Getting very slow, erratic DSL speeds.

[Askepios]

I've got 1.5mbps DSL, and it's usually fine around there, but for the last few weeks or so, the connection has been very erratic, and I don't think I've hit quite that speed at all.  There are some times it feels fair, and even then, it only tests about 1mbps.  It's become particularly problematic today, like some other days, where it hits extreme lows around 200-300kbps.

I've been trying to narrow down the problem, and I haven't come up with much so far.  It's fairly common to have DSL issues here.  It's prone to random disconnects and outages for varying periods of time, which always tends to be on Verizon's end, but the speed has been pretty stable before just recently.  I've considered that it may be my Actiontec GT704WG router, but I don't have anything else to test with at the moment.  Trying to find my Westell modem.  

I tried a line quality test.  Couldn't draw much from that, since everything seems fine.  Right now, a Speakeasy speed test is giving me about 1mbps downstream, while upstream is where it should be, as least for my plan.  It never seems to go up to what it's synced to.  About the same with Speedtest.net.  Earlier today, I was getting about 300kbps from Speedtest.net, and when it would go higher, it would start low, stay where it is for a second, they make a jump.  Then repeat that a few times until the test finishes.  I'm not sure if that's an important detail, though.

Admittedly, I'm no expert on this stuff.  I understand the more basic stuff well enough, but I'm only just learning about things like line attenuation and such today.  So hopefully, someone here might be able to offer some advice.

DSL Mode Setting: MMODE

DSL Negotiated Mode: G.DMT

Speed (down/up): 1792/448 kbps

SNR Margin: 13/10

Attenuation: 44/31

If you need more info than that, just say so.  Hopefully that'll cover the usual things.  Since I'm not using a Westell modem, I can't get info the same way most people seem to.

I've already tried resetting my router to default settings, no luck there.  And I'm connected to it over ethernet, so it's not a wireless issue.  Unless it's fault hardware, it's unlikely that it would be the router.  And with speeds jumping around like they are, it seems unlikely that it's the router at all.  Still want to test that, though.

Edit:  ...And ten minutes later, Speakeasy gives me 585kbps.  Yeah.

[VZ_Kevin]

Line looks good.. that is the correct prov speed tier for 1.5/384, SNR >6 (you're good) and attentuation <75 (also good).

Have you isolated any possible software on your PC using the network while you're running these tests?
Are there other PCs connected to your network?
In that vein, is it possible neighborhood computers are connecting to your wireless?

[Askepios]

I had nothing running on my PC at the time that would be using more than a tiny amount of bandwidth.  The most would be coming from Trillian.  Even killing every non-essential process that's using the network doesn't change anything.

There are two other PCs connected to the network most of the time, but neither of them would have influenced the results of the tests I mentioned or anything else I did around the time.  My PC was the only one connected to the network at that time.  And nobody outside of those mentioned are connecting to the network.  It's WEP-protected, and you can see all the users connected through the router status page.  Nothing out of the ordinary ever shows up.

[Askepios]

Confirming that the problem isn't my router. I managed to dig up my old Westell 2100 from when I first started using Verizon DSL. It's old, but it still works. Unfortunately, speeds and such are the same as with the router. It's also not the telephone cord, since I tried switching that, too.

So unless it's the actual phone wiring, it doesn't appear to be on my end. It would make more sense if the line quality was poor, really. But assuming it is a problem with Verizon, I'm not sure where I'd go from here. Calling tech support is almost certainly out of the question. That's been nothing but a nightmare in the past. Being told to restart my router repeatedly in the hopes that an internet connection will start working is a waste of time, and another time my connection was out for nearly two weeks, they said it was on our end and pushed us into buying a new router. So, I'm not really sure how to go about actually having something done.

[jimmymustang]

Same here.. just posted on another thread....

same speeds on 2 laptops, 1 desktop, 1 ipod touch with speedtest.net app. (and yes I've tried just having 1 on)

wire or wireless doesn't matter.

They sent me a new 7500 router, no change.. router reports 3.3 down.. speedtest.net reports avg 1.6m down....

This has been going on since mid december...

3 different phone cords.

This same setup has worked flawlessly since June of 09... I haven't changed anything...

I've been using the net for 20 years (worked at net tech support job for 2 years)... I'm not computer illiterate.

I know that it cannot be a software problem, and if the modem is supposedly seeing 3.3 m down... then the problem is with the transfer of data IN THE MODEM or FROM THE MODEM...  it's simple root-cause analysis.

Verizon you should teach your technicians 5-why analysis.. like we do in the Automotive industry...

AND GET PEOPLE WHO CAN SPEAK BETTER ENGLISH.... I am sooooo tired of saying.... "excuse me, I didn't understand you"

[mittortz]

I have been having a similar problem for a few weeks now also.  The connection is extremely erratic: my internet speed will be happily coasting along at around 350 kB/s download speed (as it should be), and then will out of nowhere drop to around 20-40 kB/s and can stay there for several seconds, several minutes, and sometimes even longer.  This is most irritating when I'm trying to stream video online, because I'll be watching something that has been downloading at a constant rate, and then all of a sudden the connection will drop.  I'll be watching the progress bar suddenly slow to the point where it's literally 10 minutes of loading for each minute of video watching, and there's nothing I can do about it.  I'm going to call and complain tomorrow, but first I looked online and saw this.  Figured I would let you know that you're not the only one and that Verizon should probably take a look at this.  I can deal with an outage now and then but this is getting ridiculous.

EDIT: Also, it's not something simple like other family members using the internet or neighbors.  It's been happening for a few weeks now, and the way the connection drops is almost predictable.  It's erratic, yes, but the speeds are always the same - from full 350 to around 30, back and forth.