ZA Furries

Well...
We had a 2Mb/S line for a while now... And the speed just started decreasing suddenly...
It's down to 1Mb/S now...

I called Telkom and they said it's actually fast. That it should actually be 0.98Mb/S... Because it's "Up to 2Mb/S"?

What kind of crap is this?
I'm paying for a 2Mb/S line... Not a line at half the speed??

Should I take this further?

Adagio wrote:Well...
We had a 2Mb/S line for a while now... And the speed just started decreasing suddenly...
It's down to 1Mb/S now...

I called Telkom and they said it's actually fast. That it should actually be 0.98Mb/S... Because it's "Up to 2Mb/S"?

What kind of crap is this?
I'm paying for a 2Mb/S line... Not a line at half the speed??

Should I take this further?

Nope, that is completely in accordance with their advertising. If they have a 1Mbps package they should change you to that, but if their lowest is 2Mbps then you're effectively screwed. Speed on ADSL varies according to the distance from the exchange, the quality of the copper line between you and the modem you use. And the settings they have on the port where you plug in. And exchange (DSLAM/backhaul) congestion.

Also keep in mind the confusing and inconsistent terminology they like to use: 2 Mbps (megabits per second) = 0.25 MB/s (megabytes per second), because 1 byte = 8 bits.

Valerion wrote:

Adagio wrote:Well...
We had a 2Mb/S line for a while now... And the speed just started decreasing suddenly...
It's down to 1Mb/S now...

I called Telkom and they said it's actually fast. That it should actually be 0.98Mb/S... Because it's "Up to 2Mb/S"?

What kind of crap is this?
I'm paying for a 2Mb/S line... Not a line at half the speed??

Should I take this further?

Nope, that is completely in accordance with their advertising. If they have a 1Mbps package they should change you to that, but if their lowest is 2Mbps then you're effectively screwed. Speed on ADSL varies according to the distance from the exchange, the quality of the copper line between you and the modem you use. And the settings they have on the port where you plug in. And exchange (DSLAM/backhaul) congestion.

They DO have a 1Mb/S Package... We were on it for a long time...
And it's not the lines THIS time... Because we uset to get 2.0Mb/S ALL the time...
Then it went down to 1.5Mb/S for a while.

Now it's 1Mb/S flat...

I understand the users to bandwidth ratio... But you're supposed to shape it accordingly. Not flat out refuse to deliver full speed...

We are pretty borderline at 6KM from the exchange...
The 4Mb/S was too unstable and they throttled it to 3.2 usually...

Leeward wrote:Also keep in mind the confusing and inconsistent terminology they like to use: 2 Mbps (megabits per second) = 0.25 MB/s (megabytes per second), because 1 byte = 8 bits.

Yup! I know about bits and bytes... It is what I'm studying... But lots of people confuse those terms... And they like to throw around impressive numbers....
We used to get 256KB/s consistently...

I find that, given the overheads in DSL encoding, as well as some of the inefficiencies, that using 10 bits/byte gives a much more accurate picture of expected line speeds. Rule of thumb, of course. Or you can subtract around 13-15% from the speed your modem is syncing at.

See what your SNR margin and attenuation on your link is. This will give you an indication of line quality and length. You can find plenty of places good/reasonable values are discussed. Also, check at what speed the modem believes it is syncing to the DSLAM with. It is also possible that there is an issue with an unfiltered phone port, or that one or more of your line filters are faulty.

Also, check during various times of the day what your latency is, to your first hop (the BRAS), or to an IP address inside your ISP. This may give you some clues about exchange congestion.

It is also possible for errors to accumulate, though it shouldn't. Getting Telkom helpdesk to reset the port, or even (if you can convince them) to move you to a different port or DSLAM in the same exchange may also help.

Valerion wrote:I find that, given the overheads in DSL encoding, as well as some of the inefficiencies, that using 10 bits/byte gives a much more accurate picture of expected line speeds. Rule of thumb, of course. Or you can subtract around 13-15% from the speed your modem is syncing at.

See what your SNR margin and attenuation on your link is. This will give you an indication of line quality and length. You can find plenty of places good/reasonable values are discussed. Also, check at what speed the modem believes it is syncing to the DSLAM with. It is also possible that there is an issue with an unfiltered phone port, or that one or more of your line filters are faulty.

Also, check during various times of the day what your latency is, to your first hop (the BRAS), or to an IP address inside your ISP. This may give you some clues about exchange congestion.

It is also possible for errors to accumulate, though it shouldn't. Getting Telkom helpdesk to reset the port, or even (if you can convince them) to move you to a different port or DSLAM in the same exchange may also help.

The SNR is at 71. That is actually really good...
A bit on the high side for the upload... Which is probably why I'm getting the horrible ping...
It used to be 2008kbps... They are clearly throttling me...
And not because of the FUP...

Clearly the attenuation is bad... The line is probably damaged again... But still...

I called tech support. And they told me that half the speed advertised was normal...
Assuming the first hop out of the router is the BRAS.
I pinged it for a few seconds and got an average of 47ms...
Which is pretty bad... But not unacceptable...

If you getting internet in SA you are being cheated. They should've, and I think could've, fixed the lines and started to deliver proper speeds but they would rather enrich themselves.

Rakuen Growlithe wrote:If you getting internet in SA you are being cheated. They should've, and I think could've, fixed the lines and started to deliver proper speeds but they would rather enrich themselves.

That's true hey...

Al least they're rolling out FTH now...
Sloooowly...
There's actually a fiber cable running right past out front door...
But it belongs to MTN... And they do NOT even want to TALK about renting me a core...

The thing is that if SA doesn't get proper internet everyone is screwed and left behind. Everything is being built for internet standards in the developed world. Cloud storage, digital media downloads, streaming etc all requires a fast internet connection and the ones in SA just don't cut it. The speeds people talk about there are nothing. It took me hours and hours to download a game in SA. Here I could download and install Civ VI in something like 15-20 minutes. Gaming is obviously what I like but the same probably applies to business use.

Agreed man...

My American friend told me about his rather slow 130Mb/s line the other day...
We're stuck in the dark ages...

And the horrible FUP's we have...
And there is NO transparency about packages...

I mean... MWeb told me that if they throttle you, they reduce the speed to half... It turned out to be just faster than dialup...

They lied to me...

And now this?

And the only TRUE uncapped you get is Wireless connections that cost you over 2 grand for a little bit of speed....

And you saw what my Ping was like Rak?

Horrible!

I ran the ping to the BRAS again... And I got an average of 107ms...
That's not even the internet... That's just to the exchange...

Rakuen Growlithe wrote:The thing is that if SA doesn't get proper internet everyone is screwed and left behind. Everything is being built for internet standards in the developed world. Cloud storage, digital media downloads, streaming etc all requires a fast internet connection and the ones in SA just don't cut it. The speeds people talk about there are nothing. It took me hours and hours to download a game in SA. Here I could download and install Civ VI in something like 15-20 minutes. Gaming is obviously what I like but the same probably applies to business use.

When I was in the US, it wasn't "what games do I have installed?", it was "what games do I own?".

And we were in the middle of the Sonoran Desert just north of the border.

This country's infrastructure is an absolute farce.

And here I am sitting at work with this...

Leeward wrote:And here I am sitting at work with this...

interwebz.png

Oh! Sure!

Rub it in Lee!

I still want to get a fiber line here. And get the licenses... I'm learning a lot about networks and data management recently...

The original question has been answered now and perhaps it is best to close this.