Slow DSL

[Chalybs]

Over the past few weeks, my DSL will slow to a crawl. Rebooting may help for a couple of minutes and the slow to a crawl again. Then randomly start working fine. Seems to always happen prime time, but that is most likely because that is when we use it the most. Has happened at other times as well.

[smith6612]

Are you located in Pennsylvania by chance? Has there been any development around you lately in terms of additional business or residential construction?

[Chalybs]

Nope, Virginia. No new developments either. I am thinking its probably antiquated infrastructure. Same DSL now for around 13 years.

[smith6612]

Most likely. This has been getting reported quite often especially after streaming and cloud based media has taken off.

I would assume that in this case, rebooting has little to no effect on the performance of the service, but is rather just a "placebo" or "coincidental" effect. If the performance returns on it's own especially after peak hours, you're seeing congestion.

Verizon can do some things to try to alleviate the congestion. For example, Verizon can move you to different edge routing equipment, or change your ATM path to take a less congested route. It's not a guarantee that one exists, especially if the DSLAM your connection terminates into is at capacity already. But, there should be some means to help improve the situation.

Wouldn't hurt to visit DSLReports and try posting in the Verizon Direct forum for assistance with getting the circuit moved over. Provide as much information as you can about when it slows down, and whether the connection can recover without you having to reboot the router. And, do be sure that while the connection is slowing down, that no devices on your network are consuming bandwidth in the background, since that will be one of the first things support will question.

[Chalybs]

Currently this is my Verizon nightmare. I would replace them if it were possible, however where I live they are the only non sattellite option.

I would go with congestion on their network, however I only get 3 Mbps max. It can slow from 3 to .05 Mbps, which of course is unusable.

I have a bandwidth monitor so I know when a device is using everything. I have had wireless turned off and a single wired computer and have bad bandwidth.

Each time I call and they test my lines, the problem is resolved for a while. I asked what they did, because I went from .3 to 3 Mbps as soon as they initiated the test. I was told it refreshes the network device and runs a test. Apparently, the refresh fixes the issue so they never see an issue.

They have escalated me to their network team to monitor my line, today they call and tell me nothing is wrong on their end. It's on my end. Basically they do not believe me when I say that nothing is using the bandwidth. Now I have a call scheduled so they can look at my modem settings. It's a setting on their that is causing the issue (that is what the network guy told me).

I have no idea who I can escalate to at this point. But they will not send somebody out to check the equipment.

[smith6612]

There's a few rules Verizon tends to go by when it comes down to whether or not they're going to take any action on a DSLAM. In the past, I've had to help figure out congestion for a relative, and I was told that if a DSLAM is congested for more than 15 days in a month, they will consider doing circuit grooming - this means moving lines to other DSLAMs if available, or by balancing load across other circuits at the DSLAM or CO, if available.

Beyond that, equipment replacement/upgrade is basically an act of god. Rarely happens due to congestion. And expect that replacement to end up being some wireless solution with the current way of doing business.

[Chalybs]

.06 Mbps down and .68 Mbps up. Please Verizon tell me how that is acceptable service? The upload is correct but .06 down? 

[Sjilliebean]

I been having slow DSL issues for over 5 years. Right now I can't even download anything and load a webpage at the same time. I get network errors everytime I try and download game updates. I contacted verizon a few times and they tell me they flipped a switch and all is okay but it's not. Each time I contact them they just try to sell me Fios. I have previously ran up to 4 laptops on wireless with no issues and now I can barely run one. I been thinking of cancelling the service with them all together. I don't really want to have to deal wth satelites and cables for my net and was why I went with the dsl to begin with. I'm pretty sure they're trying to do away with the dsl all together so we'll not likely get much help. I'm now in search of trying to find hotspot internets that might be able to replace them

[Chalybs]

So, luckily due to a storm, my DSL went down and they sent out a technician to look at the lines. Turns out, I was at 95% max line capacity. The technician went and checked all connections. He removed a T connection on the line (in a pedestal) that went nowhere and unplugged all connections at the CO where there was no service. Afterwards, the test dropped to 81% of line capacity. I have had no issues since (been about a week).

So, the bottom line is, Verizon phone tech support is horrible. A big thank you to the technician who came out and fixed it.

[dwt19661]

cant get no help...slow all the time