Internet painfully slow, ISP can't explain it

psyck0 · March 2010

Hey guys, just figured the nerds here probably know more than useless customer service reps at my ISP. For the past 2 days, my internet has been so slow it is almost nonfunctional- it takes over a minute to load the 90% text PA forums, for example, and god forbid you ask it to open a picture. Called the ISP and they have no clue, the problem isn't on their end as far as they know. Reset the modem, tried connecting directly to the modem (bypassing our router) and neither of those helped. I'm wondering if you guys know of any common problems that could cause this. Cables going into the modem aren't loose, but I don't know where they originate from to check that end.

Thanks!

Mr Blonde · March 2010

Do you have a wireless router or other people sharing your router? Is someone hogging your bandwidth?

Did you set yourself up on a static ip? Did you choose your DNS?

Open command prompt and try and ping yahoo.com - how long does it take?

travathian · March 2010

Tried hooking up a different PC directly to the modem. If two different PCs experience the same thing you know its the modem or on their end.

Xaquin · March 2010

weird, I'm having the exact same problem at home

using Comcast

hooked up two different PCs directly to the modem and no dice. reset modem. reset computers. unplugged the modem all cables and phone jacks and replugged 5 minutes later still no dice.

pinging my router from either comp resulted in 1ms

pinging google timed out 3 times and 75% packet loss the 4th time.

they're coming to look at it tomorrow

-Phil- · March 2010

I had a problem with Comcast where my internet was slow and the connection kept on going to crap whenever it would rain. The problem ended up being that the cable that connected the node outside to my box had been cut so many times that the connection was crap (it was basically 6 cables connected together to make the length). After they changed the entire length to one solid piece, problem solved...

psyck0 · March 2010

Everyone else in our house has the same problem (4 of us). Unless someone's connecting to our line before our modem (hah!) it's not our computers. Sounds like either our modem has gone to shit or it's their end; either way, nothing we can do? Booked a service call but it's not until Friday

Xaquin · March 2010

do you have comcast?

Beren39 · March 2010

Hey that's really unusual, I've been having the same problem with my Sympatico DSL for the past few days too. Probably unrelated but rather coincidental considering I haven't had slowdown like this in years. Speaking of weather, what has yours been like, we've been getting a lot of rain and hard wind and I've heard of some of the older wiring infrastructure being affected by that.

Brodo Faggins · March 2010

I'm guessing you're tech savvy enough to have run anti-malware programs to check for background processes?

DeShadowC · March 2010

For cable customers if you can go to 192.168.100.1 and post your signals on here I can provide you with some more info.

PotatoNinja · March 2010

Make sure nobody is hogging your wireless.

Make sure you're not suffering from any malware.

Make sure you didn't accidentally leave a torrent program running in the background of one of your PCs.

Reset everything.

If all that fails, and the problem can be recreated on multiple PCs, it is likely your provider fucked up and doesn't want to admit it. I've dealt with situations before (Comcast in particular) where they're aware of a problem and intend to fix it but don't want to admit it to any customers calling in.

Its pretty hilarious to talk to a repair guy who says "Yeah, one of the lines near your place is fucked we're gonna fix it" and then talk to a half-dozen phone monkeys who say "nothing is wrong, reset your router again."

Malkor · March 2010

PotatoNinja wrote: »

Make sure nobody is hogging your wireless.

Make sure you're not suffering from any malware.

Make sure you didn't accidentally leave a torrent program running in the background of one of your PCs.

Reset everything.

If all that fails, and the problem can be recreated on multiple PCs, it is likely your provider fucked up and doesn't want to admit it. I've dealt with situations before (Comcast in particular) where they're aware of a problem and intend to fix it but don't want to admit it to any customers calling in.

Its pretty hilarious to talk to a repair guy who says "Yeah, one of the lines near your place is fucked we're gonna fix it" and then talk to a half-dozen phone monkeys who say "nothing is wrong, reset your router again."

The people in the call-center have absolutely no idea what goes on out in the field beyond what the field techs, and their supervisors tell them.

Do you know if anyone else in the area (neighborhood) has the same problem.

psyck0 · March 2010

I think this can be locked as all indications are pointing to wiring problems and we have a techie coming Friday to take a look. We have cogeco and are literally across the street from their local headquarters so I'm surprised to have any wiring problems unless it is specific to our house. Took a look at the cables as best I could but I have no idea where they run and don't have a ladder.

WildEEP · March 2010

When it gets brutally slow, hit a speed test website to test the throughput. It'll give you a quantitative number to say exactly HOW slow the slowness is.
Speakeasy is still running theirs:
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Xaquin · March 2010

grrrr Comcast came and couldn't find anything wrong =/

of course tonight it'll all go south again

like it has for the past 5 nights

edit: sorry I piggybacked on your help thread

Fallingman · March 2010

When I lived in the UK (ADSL) I had speed issues.

I found that some of my issues involved my wiring.
a) removing any kind of "telephone extension" cord is a must (I had HUGE increases)
b) Finding and using the primary socket in your house.

NP · March 2010

Back when I first got cable, there were a whole bunch of speed issues. The problem ended up being inside the house, basically the signal output required for TV doesn't have to be as strong as what you need for internet, so your TV might be fine but your internet keeps dropping out, this usually happens if the line is split a million times in inefficient ways. An easy way to test it out before the cable guy comes in is to try different cable wall jacks in your house, you might just have one that's stronger than the rest, otherwise he'll probably come in, check the signal strength, and readjust the cabling as necessary.

NargorothRiP · March 2010

the easiest way to fix issues with comcast is to drop their asses.

Xaquin · March 2010

NargorothRiP wrote: »

the easiest way to fix issues with comcast is to drop their asses.

unfortunately, they're the only game in town =/

Tomanta · March 2010

NP wrote: »

Back when I first got cable, there were a whole bunch of speed issues. The problem ended up being inside the house, basically the signal output required for TV doesn't have to be as strong as what you need for internet, so your TV might be fine but your internet keeps dropping out, this usually happens if the line is split a million times in inefficient ways. An easy way to test it out before the cable guy comes in is to try different cable wall jacks in your house, you might just have one that's stronger than the rest, otherwise he'll probably come in, check the signal strength, and readjust the cabling as necessary.

You can check the signal strength yourself rather than just doing "see if it works better". Connect your modem to the outlet and point the web browser to 192.168.100.1. You should access some info pages from the modem, including the signal levels the modem reports.

If your connection is actually DROPPING it may be worth checking it a few times (particularly right after a drop) to see if the signal is stable or not.

GothicLargo · March 2010

You could try using pingpath several times against the same known distant ip address and see if the route changes dramatically.

I've seen issues when ISPs and even trunkline operators will be reconfiguring their routers on the fly (for several days on end occasionally) causing performance issues for their customers as the routers try to find paths when the topography keeps changing.

In the last year I've caught Mediacom doing this twice and gotten them to admit they were causing the performance issues once.

Penny Arcade

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