random) 

Shame on me. My service wasn't broke. I should not have let Verizon 'fix it', even at less $$$ per month.

THUMBS DOWN, VERIZON.

Please come get this MESS of a service out of my dwelling.

Message Edited by KaLin on 12-29-2008 07:25 PM

[CharlesH]

ANEMONE, no idea what you are really trying to prove at all....

[anemone]

AND...I'm not trying to PROVE anything, CharlesH. Just stating facts/my experiences about Verizon FiOS as a knowlegeable consumer.

[Wigster]

I find my service unreliable and it sometimes stutters and freezes. I believe this is related to wireless operation (MI424WR). I have not seen the same problems when I connect directly via ethernet cable.

My speed test from Argonne Labs site

4.36 Mb/s outbound

19.15 Mb/s inbound

Units are important. Could someone reply to the distinction "others" have made between MB/s and Mb/s? What is really advertised by cable and verizon? I can't imagine that one is really MB/s and the other is Mb/s. They both must mean Mb/s. How do they really stack up? My values (if Mb/s were intended) seem close enough to advertised speed. Otherwise, some one owes me approximately and order of magnitude more speed! 

These values were similar when on a functioning wireless connection. 

My stuff ... 

2 MacBook Pro, OS X 10.5.6 2GB RAM

2 IBM Think Pads, Windows XP and NT 5

Wii

Powerline adapter with Blu-Ray Player ... not functioning although line test and PC connect works. 

No, I don't think any of the suggestions here address my problems of a slow and unreliable wireless connection. I am familiar with set up and have done troubleshooting and feel this is the router. I had no issues when I could use my apple extreme base station. 

 Cheers

Message Edited by Wigster on 12-30-2008 11:18 PM

[bullfrog1962]

I was also stumped by the megabit-megabyte question. I use http://www.speedtest.net/ . You can go into their site and tell it how you want the results to be displayed. they also save a history for your comparisons. scarey but neat. If you are worried someone is saving what you are doing on the net, log off now and forever, never use credit cards and never make another major purchase where your name, birthday or ss# is required.

this link will show you one of my test

http://www.speedtest.net/result/381752954.png

[Snapper3]

Allow me to first thank CharlesH for his encouragement.  At his suggestion that my 15Mb was not normal, I did try to call and speak with a tech at Verizon.  

I believe all customers who have had to deal with any American utility company can guess how well that went.  After my blood pressure reached its max with the phone menus and hearing over-and-over again that "my call is important" set to Muzak, I went on-line looking to see if I could fix things myself.

Good news...I was able to fix things.

I'm not sure if Verizon is aware of this, but it seems that the Actiontec wireless router that came with my FIOS line is well-known in the blogosphere for slowing down throughput.  This is particularly an issue for Apple users like me.  With Comcast, I was allowed my own super-duper Linksys router so the router had little impact on my speed.  But, the Actiontec--at least in my instance--was putting the brakes on.  

I realized this when, to test things before I tried contacting tech support, I plugged one of my laptops directly into one of the router's lan outlets.  Bingo--I went from 14.6 to 20.4 on downloads.

Various sites on the blogosphere suggest two approaches for dealing with the Actiontec slowdown.  One its to bridge the Actiontec, turning off it's wireless, and plug it into a faster wireless router--like my old Linksys.  The other approach is disable Actiontec's "automatic" channel selection and to set the wireless to a single channel.  Since, I'm not sure if either of these options is approved by Verizon, I'll not recommend or explain either one.  However, if one or both is OK--then perhaps we might beg CharlesH or one of the other employees who frequent this forum to explain how they're done.   

Let me say that now I am VERY satisfied with my speed.  Best regards.

[Wigster]

Snail,

Thank you for your post. I have a AEBS that worked VERY well when I had cable, that is now collecting dust on my switch to FIOS.  My wireless experience with the MI424WR is unacceptable. I do not want to interfere with my FIOS TV or menus but the idea to disable the wireless on the actiontec and using my own router for wireless seems like a good one. 

Without endorsing a specific or frowned upon action, could a site be suggested that would step someone of moderate skill through these actions?

Many thanks! 

[ShiftyBW]

Snail, is it possible that this supposed Actiontech "bottleneck" would cause my wireless connection pings to occasionally spike up to ~3000(or timeout)?

I'm beginning to come to the same conclusion as my old Linksys WRT54G never gave me this problem.

[anemone]

not to flood the board with two posts in succession, but I missed this gem:

"Again, your download speed has several factors, odds are, you ARE getting what you pay for. The hosts or websites you download off of, most likey do not provide download speeds as fast as your FiOS internet connection."

Charles: Does that include Verizon as a site?

I would think they could crank out the Mb/sec so I could verify I'm getting what I paid for.

Again. As you mentioned, Speakeasy is a pretty good test site. Your above quote is something I remember from dialup days.

[philhu]

I have FIOS, it is MegaBYTES. I have 20/5. I too see Verizon speedtest is broken on my service, but I have run 3-4 speedtests and see 19+/4+ consistently. So, if you are having problems, CALL TECH SUPPORT, don't rant in here without letting them fix it.

Message Edited by philhu on 12-30-2008 09:23 AM

[prisaz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabit 

Mb Megabits

MB Megabytes 

Who is wrong?

Try this link it works for me

http://speedtest.verizon.net/SpeedTester/help_speedtest.jsp 

Test Analysis Information

Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
Requesting send buffer size be set to [130680]
SendBufferSize set to [130680]
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 4.35Mb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 19.17Mb/s
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
Server says [71.191.59.215] but Client says [192.168.64.2]

Message Edited by prisaz on 12-30-2008 02:25 PM

ANL shows the same.

http://miranda.ctd.anl.gov:7123/ 

TCP/Web100 Network Diagnostic Tool v5.5.1
click START to begin
Connected to: miranda.ctd.anl.gov  --  Using IPv4 address
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Done
checking for firewalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Done
running 10s outbound test (client-to-server [C2S]) . . . . . 4.46Mb/s
running 10s inbound test (server-to-client [S2C]) . . . . . . 19.23Mb/s

Message Edited by prisaz on 12-30-2008 02:28 PM