Time specific DSL slowdown issue

calcium fish

I have no clue what could be causing this, hope to get some opinions.

I'm a current subcriber to Bell Sympatico High speed DSL.

Starting as of early in this month I noticed that in the evenings trying to play WoW I would get really high latency. Later I noticed this slowdown occurs with occurs with internet browsing, TS, Pandora etc so it's not just the game. In WoW during this time I can get latency numbers of 1-18k, usually around 5-6k. Using DSL reports the numbers I get aren't as high, but WoW is unplayable during this time and internet use is also very aggrevating.

The rest of the time during the day my connection is fine, it's just during the evening 8-11pm (EST) that I get this problem. It can start and end earlier or later, and the severity varies day to day, but that's the average.

I'm not on any routers or anything, the connection goes right from the wall to the modem to the computer.

I'm not that technically minded about these things, so I was wondering if i could get some suggestions as to what's happening before i switch ISPs.

nexuscrawler

If it's a low level dsl connection it could be the provider. The time you described is the highest internet traffic time of the day. Thier network could be overloaded causing the lag.

Also it could be something o your computer that's trying to run at that time. go into you administrative tools and look up the logs. See if anything is launching around that time daily. It could be any type of auto updater thats trying to download something.

I'd also run a trojan and virus check since you don't have a router you're very vulerable to them.

vonPoonBurGer

It really sounds like your DSLAM is overloaded. That's the local system where Bell terminates ADSL connections in your neighbourhood. It sounds like it doesn't have enough resources to cover all the bandwidth being by used by your area at peak times. After you check the things nexuscrawler suggested, if you don't find any smoking gun on your PC, I'd call Bell and complain. Don't expect any quick fixes, though, they probably can't parachute in new gear overnight. Give them a chance to resolve the problem, maybe a week or two, but if they can't do it by then, I'd recommend switching to a different provider (probably Rogers in your area).

nexuscrawler

Trouble is chances are almost 100% even another provider is going to simply rent space on the same DSLAM. DSLAMs are controleld by the phone company which isn't always the ISP.

calcium fish

My brother lives about 5 min from me and uses Rogers (which is a cable internet provider). He hasn't had any problems.

The fact that my problem seems to vary with the highest traffic on the days of the week as well as time (it isn't bad Saturday nights) leads me to suspect that it is that problem rather than a virus, but I'll look into it. I'm a little reluctant to call Bell since i heard they've moved their tech support to India.

I use ZoneAlarm as my firewall, and AVG/Spybot S&D as my virus protection..

redx

uhh... you could go under a command prompt, and run tracert.

It is probably either the DSLAM or the thier trunk connection that is getting staturated. You should be able to figure out where the problem is.

You can call and complian or shoot them an e-mail, but I doubt that they are really going to do much for you. It would cost them money. If you get enough folks to bitch, the might do something, but... well... I kinda have worked for whatever SBC is calling itself these days, and they didn't really give too much of a shit about this kinda stuff.

Feral

redx wrote:

uhh... you could go under a command prompt, and run tracert.

It is probably either the DSLAM or the thier trunk connection that is getting staturated. You should be able to figure out where the problem is.

You can call and complian or shoot them an e-mail, but I doubt that they are really going to do much for you. It would cost them money. If you get enough folks to bitch, the might do something, but... well... I kinda have worked for whatever SBC is calling itself these days, and they didn't really give too much of a shit about this kinda stuff.

They're supposed to guarantee a certain minimum speed. If he's not getting that minimum speed 24 hours a day they have a responsibility to upgrade their CO.

That said, it's going to take a lot of complaining, and multiple speed reports from multiple websites. Also, call while you're still having the problem. Their tech support reps will run an ATM ping on your line while you're on the phone; your chances of getting help are much higher if that ping comes back with high latency.

DrFrylock

Feral wrote:

They're supposed to guarantee a certain minimum speed. If he's not getting that minimum speed 24 hours a day they have a responsibility to upgrade their CO.

Do remember speed != latency.