About 3 weeks ago I moved into a new location and got a Verizon DSL plan offering speeds of 1.5 Mb/s to 3 Mb/s. This is the same plan I had at my previous location. However, the connections SUCKS. Webpages time out, I can't play multiplayer FPS games, and I can't stream Hulu.

According speedtest.com I'm getting 1.35 Mb/s. Verizon tech support confirmed this. They said it was an "excellent speed" (even though I'm paying for 1.5 to 3) and refused to do anything more.

So now I'm locked into this 1-year contract with crappy internet, and they claim nothing is wrong. So I'm wondering - could anything else be the issue? Is there more that might be wrong with my connection than a 1.35 Mb/s download speed? Perhaps packets are being lost or something?

I'm not a networking wizard so I'm not sure what to look for. The tech support rep said that my computer is slow (which is definitely BS, since my PS3 is having the same problems).

I'd appreciate any help. I'm seriously considering just using my 3G to tether a connection.

There are many factors that play into this. Line quality is the most important one. The farther away you are from the DSLAM, the more the signal will be attenuated. The crappier the phone lines that lead to the multiplexer, the worse the signal to noise ratio. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about these two.

However, you can check your own phone wiring. It's surprising how bad a DSL connection can get because of crappy in-house wiring, leading to noise and interference. Make sure the filters are at the right locations. Make sure your phone line sounds clean (no crackling, no noise, etc).

No idea about what type of router/modem Verizon offers, but usually there is an advanced menu somewhere in the config pages that shows line statistics, like local and distant attenuation and S/N ratios. That same menu should show other interesting statistics, such as dropped packets due to CRC failures, which are typically from bad lines.

If you manage to get a competent technician from your ISP on the phone (which can be a major challenge), you could ask them to do some additional remote line tests (they can check if line impedance is OK, if there are interruptions, interference, etc)

Quote:
The tech support rep said that my computer is slow (which is definitely BS, since my PS3 is having the same problems).

Any computer within the last 10 years should be able to max out a 3MB line. The bottleneck is the network.

Quote:
According speedtest.com I'm getting 1.35 Mb/s. Verizon tech support confirmed this. They said it was an "excellent speed" (even though I'm paying for 1.5 to 3) and refused to do anything more.

In Europe, that would be grounds for a false advertising complaint, or a "not fit for purpose". At the very least this should allow you to back out of the contract if they aren't going to hold to their end. I'm not sure how it works in the states, or whether the fine print weasels out of any real responsibility.

Quote: Original post by rip-off
In Europe, that would be grounds for a false advertising complaint, or a "not fit for purpose". At the very least this should allow you to back out of the contract if they aren't going to hold to their end. I'm not sure how it works in the states, or whether the fine print weasels out of any real responsibility.

Rates never guarantee anything. On contract it says "up to". Unless someone really messed up, but then they'd be open for a lot of trouble.

The only thing they might guarantee is the peak connection rate to ISP center (aka, modem establishes X MB/s connection).

No carrier can or does guarantee bandwidth over internet, no matter which country.

Quote: Original post by Antheus
No carrier can or does guarantee bandwidth over internet, no matter which country.

Of course they do. Over here, you can typically select between a standard contract ("up to x mbps") or a guaranteed bandwidth contract ("x mbps, not less"). The latter is obviously more expensive. They will indeed guarantee that bandwidth up to some specifically mentioned place (usually up to the point where they own/lease the network infrastructure). Sometimes, these guarantees can go pretty far, for example they will guarantee a bandwidth from IP X in country A to IP Y in country B. Note that this is still technically a DSL contract, we're not talking about a leased line.

Quote: Original post by Antheus

Quote: Original post by rip-off
In Europe, that would be grounds for a false advertising complaint, or a "not fit for purpose". At the very least this should allow you to back out of the contract if they aren't going to hold to their end. I'm not sure how it works in the states, or whether the fine print weasels out of any real responsibility.

Rates never guarantee anything. On contract it says "up to". Unless someone really messed up, but then they'd be open for a lot of trouble.

The only thing they might guarantee is the peak connection rate to ISP center (aka, modem establishes X MB/s connection).

No carrier can or does guarantee bandwidth over internet, no matter which country.

If it says 1.5 to 3 Mb, they should be able to offer at least 1.5 most of the time. What "most of the time" constitutes depends on the fine print. They should have internal servers, like speedtest.net, that they can use the verify your connection in their own network. Obviously you cannot guarantee bandwidth to random internet destinations.

Quote: Original post by rip-off

Quote:
According speedtest.com I'm getting 1.35 Mb/s. Verizon tech support confirmed this. They said it was an "excellent speed" (even though I'm paying for 1.5 to 3) and refused to do anything more.

In Europe, that would be grounds for a false advertising complaint, or a "not fit for purpose". At the very least this should allow you to back out of the contract if they aren't going to hold to their end. I'm not sure how it works in the states, or whether the fine print weasels out of any real responsibility.

I brought this up with them and they said they only consider it an issue if it's less than 80% of the minimum. I'm going to call tomorrow to see if I can cancel the service without penalty, but it's not likely. They really have no incentive to let me go free.

Then they should be forced to advertise it as 1.2MB - 3MB. I hate these stupid loopholes where it seems to be legal to weasel out of the service offered in the main print.

It is ridiculous that you have to uphold your end of the contract while they don't stick to theirs1.

1 Yes, I know they are technically sticking to the letter of the contract, I don't care.

the number of Mbit per second is not a measure of speed, its a measure of bandwidth. Latency is a more reasonable measure of speed.

Imagine that I put my entire hard drive into an envelope and send it by first class postage. It will arrive at its destination next day. The bandwidth is 1TB per day; the latency is 24 hours.

I suspect your connection has a high latency. Of course, nobody advertises their turnaround times, they advertise their bandwidth. The two are very closely linked, but FPS games require decent latency. You couldn't play an FPS game by sending hard drives through the post.

[edit: meant to click reply rather than quote]

[Edited by - speciesUnknown on September 19, 2010 4:10:14 PM]

Did you mean to quote me? I even mentioned bandwidth in my 2nd reply, I didn't refer to it as "speed" anywhere.