Slow DSL

[lookn4speed]

I also am experiencing slow speeds. I have a 1.5 - 3 Kbps plan and only get speeds from 257 to 651 Kbps. I have a westell 327w wireless router which has a 4 port Ethernet that I am to connected to.

[smith6612]

Can you please post up your modem Transceiver statistics? Here's how you obtain them. Go to http://192.168.1.1/ , and based on the firmware your 327w is running you will need to do one of the following:

If running White and Blue Westell firmware, go to Troubleshooting and click Transceiver Statistics. Copy and paste the information shown. If running Red and Black Verizon Firmware, go to System Monitoring, Advanced Monitors, and choose Transceiver Statistics.

If you are prompted for a Username and Password, try the following:

admin/password
admin/password1
admin/admin
admin/admin1
Your Verizon Username and Password

Additionally, are your issues with slow speeds 24/7 or are they only taking place during the night time hours?

[lookn4speed]

running red/black firmware and cannot get into modem with any of the id/passwords

[lookn4speed]

sorry, got in.

Transceiver Statistics

Transceiver Revision: 7.2.3.0  

 Vendor ID Code: 4  

 Line Mode: T1.413 Mode  

 Data Path: Fast    

 Transceiver Information Downstream Path Upstream Path

 DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 3360 864

 Margin (dB) 24.5 9.0

 Line Attenuation (dB) 26.0 12.0

Transmit Power (dBm) 19.8 13.3

generally a 24/7 problem

[lookn4speed]

went to speedtest.net

dwn  1.39mb/s

up        .72mp/s

[smith6612]

I think I may know what is going on. Those statistics look like fine, though the upstream margin could be a little higher considering how short your DSL line is. Since it's a 24/7 issue I'm almost positive there may be a Juniper ERX in the mix. If you can, visit http://visualroute.visualware.com/ and choose the closest server to you. From there, the Java applet that loads will show your IP address in it. Let the Applet trace your connection. Once completed, mouse over the circles that indicate hops and look at the hostname of them. If my guess is correct, the second last hop (second closest dot to the right) in the trace should have the word "ERX" in it. Let me know if you see it.

[lookn4speed]

well the second to last box lists

P8-0.PHILAPA-FTWSPAFW-ERXG04.VERIZON-GNI.NET

speed test says that my connection is out of phila? 50mi

the route has at least 18 hops with the last two red

speed test has my speed at 11:37p at 1.62 dwn/ .70 up, pretty much the same

[smith6612]

Were the dots red or were they in a "Red Latency" area? If the last two were red it was probably due to them not being pingable, which is nothing to be concerned about. Anyways, you are behind a Juniper ERX and are more than likely routing through incompatible Lucent Litespan/ATM equipment on Verizon's end. Not much you can do besides trying to get Verizon to fix the issue for good by either changing out the incompatible equipment or moving you off the Juniper, but there are work-arounds if you run Windows XP/2000 along with Linux and OS X. Vista and Windows 7 cannot be adjusted to try and compensate for it. So if you run any of the mentioned Operating Systems that can be tuned, let me know and I'll tell you what to do.

This issue with the Juniper routers has been happening for years surprisingly. A bunch of people at DSLReports have tried to get Verizon to solve it though it seems they could care less now that FiOS is around. You can still get full throughput on the line, however anything that uses TCP and sends ACKs will result in degraded downstream speeds. The incompatibility causes an excessive amount of re-transmits to occur due to what is basically packet loss (but yet it's not really there!) which slow speeds as by design of TCP. At times it can result in downloads stalling out which I see many times on Juniper'd lines in my area. It really bugs me and is something that makes me not suggest DSL to people if I know they're using it for anything more than checking e-mail or basic surfing. I mean, I'm sorry to say that as the DSL network could be more capable, but I can't recommend something that doesn't work as it should. I'll suggest FiOS any day as I've used it personally and it is pretty nice, but if it isn't around and I know there's going to be Juniper issues, I basically say Cable.

Also, Philadelphia is probably the nearest location Verizon has to send your data from the CO out to the Internet. It's basically regional.