Near Reading / Pottsville, PA - DSL ~70-80% lower speed since June

[jdhannon]

Hi, I've had VZ Enhanced HS DSL since March. Until June, I was typically getting about the following in speed tests:

Ping: 35-40 ms

Download: ~6.0 Mbps

Upload: ~.70 Mbps.

Sometime in June, those speeds have dropped dramatically. I've been doing speed tests on multiple sites daily for about a week now, and the results have been consistenyly around:

Ping: ~130+ ms

Download: ~2.15 Mbps

Upload: ~.07 Mbps

My ping is several times higher than it was for nearly the first four months of living here and subscribing to VZ DSL. My average download speed is 40% of what it should be. And the upload speed is... atrocious. Simply atrocious.

I've so far dealt with three technical support representatives, as well as the third one's supervisor. None of them could help me, and they all wanted to walk me through the same tests. I even humored them, doing everything they told me to do. I had no success. After (through my family) being with Verizon for many years, I'm at about my wit's end.

Here is some more information about my router, including information displayed by it, and so on:

Router Make and Model: Actiontec GT704WG-B

Firmware version: 30.17.0

ATM QoS class: UBR

Connection Status: ShowTime

DSL Status Speed: 2944 / 96 Kbps

Attainable Rate: 3200 / 164 Kbps

Output Power: 10.9 / 19.7 dBm

SNR Margin: 6.2 / 9.0 dB

Attenuation: 62.0 / 31.5 dB

HEC Errors (down/up): 6058 / 0

OCD Errors (down/up): 13 / 0

LCD Errors (down/up): 0 / 0

PC Stats:

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

4 GB RAM, Phenom Quad-Core, etc

Antivirus/Malware Software

1. Microsoft Security Essentials - full scan, daily, at night

2. Malwarebytes Antimalware - full scan, 2-3 times per week

3. Adaware Pro - full scan, 2-3 times per week

* My system is clear.

Other Connected Devices:

I tested the connection / did speed tests on other PCs, namely my fiancee's laptop and a friend's laptop. Same speeds, despite different systems and setups. Other than my PC, the only other device that has been connected to the router / my internet connection is my Roku player. I had no problems streaming movies since March, until just a few weeks ago. Now there are occasional delays when navigating around the Roku player, initializing the movie, pausing, ffw/rw and so on.

Verizon's Speed Test Analysis Information:

Analysis information:
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
SendBufferSize set to 8192
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 73.70Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 2.24Mb/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 x.x.x.x but Client says x.x.x.x

Pingtest.net Results:

Score: C-F, it's inconsistent

Ping: ranging from 100ms to 300ms

Jitter: ranging up to 170ms

Things I've Done As Per VZ Support Suggestion:

1. Try the connection wired vs wireless (same results)

2. Swap ethernet cables (I did; same results)

3. Swap phone line from router to wall (I did; same results)

4. Power cycle router / PC (I did; same results)

5. cmd.exe -> ipconfig /release; ipconfig /renew; netsh winsock reset catalog; ipconfig /flushdns (I did; same results)

Does anyone have any suggestions? Does any of this data indicate that the issue may be in my home? Or does it suggest a problem with the router, or with Verizon's network? Thank you sincerely for your time.

[jdhannon]

Two quick notes --just to be clear

The various speed tests and ping tests were performed at random hours of the day and night. The results are pretty consistent all around.

All tests were performed wirelessly, and via ethernet connection.

[smith6612]

With that kind of upstream sync I wouldn't expect anything less than poor service, slow speeds, high ping and lots of jitter. If your upload was significantly higher in the past, you'll want to do some troubleshooting on your line before you call Verizon out as this is a copper loop issue.

Consider everything that has been attached or changed on that line since the problems began, or even perhaps a bit before then and see if you can correlate the slow speeds with a certain device being attached, wired up, swapped out, or wiring being changed. Devices such as alarm systems and satellite receivers, and even Intercom systems in apartments require filtering of the DSL Signal.

To rule everything out off the bat as far as the house goes, you'll want to locate your NID. Most newer NIDs are plastic boxes with test jacks found in them that allow you to attach a phone, a DSL modem, or another phone line device to see if the problem is with the provider or with your home's wiring (or perhaps both!). See this FAQ for some more information: http://www.dslreports.com/faq/1317

If you can borrow a laptop and also manage to get the modem connected to the NID, we'd like to see if any of the statistics on the modem are better.

Also, if you have Voice Service on the same line that shares the DSL connection, are you seeing any issues with static or poor/not clear voice on the line? This may help identify whether or not the problem has been fixed. As the upstream frequencies are closer to the voice frequencies, it is more likely to see problems if a problem is reducing voice performance but not exactly harming the downstream frequencies (Which attenuate faster but are far more plentiful). Your current statistics, if only we could use something such as the DMT tool would show a few upstream tones, maybe even one handing all the load with a low SNR.

[Rdietrich82]

i have the same plan and also the same problem as you and im from philadelphia i have my modem hooked directly to my NID with no land line phones in the house and my speed for the past month or so has dropped from the 6Mb to anywhere from .70Mb-1.9Mb and i get constant disconnects

[smith6612]

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@Rdietrich82 wrote:

i have the same plan and also the same problem as you and im from philadelphia i have my modem hooked directly to my NID with no land line phones in the house and my speed for the past month or so has dropped from the 6Mb to anywhere from .70Mb-1.9Mb and i get constant disconnects

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Sounds like a line issue for you. If you haven't already, make a thread here and we'll see what we can do to get it fixed up.

[ErinLL]

In Philadelphia and having speed issues as well. I pay for 3.1-7mbps and my DL speed has been consistently 2.5 and lower for the last week. I've called tech support more times than a customer should have to with no resolution. I received a recorded courtesy call yesterday saying all was fixed, but NOPE!! The tech I talked to last night confirmed it was still an issue on their end and that she had to do some extra tests that would take a moment, so she'd call me back in 10min. It's been 24+ hours and no call back. Looks like my morning will be spent talking to yet ANOTHER incompetent "tech support" drone reading pleasantries off a prompter while I bang my head against my router. 

How does VZ get away with having their own message board like this but continue to ignore their customers' complaints and cust service horror stories?