What can I do if my ISP is not providing the service they advertised?

[alterego]

I've got a server at the University of Colorado that can upload data faster than I've been able to find a connection to download it (> 15 MB/s). At home, though, we've got Qwest DSL. My roommate set this up before I moved in and we are on a 2 year contract. The service is excruciatingly slow. Downloading something over bittorrent is unimaginable - it clogs up our entire pipe, making web surfing impossible. I've read lots of stories about how far behind the curve the US is on broadband, especially w.r.t countries such as South Korea, but this is unimaginable. So I decided to check the numbers and run some tests. My DSL modem claims we are connected at 192 KB/s and upload at 4KB/s (note: are they kidding me?). Here's the results:

Download from University of Colorado at Boulder: 80-85 KB/s
Upload : 6-8 KB/s # Note: `scp' reports the upload is "stalled" more than 50% of the time. Also note that CU is across the street from me. As little latency as possible.

Download from speakeasy.net/speedtest: 102 KB/s
Upload: 3 KB/s

Download from bandwidthplace.com/speedtest: 86 KB/s
Their "Subjective rating": Not bad
Average in Colorado: 80.64 KB/s

Download from cnet.com bandwidth test: 93 KB/s

Download from speedtest.net: 92 KB/s
Upload: 3 KB/s

Download from dslreports.com/stest: 90 KB/s
Upload: 3 KB/s

That's an average speed of 91 KB/s down. Meanwhile, Qwest claims that "You can view a 1MB photo in as little as 1.4 seconds." That's 731 KB/s, slightly faster than I'm experiencing. I also read their Subscriber Agreement and there is no mention of them actually providing the speeds I am paying for. I've done the obvious things and I can say with certainty that their service is just plain slow. My roommate has asked me to take over because Qwest just tells her that "everything appears to be working normally," even when we are experiencing an outage at home. I would like to call Qwest and ask for a no-fee termination of our contract, but I am imagining that they have some kind of clause somewhere that prevents me from doing so. Even worse for my plight, my connection is apparantly slightly faster than average for Colorado. Do I have any way to win in this, or am I stuck with pre-2000, < 2x dialup speeds for the next two years?

[kanicbird]

Here's another test site:
http://www.vonage.com/help_knowledge..._id=USVONRPFMF

On that I am getting 128 kb/s down and 92 kb/s up on a cellular connection.

I find it strange that you are getting such low numbers with the DSL connection unless you are reporting speed in kBs instead of kbs in which case your speed is about 16x that of dialup.

One thing you might try is to up your speed to a 'professional' level, it will cost more for a month or 2 (Make sure you can switch back to the residential speed later), but hopefully they will offer some level of performance, which will probably require them to give you a better phone line in the street. Once you have full speed you can drop to the lower speed (since you now have a better line).

You can also try installing a single microfilter right at the first point of access of your phone line, instead of all the microfilters at each device. Basically you make it like DSL was at first, with the line coming in being split right away, with the microfiltered line going to all the phone lines in the house, and the unfiltered line going to the DSL modem, using a good twisted pair (or Cat 5), you have to be a little handy to do this however.

[Capa84]

There are a number of other things that could cause a lower than advertised speed, I would at least have them send one of their techs out to see if it is something simple like noise on the line or a bad feed into the house.

I would estimate the chance that you get someone who actually knows what they are doing at about 15% from past experience when my high speed providers send out techs to service a slow line.

[crazyjoe]

If you are able to, try plugging your DSL modem in right at the main box of your house instead of one of the inside lines, and see if that improves your speed. I noticed a fourfold increase in speed and usability when I moved my DSL modem from one phone jack to another in my house.

Also, some things, like the DishNetwork box I have connected to my phone line, will still interfere with the DSL signal, so make sure you test it with anything like that unplugged.

[engineer_comp_geek]

I've heard a lot of people complain about DSL. Most of the complaints seem to center around the fact that due to price competition, the DSL providers can't afford to pay for many techs who really know what they are doing. Therefore, when there's a problem, it's usually someone who is underpaid and fairly clueless trying to solve it. My general impression (with no data at all to back it up) is that this situation has been improving a bit lately as DSL tries to hang on to customers while facing severe competition from cable internet providers.

I have no experience with qwest, but most ISPs don't guarantee any speeds. Your speed isn't close to what they advertised? Tough noogies. It's not in your contract. I'm on comcast (called comcrap by a lot of folks, and for good reason), and their speeds aren't even close to what they advertise. Hopefully, your ISP will work with you to get the situation resolved.

One thing you can do is run a tracert from a command prompt to a bunch of different internet sites, and take note of where the delays are. This may point to a specific problem that the techs will be able to sort out.

Originally Posted by alterego

Also note that CU is across the street from me. As little latency as possible.

The fact that it is across the street is meaningless. Depending on how your ISP works, your network traffic may go out into the internet as a whole many hundreds of miles from where you are now. Heck, the packets going across the street may jump up to a satellite and come back down before they end up 50 yards from your house.

Most ISPs have local networks that cover a fairly wide area, and connect to the "internet" at only one point.

[Rick]

Is cable a player in your area?
I just ran the speed test that kanicbird linked to and I am getting 5.37Mbps down, and 486 kbps up.

[Rigamarole]

Originally Posted by alterego

I've read lots of stories about how far behind the curve the US is on broadband, especially w.r.t countries such as South Korea

Wait what? South Korea has better internet access than us? Aren't they communists?

I have DSL through SBC/AT&T, and although their customer service pretty much sucks, I do get 711 kbps down / 302 kpbs up according to the second test link, so no complaints there.

[Donovan]

Is your PC connected directly to the modem or are you using a home router?

[Q.E.D.]

Originally Posted by Rigamarole

Wait what? South Korea has better internet access than us? Aren't they communists?

No. You're thinking of North Korea.

[neutron star]

alterego, how much do you pay for your DSL?

I know that some providers offer ~$20/month plans with download speeds that are pretty much exactly what you're getting.

Another possibility not mentioned is that you could be on the edge of their service area - far enough from the CO that your signal has attenuated.

Originally Posted by engineer_comp_geek

I'm on comcast (called comcrap by a lot of folks, and for good reason), and their speeds aren't even close to what they advertise.

Using older RG-59 coax and/or running through multiple splitters can cause this problem. I have no complaints with my own Comcast service. I'm on a 6Mbps/384Kbps plan, and, as long as I'm downloading from a decent server, my connection doesn't stray from a dead-on 800KB/s.

[neutron star]

Originally Posted by alterego

My roommate set this up before I moved in and we are on a 2 year contract. The service is excruciatingly slow. Downloading something over bittorrent is unimaginable - it clogs up our entire pipe, making web surfing impossible.

Two things I forgot to add:

1. Is it your roommate's computer, and, if so, does he do a lot of online gaming? A friend of mine complained incessantly about her slow downloads, but they perked right up when her ex-husband moved out and took his PC with him, forcing her to get a new one. Turns out he had altered his TCP/IP settings to favor low latency over high speed in order to feed his World of Warcraft addiction.

2. Use a BT client that allows you to limit your upload speed. Most are set to unlimited by default and this will severely impact other Internet activities since your upstream is completely saturated, and thus cannot send information requesting, and acknowledging the receipt of, web pages in a timely manner.

[alterego]

Thanks for the comments. I tried all the troubleshooting, but in the end it was just really poor service. Comcast ensues