Internet has been terribly slow since we got FIOS Internet (75/50mbps) installed here half a year ago.
YouTube clips, Skype and even our NetFlix streams are all choppy, and inconsistent. Doing searches on Google, Yahoo, or Edmunds would take 3 to 10 seconds...which we all know in 2014 is completely unacceptable.
I have done my homework validating all the potential failure points. I am in the software industry since 1999 and have an expert knowledge in network, databases and systems integration in general. Everything that can be checked, have been done. I've followed all your suggestions on the website, but in vain.
I'm connecting to the FIOS router from several different devices (PC Laptop, MacBooks, iPhone and iPad) wirelessly about 3 to 30 feet away. No microwaves, no fridges, no baby monitors, no thick walls or doors obstructing. Apple TV and WD External HD are unplugged.... yet the internet is SLOW. Ran the Speed test over the past weeks and months, and I always 'score' pretty good....50/35 or 65/40mbps etc. The numbers are impressive but do not reveal the real performance! Back in our old home in Brooklyn, my scores were the same (using Verizon FIOS - same service/speed)...but the speed lived up to the Speed Test results. Had no problem over there.
Can anyone help me? What am I missing? Any special tricks of the trade with this Verizon FIOS internet service?
If this is not getting resolved very shortly, I am ready to escalate this to the management level at Verizon.
Please advise. Thanks everyone for listening.
Do you get the same response time on a wired connection?
If you haven't tried disabling wifi on your router and connecting just one device to your router using a wired connection you should do that, but I expect you have.
If you're seeing good performance with speedtest.verizon.net on all your devices, both wired and wireless, then the problem could be in Verizon's network. Try running speed tests using other servers, for example http://speedtest.comcast.net/ . You can also run quality and other tests at http://myspeed.visualware.com. There you can see packet loss on a graph if you run the VoIP test, click the Graph tab, and select "Click here for detailed analysis."
You may find the problem in a PON card affecting up to 32 customers. Verizon can run an intrusive test of this card during low usage hours.
For an example of the painful process of diagnosing a router card problem that affected over 500 customers see https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/lex-internet/conversations/topics/5296 , where clicking the up or down arrows between the first and last msgs lets you see all the msgs in the thread.
Yes I've done Wired Speed Test in the past with mixed results. Just to show you guys, I just spent the last half hour doing speed test with the below results.
As you can see the wireless access is very inconsistent, whereas, the wired connectivity is a bit more reliable but yet not to the level of great, consistent and high speed.
I had no other wireless devices turned on, except the MacBook Air I was testing out the speed on. TV was on, with Apple TV, but nothing else was distructive to the wireless connectivity.... I am generally astonished how unreliable the service is, which may force me to break the contract and move to another provider.
Any ideas? Any help? Thanks!!!
Wireless Results (MacBook - 3 feet from FIOS Internet Router):
41/37 mbps - 15 ms latency
4/17 mbps - 18 ms
17/18 mbps - 59 ms
19/16 mbps - 61 ms
33/18 mbps - 63 ms
28/17 mbps - 118 ms
48/20 mbps - 63 ms
48/26 mbps - 50 ms (Comcast test)
52/6 mbps - 31 ms (Comcast test)
31/29 mbps - 25 ms (Comcast test)
Wired Results (PC Laptop to FIOS Internet Router):
51/38 mbps - 12 ms latency
53/38 mbps - 12 ms latency
35/20 mbps - 52 ms latency
19/19 mbps - 52 ms latency
50/20 mbps - 51 ms latency
41/37 mbps - 52 ms latency (Comcast test)
You wrote in your first post:
> I always 'score' pretty good....50/35 or 65/40mbps etc.
...but the wired results you've listed dropped as low as 19/19. You could run the quality or voip tests at http://myspeed.visualware.com (requires java) to check packet loss, or you could use wireshark, but unless there's some problem with your PC laptop (check memory and CPU with windows task manager), you'll probably want to get them to send a tech out to check your ONT and router.
As long as the problem isn't caused by your cables or equipment you shouldn't get charged for the service call. If you want to make sure it's not your network cable(s)/wiring you should be able to test using your laptop connected directly to your ONT. Try each of two different network cables. Bad cables can cause this type of problem, and at least that way you'll also know whether the router is causing the problem. If it's your router, not Verizon's, and the router's causing the problem then you'll get charged for the service call. If it's not the router, then they'll probably first send someone out to test your ONT.
I complained to Verizon second month we moved in (August '13), and they came to replace the router. No change in performance after that. I don't know how we have managed to keep up and accept this situation - perhaps our two little kids have been distracting us much. In any case, the situation is unbearable.
There is nothing wrong with our hard ware.... the inconsistent, slow connectivity is across the board of our devices (2 MacBooks, 1 PowerBook, 1 PC laptop, 2 iPhones, and 1 iPad). Yes... we turn off the wireless access of these devices when we conduct the Speed Tests, in case you are wondering.
Old Cables is not the problem, as we tried several different cables but the real problem is the wireless connectivity.
Any other advice would be appreciated. Thanks guys for trying to help me out... ;-o
I don't know if they can test your router remotely and see the same performance inconsistencies, but you could look into that. There's a cable, either coax or CAT ethernet, from the ONT to your router. If that cable isn't yours and you can't connect to the ONT directly to run a test, and if they can't see your problem remotely, then you should ask them to send a tech out to verify your problem and test your ONT as a first step. They may replace the ONT at that point. If replacing the ONT doesn't fix the problem see the link to the example I mentioned above for some further steps to take.
You can try a couple of things. Log into the router and change the wireless channel from Auto to 6 and lock it even after a reboot. You can also change the router from compatibility mode to performance mode if all your devices are N capable. These settings should help a little.
The best way to find where the problem is without using test gear is by the process of elimination.
Test you LAN using LAN Speedtest. First test using Ethernet connections and see if you can get speeds of 90+ Mbps. Much higher is possible if the equipment you are testing with has gigabyte capability at both ends.
If you can't 90+ on your LAN there is a problem with your LAN setup that needs to be addressed.
Then you can test speeds on your LAN using WiFi.
Using Speedtest introduces to many additional variables making it very difficult to diagnose throughput problems.
Once you know that your LAN is up to standard then you can point at Verizon.
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