DSL Disillusionment
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I have a small business client located in the North Shore, an area immediately north of Chicago. They’ve been connected to the Internet via a DSL connection from MegaPath DSL. Every time I’ve been at their office and have done any serious downloading, I was amazed at how slow their connection was. I have them on hosted Exchange, and Outlook 2003 in cached mode performs admirably. But when it comes to significant downloads — well let’s just say I’m glad there is a coffee maker nearby. Let me give you some hard numbers from a speed test I ran from dslreports.com:
Speed Test #41883941 by dslreports.com
Run: 2007-12-15 15:39:57 EST
Download: 129 (Kbps)
Upload: 134 (Kbps)
In kilobytes per second: 15.7 down 16.4 up
Tested by server: 56 java
User: 2 @ dslreports.com
User’s DNS: dsl.net
To add insult to injury, the rates they are being charged are insanely expensive for what they are getting. I can’t remember exactly what they pay MegaPath, but what I do remember is the reaction I had when their office manager told me — disbelief. So I counseled them on what their options were and helped them seek out alternatives. Although Comcast has service in their area, they don’t have any Coax pulled into their office suite, so I put that on the back burner (although it may quickly move to the front burner). We spoke to AT&T about getting their DSL service — and it only reinforced my opinion that they like sell first, and worry about service availability later. It’s going on the fourth day of a supposed “outage in the area” as we haven’t been able to fully activate the AT&T DSL modem yet. We’re going to try once more, then return the modem kit and tell them to take a hike. Even if we were to get the modem lit up, the fact that they’ve had an outage of this magnitude doesn’t exactly instill confidence in their service. What is their motto, “Your World, Delivered.” As if.
I have to wonder if there is just some kind of infrastructure issue in the immediate area — based on the horrible DSL speeds from MegaPath, and the non-availability of AT&T’s DSL service (so far). And yes, we were told by AT&T that the service location was well within the maximum distance from their CO for stable service. Again, I think they are so eager to sell packages, that whether they work or not is secondary. So, we may see what Comcast can do in terms of bringing Coax into their office suite, then try out one of their high-speed Internet offerings. Stay tuned.
6 Comments
Don Glessner
February 5th, 2008
at 7:05am
I ran into this problem and the solution was extremely simple. When the DSL was set up someone installed a filter on the DSL line, once removed the system went from 15 to 1.5 MB as it should have been all along, you might want to check for this problem. As I told the client, normally this problem means a bad connection and prior to calling her supplier I decided to check the line from on end to the other, making the discovery of the filter. Hope this helps, Don G
Matt Wilkinson
February 5th, 2008
at 12:06pm
Thanks for the tip Don G — I actually tried it both with and without DSL filter. That is on both their original DSL service, as well as the new one we trying to activate.
My gut tells me that the Telco’s “last mile” infrastructure is just so degraded that it can’t support reliable and speedy DSL service.
Marty
February 5th, 2008
at 2:20pm
Given that North Shore is well within solid cell coverage for Chicagoland I’d look at Wireless Broadband 3G Rev A.
My installation in another town gets me five unit access via a card installed in a Liksys router.
Download speeds are better than nearby DSL clients are getting.
Frank
February 5th, 2008
at 6:06pm
Do not, I repeat, do not trust AT&T reps to tell you the truth on the distance you are from the CO.
Initial service was touted as 1.5Kbps (had to downgrade to 978Kbps for reliable, stable connections), but after modem settings (always on AT&T’s CO end) being reset multiple times, and dealing with ‘technical’ support from their India call center, I dumped AT&T and switched to cable (Cox).
Best decision I ever made.
Ken F
February 5th, 2008
at 6:58pm
AT&T is an administrative pain in the rear, but their service for me the last two years has been exceptional as compared to 7 prior years on cablemodem. If you can get past the first two to three weeks of the right hand not knowing about the left hand (ergo, AT&T is too big again), then your customer’s performance should improve.
Incidentally, unless you are using this DSL connection on a dry loop pair, it is essential that you use the DSL filters that AT&T sends with their modem. You should not install more than six filters, even if a phone connection ends up not having a filter. I highly recommend the use of a lone-pair direct connection to the modem if the building is already or can be wired for it, in which case you can usually forgo the filter(s).
(Simple test…when running a broadband speedtest, take a phone off-hook, and if your speeds suddenly drop, you need the filters).
Good Luck!
Benjamin Rossington
February 7th, 2008
at 11:30am
Wow… some interesting readings there!
DSL shouldn’t be so slow- EVER.
The filters are supposed to STOP the DSL signal from passing into the telephone system, and vice versa. I am surprised to hear that you could even get a signal on DSL through one…
I did not know about the limit on filters in a building (or rather, on a single line).
Really some useful bits in there…
I appreciate articles like this; complain about something USEFUL…