[Niles]

I was with an ISP called Tiscali and following a takeover I am now with Talk Talk. I had the Tiscali 2mb service and following the takeover my monthly payment was increased on the basis that I was upgraded to the Talk Talk 8MB (up to) service.

I noticed no change for sometime but last week the speed dropped markedly. I did a speed test and this came back as "230.8 kbs with a download speed of 28.85".

I called Customer Services and was advised that the maximum speed available where I live is 536 kbs.

Although I am well aware of the claimed download speeds and the "up to" cop out. I don't think I am getting anything like what I am paying for.

Does anyone have any experience of how to improve things? if I change ISP I think I will need to go back to a BT line. Does anyone know how long I am likely to be without broadband if I do this?

Any help/pointers greatly appreciated.

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Remove power from the modem and router, if any. Wait one minute then apply power to the modem. Wait one more minute then apply power to the router.

Test your connection by downloading the 60MB file from the link below:
ftp://ftp.mts.net/

Note the speed at which it downloads, please.

My results using wget: 2010-04-14 07:43:07 (2.27 MB/s) - `60MB' saved [62914560]

[DaffyKantReed]

Remove power from the modem and router, if any. Wait one minute then apply power to the modem. Wait one more minute then apply power to the router.

Test your connection by downloading the 60MB file from the link below:
ftp://ftp.mts.net/

Note the speed at which it downloads, please.

My results using wget: 2010-04-14 07:43:07 (2.27 MB/s) - `60MB' saved [62914560]

[Niles]

Index of /
Thanks for the reply - I did the one minute on and off (although I have an all in one router and modem. When I clicked on your link, the following appeared:-

Name Size Date Modified
60MB 60 MB 27/07/2009 00:00:00
6MB 6 MB 27/07/2009 00:00:00
DO_NOT_REMOVE_TEST.MTS_PLEASE 0 B 08/06/2000 00:00:00
bin/ 03/06/1998 00:00:00
dev/ 08/07/1997 00:00:00
etc/ 10/05/1999 00:00:00
incoming/ 12/04/2010 21:46:00
private/ 18/02/2007 23:00:00
pub/ 27/11/2009 17:43:00
test.exe 60 MB 12/12/2005 23:00:00
test.mts 60 MB 08/06/2000 00:00:00
test2.mts 248.0 MB 08/06/2000 00:00:00
usr/ 08/07/1997 00:00:00
welcome.msg 160 B 16/04/2008 00:00:00

Not sure I have done the right thing as I can't see a download speed reading!

Am I doing something wrong?

[Mohammad Ashraf Dar]

Hi Niles,

I would like to know your system configuration and I also would like to know if you tried connecting any other computer to the same line.

Please reply.

[DaffyKantReed]

Download the file at the top, '60MB 60 MB 27/07/2009'. Just left click on it once and you'll see a Save dialogue box. Please note how long this takes.

[Niles]

Thanks for the replies.

To DaffyKantReed - I will do that download when I am back at home and post a further reply.

To Mohammad Ashraf Dar - There are three laptops used in the house, although rarely more than 2 at once. Two are Dell Centrinos running XP Home and the third is an HP Centrino Duo with Vista Business. All were working fine until recently and then got very slow with a lot of time outs etc.

I have to say that things seem to have improved since I made the first post. This may be after I spoke with the ISP's Customer Services, and the laptops all seemed to be running faster last night.

Cheers guys

[DaffyKantReed]

You ISP may have made an adjustment at the DSLAM, which is not uncommon, especially when speed tiers change or the company changes hands.

Please let us know how it goes.

[Niles]

I timed the download and it took 3 minutes 6 seconds.

Please let me know if this is ok or not!

[DaffyKantReed]

2.58Mbps (Mega bits per second) from a server 3800 miles from you. It's not 8Mbps, as you stated in the first post, but it's not horrible either.

[Niles]

Thanks for the feedback. I never thought I would get the 8mbs speed but I was surprised when TalkTalk said the maximum available to me was 536kbs when I 'phoned their Customer Services.

Looking at the result you give of 2.58mbs it seems that they have increased my speed since I called them, as when I did an on line speed test the other day the highest I got was 230.8kbs. If it stays at around the current speed I won't have any issues.

Thanks fopr taking the trouble in looking at this.

Cheers

[DaffyKantReed]

No problem at all, Niles.

xDSL speeds will depend largely in the distance from you to the remote DSLAM. Things are looking much better at this point in time. If your speeds ever drop again for extended periods of time, do not hesitate to call your ISP.