My DSL slows to a crawl in the evening time. We're suppose to have 5 Meg Download and it works OK during most of the day. But, it seems every evening (starts around 3-5PM) it just slows way, way down.

When I run a speed test it will range from .3Meg to 3.5 Meg within a few minutes. I spent an hour on the phone with Embarq a couple of days ago and they acknowledged that we did have a problem and sent it to a tech.

The tech actually called back and said that he changed our DSL to "a different card and port." Of course we're stilling having an issue.

I've verified that this is an external problem by connecting my laptop directly to the modem and doing speed tests. Any suggestions on what I can tell the Embarq tech? (He was nice enough to leave his cell number.)

I had the same problem with my cable connection .

it would go out every afternoon for half hour or so and then intermittent slow periods

tech came out , checked it said everything was fine , while he was filling out paperwork I ran a speed test and it was crawling again .

he went down the street made some changes and its been good ever since

if there's any way to get them there when its happening that would help

hey nfc,
i work for a phone company that sells dsl and one thing we run into is the difference in speed test sites. also phone companies cant guarentee speed out side of their network. so if embarq has a speed test site test from there and compare the speeds to a speed test site out on the net like www.internetfrog.com

jonny

When the kids get out of school the band with seems to get a bit crowded...the games they play take a lot of space in the Internet world.

Think you'll find that after school let's out is when your problems begin. Then after dinner, guys like me jump on to look things up, order stuff, and go to their favorite web sight, like this one. Things slow down even more. Embarq's home DSL guarantee is for all practical purposes non-existent, and business is probably the same. So I still use dial-up and supposedly I'm connected @ 46,666, about 1/3 of home dsl speed. But it works all the time, the speed seldom varies significantly, and it is free! If I turn off the phone, then I won't have it, but I'll also be single and fighting with the dog for space. John C.

we used to see that with cable big time , slow way down after scroll early evening

i thought dsl was supposed to be immune to that , dedicated link to the dslam

Both technologies still use a "nodal" approach. Each node only has a certain amount of bandwidth available, and the carriers estimate load based upon the total number of subscribers and estimated usage. This is just like telephone companies equipping their CO switches with enough resources to handle normal calling traffic. When American Idol voting begins, you can't even call down the street wihout receiving an "all circuits busy" recording. We also had the same problem when dial-up was our only option and AOL's number was in the CO down the road from ours. All of the tie trunks between them were busy by 4:00 and nobody could call between the CO's.

Once enough complaints come in for slow speeds, they may take the action of splitting the node into two smaller ones and so on.

It's really not possible with older technologies to set up nodes with dynamic bandwidth allocation like newer systems can do. Customers paying business rates are given a higher level of priority in the node, but that's still not a guarantee. I am paying the highest package rate available for my cable modem service, and it still suffers during times when kids are likely to be on-line.

As others have already said, it really is a matter of the kids coming home from school and getting into their video gaming, music downloads and You-Tube video viewing that drags the system as a whole to a crawl.

We had a similar problem in LaLaLand about 4-5 years ago -- widespread, affecting everyone in in a central office, spread to several.

If you do a tracert your first report outside of your house is the Redback. (Mine is currently adsl-69-231-63.254.dsl.irvinca.pacbnell.net -- in 13 ms -- my Redback is in Irvine, 35 miles away from my Gardena Central Office.) The link from Gardena to Irvine is over the Telco's internal ATM network which, as far I understood it, had some sort of routing/overload problem. The symptom was a half second or more delay hitting the Redback.

At that point in time I was a moderator on dslreports.com and it was quite an issue. A user named "woofus" logged on, claimed to be a PacBell engineer. I verified him as being what he claimed, we fed him data for a month or so and he fixed the problem and got himself a promotion.

When you are running slow, is it due to latency to your Redback? Or is it in the network beyond the Redback?

Thanks for the replies! I kind of figured that it may have something to do with school getting out, but I thought that was not suppose to happen with DSL.

Now I'm getting 4.9 Meg download, but it's midnight and most people will have logged off. So, I guess I'll call the tech and see what can be done. They should not be charging me a premium for 5 Meg, if they can't deliver it most of the time.

Mike, I didn't look to see if the latency is coming from the Redback, I'll check on that when the problem happens again. I do know that there was a long delay in getting response from the name-servers.

-Larry

High traffic times and your provider not having enough pipeline to handle the load at peak times. That is exactly why I left my DSL and went back to cable.
The funny thing was that it me took about 6 calls to tech support, 3 months, and submitting 12-15 tracert tests to them before they would admit to it being their problem. The tech's answer (the equivalent of "must be somethin in yo PBX") was always to reboot my computer, router, and modem.

Yep, the problem is with the bandwidth coming into the CO. I've been told that they are at capcity and have started the "engineering" to add another T-3. Hopefully soon.

We don't have an option. The local cable company does not provide internet service.

Thanks again for the help.

-Larry

My cable does the same thing so don't think that's the answer.

-Hal

You can go with Direct TV and get what I've heard a good connection as far as speed goes.

My cable connection slows a bit in the evening. I down my network and unplug router for 10 seconds... Bring the network back up, wait for the status light to want internet, plug cable back in, network requests information from ISP, and I'm back up to speed in about 45 seconds.

I know this is a bump but....

Isn't the point of Digital SUBSCRIBER Line to ensure that you have your own private line to the CO? DSL service should give you a dedicated connection to your home, and the only thing that effects speed is distance from the CO or what physical shape the lines are in. Since when does high volume of customers effect DSL lines? I was pretty sure that was one of the main selling points of DSL, however, I could be wrong.

I'm in a rural area, and my CO is close enough for me to get a solid 3.0mbit connection...when it wants to. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, it could be 4PM or 3AM, and I still get intermittant latency. An hour of good connection and 30minutes of bad. I was thinking of switching to cable, but the thought of sharing my connection with everyone else turns me away. That's why I have DSL....

Josh, !!!

Yes, a "bump" gets you there but a new thread gets you quicker replies.

You pretty well nailed it, distance and condition of the DSL line can cause speed loss. Yes, you do have a "private" line to the CO but you may share the "main line" to the data center.

From what you are saying, I'd hazard a guess you have line issues. Does it ever rain in Florida?

:toothy:

Enjoy the board, keep your sense of humor, and I'll see you around the BB.

I got the one and only solution, VERIZON FIOS!!!
I just got it last month and it the best service I've seen. doesn't slow down...I even get more speed than I paid for at times

Hi guys. My first post on here although some of you know me.

The guys here have pretty much answered your question. Most ISP's (Internet service providers) prime time is around 5:00 to 10:00 so it will slow down during those times. Most providers only have available what they absolutely have to pay for in terms of OC-3's or bonding T-1's together.

The way the servers are programmed is also a problem on their side. It is first come first serve on the connections. You will probably notice that your connection will be pretty good to start with and then it gets slower and slower. Thats because the connections behind your's are taking a higher priority over your connection.

I would (I have) called my ISP and have them look into it. It seems that if they get enough complaints, they will finally add more bandwidth.

Well, I finally got TWC hi-speed in April and I'm pretty satisfied with it. Only complaint: Having to use ice pack on the 1st cable modem. I swear, speed would slow to less than dial-up, put the ice pack under the modem and 1-2 minutes later, away we go! Thing would get too hot to pick up. I actually used the BBQ tongs! New modem fixed it and the tech said he was going to plop it on the table at the next meeting. He saw it happen, so he believed it. Obviously a defective modem, but still worth a chuckle. John C. (Not Garand)