Need Advice, Internet Is Unbearably Slow

ty2050 on 23/08/2015 - 14:25
Last edited 23/08/2015 - 19:07 by 1 other user

So I live in an area that over the past few months has gotten worst and worst internet to expand on my problem. I am currently hooked up to Bigpond ADSL 2+ and all was fine with a decent 8Mbps Down/0.20Mbp all day everyday. Over the past lets estimate 4 months the internet at peak times tended to slow down to 6Mbps down, then down to 4Mbps and now down to 1.5Mbps only at peak times. Lets say 3pm drops to 4Mbps, 5pm hits and it's on 1.5Mbps.

Also with no one home, only 2 devices connected and a traffic monitor on my router running, I am getting lag spikes 2-3 minutes at a time making the internet unusable. I play a lot of online games, well let's say that's impossible now. I can barely load a video with 2 people on the internet at the same time. Contacted Telstra they told us that were on an congested network. Looking online and speaking to them there are no planned upgrades for my area. Telstra is the only provider out here. Spoken the the owner of the service (broadband is in his name) told him he should ring up and ask for a discount. I've seen online others with similar problems get a discount.

So I need to know how I can get my gaming fix, (I don't play everyday all day just a few hours or more a week).

Possible solutions:
QOS, this was my first option I thought easy fix, I'll have priority for my online games.
Problems the random 2-3 complete internet drop outs (changed modem/router no change). The internet speeds changes 2-3 times a day 8-4-1.5Mpbs means I have to changes the settings for QOS 3 times a day.

4g modem, Altough much more expensive since telstra is the only consistent mobile service out here as well. (would of loved to know the 200GB+ for $50 deal before it was changed) Problems the price it's not worth it just to play a game and I also don't even know if it will be stable considering I can only get 2 bars of 4g with my wifi modem outside and a antenna hooked up to it.

I've also tried to contact my local newspaper to do a artical, telling people if they have the same problem to call telstra and ask for a discount. Thinking maybe if enough people in the area complained and telstra was losing money maybe just maybe they would do something about it. But no reply from the local rag, all they seem to be interested in is local sports and school achievements.

Does anyone else have any viable solutions to this problem?

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Comments

  • oscargamer on 23/08/2015 - 15:27
    +2

    Netflix is the problem

    Australia physically doesn't have enough bandwidth for the current subscribers now Netflix is on line

    We have the exact same problem as you with Dodo/Optus

    • Dennis3003 on 23/08/2015 - 15:42

      I agree. Australia's backhaul for ADSL services is horrible (most of the time).

    • ty2050 on 23/08/2015 - 20:11

      Yeah I'm aware of the load used by Netflix and other streaming services.

  • Axelstrife on 23/08/2015 - 16:04

    I don't have any solution but for the time being if you get Vodafone or optus 4g use that for cheap if not use aldi mobile which is Telstra 3g which will do for gaming. Not the best but I've done it in the past.

    • ty2050 on 23/08/2015 - 20:14

      From what I'm aware Vodafone/optus have very patchy and poor signal where I live, heck only Telstra only put a tower up in 2011. Not sure if telsra 3g will service I'm with boost Mobile so I might try that out before I buy.

      • Axelstrife on 23/08/2015 - 20:16

        Boost mobile is 3g that's why i suggested aldi for the data only sim cards.

  • [Deactivated] on 23/08/2015 - 16:05

    The Liberals walking away from the NBN is the problem

    Your worst internet speed is better than the best I can achieve. I have been told to suck it up and move to a place where NBN is already installed.

    I am just happy to have internet these days and fondly remember the days when I could watch iview or other streaming services.

  • Davros on 23/08/2015 - 16:28
    +1

    Can you get big pond cable?

    • what on 23/08/2015 - 16:33

      I also have slow internet at times. Do you think that cable is better?

      • jzdhgkd on 23/08/2015 - 18:16

        If you can get bigpond cable it's miles better than anything ADSL can offer.

        My personal experience:
        ADSL: 6down/0.8up, dropouts several times a week
        bigpond cable: 100down/2 up, dropout maybe once every 3 months.

        Things got bad when netflix first started in Australia and it slowed to maybe 30 down during the peak times but things recovered and I get full speed pretty much 24/7.

        Costs almost twice as much but so worth it!

    • ty2050 on 23/08/2015 - 20:08

      I wish I could.

  • Davros on 23/08/2015 - 16:58

    I am on the slow cable. I always get 30 to 35 mbps speeds.

    • ty2050 on 23/08/2015 - 20:18

      So jealous, a few streets in my suburb are preped for NBN and one and only one has NBN not sure why a street with 3 houses has NBN.

  • bjdchwr on 23/08/2015 - 19:47
    +1

    I would like to share my story.

    I moved into another house in June.

    I was a Belong customer, I joined on 10, July. Speed was very slow in the evening since Day 1 and I called them as soon as I figured out this problem. I wrote a post: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/203524

    I made series of complaint and my case was escalated to Lv.2 support. Got a technician, actually it was 2 techs, come to my place one Sunday. They told me I had the best line in my area.

    However, I was still suffering slow Internet so I decided to bring the case to TIO. I filed a complaint on 12/08/2015 and got back from Belong resolution rep 2 days later (I think it was 14/08/2015).
    The lady, who was from Belong resolution team, told me I got out of the contract as they had nothing to do resolving this issue, so I signed up TPG (yeah, I am back to TPG now) the same day.

    I got my TPG activated on 20/08/2015 and my Internet is now very stable. I can get a SYNC speed of 14Mbit/1Mbit and my speed test results are decent.

    You guys know what? After I signed up TPG the same day, I found I no longer got congestions with Belong but I have made my decision to switch to TPG.

    I did a trace route and I found they probably have 2 user group routing policy. One of the group routing seems getting higher priority than the other.
    My original 3rd hop was 202.93.111.150, and I got 202.93.111.149 after my TIO complaint was resolved. It sounds dodgy but I had suspicions that they have some kind of the business strategy dealing with harsh customers - like me.

    Not to mention, I am now living in Reservoir, VIC. I am an IT guy.

    Netflix effect is an excuse from ISP I believe. We pay for the full price tag and I do believe we deserve quality service from them.

    I think TIO is quite a efficient solution with these type of issues. It worked for me at least.

    • Diji1 on 23/08/2015 - 19:57
      +1

      My experience is many telcos simply refuse most requests to deal with issues.

      So I consider the "contacting the provider" part of the issue as something to spend as little time as possible, just getting the minimum of formalities out of the way in order to "qualify" for recieving assistance from the TIO. I see little point in trying to resolve any issues with the telcos as it's a waste of time.

      • bjdchwr on 23/08/2015 - 20:01

        True!

        I have learnt my lessons.

        It is the 2nd time I made a complaint to TIO. Last time was VODAFAIL.

    • TheGMan on 28/08/2015 - 12:12

      You may also find that TPG run their own DSLAM at your exchange and depending on equipment, age of the DSLAM you can get very different connection speeds.

      Original Telstra DSLAMs don't even have enough back bone bandwidth built in to support all ports being used

  • [Deactivated] on 24/08/2015 - 08:34
    +1

    Stafford Heights, Brisbane. OPTUS cable. Peak times 3.5 down, 0.3 up, off-peak 18.5 down, 0.5 up. Got a $25 discount after complaining. We have to wait 30 to an hour to start watching a Fetch movie so that it plays smoothly during peak times.

    • ty2050 on 24/08/2015 - 10:49

      Yeah the broadband is not in my name, I've told the owner that he should be able to get a discount.

  • divergent on 24/08/2015 - 09:44

    We noticed our broadband speed drop significant at the beginning of August. It coincided with the rollout of Windows 10, so I assumed that was the cause. It is back to normal speed now.

    • bjdchwr on 24/08/2015 - 21:25

      Windows 10 rollout is a pain in the neck.

      I had been waiting for days for this free updates but finally downloaded the ISO to install myself….

  • the frost on 22/09/2015 - 10:56

    I was about to post the same kind of story, before I saw this one. Right now (11am) it's 2.87Mbps down, 0.63Mbps up. One of the better speeds I get. Sometimes I want to watch iView or TenPlay or something in the evening, and it's near impossible. I have naked ADSL2 with MyNetFone, which is a reseller of Optus.

    I started with a 200GB peak/offpeak service at my old place at $50/month. When I moved to Flemington Vic last year, they gave a $10 "loyalty discount" for not moving to another provider. Then when I complained about the speed, they offered a further 10% discount while the network is congested. So I'm paying $35 a month, which is pretty sweet.

    BUT I'm thinking I'd rather pay even $60/mth for a better connection than this, where I could stream and game. Given it's an inner surburb, would changing from an Optus reseller to another even really fix things much?

    It looks like the best suggestions are: switch to cable, or take to ombudsman. Right? Thanks in advance for any advice.

    • ty2050 on 01/10/2015 - 18:33

      Switching would probably work, but no guarantees. I don't think there would be much an ombudsman could do. From what I've researched there isn't much you can do just wait it out get an discount and hope the government gets there act together.

      • fozzie on 02/10/2015 - 16:59

        $35 a month! That's nothing…. The only service that's fast is Telstra cable. I moved to Telstra cable, as I used to have adsl 2 with Optus and it was useless.
        I now pay $119 a month 500gb (also calls and TVs box, which o don't need but I had to buy as part of package). It's a lot of money but when I think that the $90 with Optus was making me cry (literally) I don't regret it.
        If I had to choose between a slow internet at $35 or fast at $119 I would still choose second one.

        • the frost on 04/10/2015 - 13:41

          Thanks guys. Today I bumped into a neighbour in the same building, and asked her a few questions. She's with TPG and she said it seems fast, with no problems, sometimes watching things with streaming. She didn't seem too technically minded so I didn't ask her beyond that, but it sounds like it could be worth taking the plunge.

          TPG seem to be $50/month for a bit more data than I have now (250GB peak, 250GB offpeak), or $60/month for unlimited. This is decent. If it gets to $119, I think that's a bit much!

          I'm renting in an apartment, not sure how long I'll live here, though probably still over a year, so not keen on making big changes to get cable.

        • fozzie on 05/10/2015 - 00:21

          @whgb:

          I have some friends that also have adsl Tpg and they say it's pretty good….also I called Telstra and I'm now paying $95 (I found out I could take phone calls off).
          With 500gb there is 2 adults and 2 kids and I watch hips of online videos. Last month we used 370gb So it could be that 250 +250 is enough for you. Try to find out how much you are using now to have an idea.
          Also if you move you can take with you usually.

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