Quake3World

First things first, there are only 2 phone devices in the house. One is a telephone/fax and the other is a cordless phone and answering machine. Both have filters.
So on Tuesday afternoon, after the thunderstorm, my DSL completely crapped out on me. I went from a 3Mb high speed with a stable 310KB/s download to just barely 60KB/s. Funnily enough, upload rate didn't change at all. No malware or anything on my computer. Did scans to make sure.

So I sent my ISP (http://www.b2b2c.ca) tech support an email about my situation. The next day (Wednesday) I called them up as per request and they did some line tests. Also, the phone gets interference. You can hear static on it and the tech support guy noticed it too. He opened a trouble ticket with Bell and told me they'd call within 24-48 hours. By then, the speed was even worse. On Tuesday, any speedtests I'd do would result in random results varying between 0.7Mb and 2Mb. Starting on Wednesday however, I'm constantly getting below 0.7Mb on speedtests for my download. Upload stays at 0.66Mb (83KB/s) where it should be. Also, the modem began crapping out at regular intervals. The DSL can suddenly drop anywhere between 30 seconds or even 30 minutes of use.

Today I got a call from Bell. Apparently a Bell technician had come by on Wednesday when I was out and left a sheet about not having access to the "prem". They said they'd send another technician at 5pm on Friday. I told him I don't want to pay for it because for them to fix it inside the house costs a couple hundred bucks, right?
The guy on the phone assured me that there would most likely not be a fee but said I can tell the technician not to enter if he says he has to charge me. So here I am, with about 50KB/s download and disconnections every couple of minutes and I'm fucking pissed off.

Also, my ISP has a plan that I noticed that's exactly the same plan I have now at the same $29.95 price, except it's 5Mb instead of 3. I would already be using it were it not for this sudden bullshit.

So that's my story. Any ideas or should I just screw it and order dial-up instead?

Since it's affecting your phone as well the problem is likely outside your home. Does anyone around you have the same internet service? If so, see if they are experiencing troubles as well, and what steps they have taken to try to solve it. If no friends/neighbors, or the phone company can't solve this, I'd switch ISP's/phone companies.

no offense, but isn't that up to your parents?

Wasn't aware he lived with parents.

I've had similar problems with the phone lines. I was getting terrible static through the phone to the point that I couldn't use it at all. Phoned up Bell (they could barely hear me) and they sent a guy over. Basically, the outside phone lines were weathered and needed to be replaced. He swapped lines and no problems since then.

Probably the same issue Captain Mazda is having then.

Kammesennin wrote:Wasn't aware he lived with parents.

apparently, neither was he.

You need to replace your filters.

Kammesennin wrote:Since it's affecting your phone as well the problem is likely outside your home. Does anyone around you have the same internet service? If so, see if they are experiencing troubles as well, and what steps they have taken to try to solve it. If no friends/neighbors, or the phone company can't solve this, I'd switch ISP's/phone companies.

I would hope it's outside since there wouldn't be a cost then. And no, I don't know anyone else with the same problems. Any people I know with internet are usually down with the network giants (Bell Sympatico, Rogers, etc.). B2B2C is based in Quebec and offers DSL in Ontario and Quebec through Bell lines. I'd be reluctant to switch because there is no bullshit involved with them. You pay, you get fast DSL, no strings attached or hidden policies or whatnot. Also they don't charge you $150 for cancelling your internet service like Bell does.

obsidian wrote:I've had similar problems with the phone lines. I was getting terrible static through the phone to the point that I couldn't use it at all. Phoned up Bell (they could barely hear me) and they sent a guy over. Basically, the outside phone lines were weathered and needed to be replaced. He swapped lines and no problems since then.

Yeah, I definitely hear static on the phone and so does the person on the other end. Sometimes it spikes quite a bit and other times it's just a nuisance.

FragaGeddon wrote:You need to replace your filters.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the filters since I've had no problems for over half a year now. And this did happen suddenly so I doubt both filters could just crap out in an instant

+JuggerNaut+ wrote:no offense, but isn't that up to your parents?

Moving back to Finland by myself next year if all goes well :icon14:

ffs, disconnecting every 5 minutes. I have to head out for a couple of hours and I'm hoping this will all be solved today :icon7:

Bell repair guy will be knocking on your door during the "couple of hours" that you are gone. I'll bet you $5.

(Actually, I just wasted a bunch of money on that LCD monitor, let's just make it a friendly bet)

Couldn't the storm have damaged both filters at once? Or possibly the lines?

obsidian wrote:Bell repair guy will be knocking on your door during the "couple of hours" that you are gone. I'll bet you $5.

(Actually, I just wasted a bunch of money on that LCD monitor, let's just make it a friendly bet)

lol, I'm back now and I didn't see any Bell paper in the mailbox so I'm good

Scourge wrote:Couldn't the storm have damaged both filters at once? Or possibly the lines?

It seems the most logical explanation for the line damage at this moment. I doubt the filters are damaged, the lightning didn't strike in this area. Just made a lot of noise, light, and wetness :icon32:
I mean these lines have gone through severe storms and tornado warnings, seems a bit strange that a normal 2-hour thunderstorm could suddenly spawn such a clusterfuck.

can you hook up directly to the demarc? thats the little grey box outside your house where the phone lines come in. open that up and there will be an ethernet jack. if it works good from there, something in your house is fucked up.

hey spazda, go get yourself rogers extreme

Aahh, speed is a beautiful thing.

Repairman came over exactly at 5 *gasp*
First he checked out the modem then plugged his own diagnostic into the DSL. Then he checked the underground cable in the back of the house and disconnected the telephone line to the house and drove down the street to a main box to check something. He came back and went back to the underground cable. Told me he changed the underground cable ground to a 2nd pair and did a sync test on my computer. Everything's working perfectly and no charge since it was outside.

Glad to hear things went your way, and especially free of charge!

Shoulda let the fuckers fix it the other day though.

Should've told me when they'd be coming by :icon30:

SoM wrote:hey spazda, go get yourself rogers extreme

Hell no, I'm on Rogers right now and am really unhappy about their service. They are doing all sorts of speed throttling that basically makes their faster speed useless for anything other than web browsing.

They've been crippling torrents and all other P2P protocols (I can't update my Linux box through torrents anymore) and I suspect they've been doing some trickery with FTP even.

I'm trying to swap to DSL this week so that I can actually use the bandwidth that I'm paying for and save about $20/month in the process.

Down with Rogers. I think I need to show you the good side of life, Sommy

I'm with Rogers and here's my speed.

I'm thinking about going to the next level where I'll get 6000 down and 800 up.

Sure, I get that too, but that's on a straight download and upload through http. Try to do the same with bittorrent or something. Your download will be more likely under 100kb and upload near 0.

They've done throttling before, but you can encrypt. Lately, they've been doing something else much more aggressive that basically cripples it.