Eircom Broadband situation

Shredd

I have eircom broadband, and its a pathetic service. EVERY night, from about 6-11pm i experience lag, but thats not even the problem I have. The main issue for me is that my internet connection disconnects randomly during peak hours. While it may only be disconnected for about 10 seconds, it means that i have to reconnect to whatever game i was playing, and that takes over a minute. Basically, as if a horrible connection with super-high pings isn't bad enough, i have to deal with disconnecting/reconnecting bull**** every single night. It makes competitive gaming near impossible.

Of course, like everyone else's experiences with eircom, its clear what is the problem but they won't do a damned thing to fix it. They simply sold too many broadband packages and the exchange is getting clogged up during peak hours.

My local exchange is in Newtownmountkennedy and while there are other broadband providers using that exchange, this is where i'm slightly puzzled. As far as i'm aware, the exchange is owned by Eircom. Eircom leases lines to other broadband providers and they all provide to the area. The problem is that even if i switched providers, i would still be using the Newtownmountkennedy exchange, and therefore would still get the lagging+disconnects during peak hours. I've looked at the other available options (i.e satellite broadband), but thats completely useless for online gaming.

Can anyone a) correct me if i'm wrong on anything to do with what i've just said, and b) tell me if theres anything that i can do to get broadband that doesn't disconnect?

Thanks.

Matt Simis

Lots of people are having the peak hours lagfest alright, all over the country. One poster here claims upgrades to the exchanges are incoming to fix this.

The disconnects are possibly nothing to do with the lag (just how high is your ping to Jolt.co.uk?), maybe other more usual ADSL issues like low SNR?
Post up your peak ping times to Jolt and your connection stats (Attenuation and Line SNR) as well as BB package details.

Shredd

I have the Eircom 3mb package. I frequently do speed tests and off-peak hours, i get a consistent 2500 kbps.

I took these stats at 11.30pm, a little after peak, but the results speak for themselves .... basically explains my frequent disconnects.

SN Margin (dB) 6.00 12.00
Line Attenuation (dB) 51.00 30.50

I'll be calling Eircom tomorrow to see if theres anything that can be done to improve these stats, as they are truly dreadful.

Pinging Jolt.co.uk [84.234.17.86] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=52ms TTL=122

Ping statistics for 84.234.17.86:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 38ms, Maximum = 52ms, Average = 41ms

Now, those pings aren't exactly terrible, but not amazing. I know the lagging that you can get on Eircom during peak times as much as anyone, as i monitor my in-game ping+ventrillo ping while gaming (basically if there is any lag over peak times, i will know about it). From my past experiences, connection speed+pings can go absolutely anywhere during peak times, sometimes slower than dial-up.

I'm not really that worried about the lag during peak times as much as i am about my dismal line stats. Any recommendations/advice for me before i phone Eircom tomorrow? Is it even fixable?

Thanks.

Matt Simis

Shredd wrote: »

I have the Eircom 3mb package. I frequently do speed tests and off-peak hours, i get a consistent 2500 kbps.

I took these stats at 11.30pm, a little after peak, but the results speak for themselves .... basically explains my frequent disconnects.

SN Margin (dB) 6.00 12.00
Line Attenuation (dB) 51.00 30.50

I'll be calling Eircom tomorrow to see if theres anything that can be done to improve these stats, as they are truly dreadful.

I'm not really that worried about the lag during peak times as much as i am about my dismal line stats. Any recommendations/advice for me before i phone Eircom tomorrow? Is it even fixable?

Thanks.

Well sounds like you already know the issue, your line quality is horrendous.

Attenuation Rates:
20bB. and below = Outstanding
20dB-30dB. = Excellent
30dB-40dB. = Very Good
40dB-50dB. = Good
50dB-60dB. = Poor and may experience connectivity issues
60dB. and above = Bad and will experience connectivity issues


For S/N Margin Readings:
6bB. or below = Bad and will experience no line synchronisation or intermittent synchronisation problems.
7dB-10dB. = Fair but does not leave much room for variances in conditions.
11dB-20dB. = Good with little or no synchronisation problems
20dB-28dB. = Excellent
29dB. or above = Outstanding

On both SNR and Attn. you are on the bad side of the scale. Your Attn you cant really do much about (other than dropping to lower speed broadband, its determined mainly via distance from exchange) but your SNR is (effectively) your household's line quality. Plug out all extra phones, faxes etc and try again. Try connect the Modem at the entry point (before any telephone line extensions) into the house and test again.

I assume you have never asked Eircom to put you on low Interleaving to improve pings? In your case, you need max (ie default) Interleaving.

Shredd

Rang eircom up today, they told me to get rid of the splitter (make the line run directly into the modem for an hour) so that they could run some tests. Turns out that its definitely just an extremely low quality line coming into the house. They said they'd send a technician.

Btw, these are my pings to jolt tonight... Lagfest.




Pinging jolt.co.uk [84.234.17.86] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=585ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=582ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=687ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=661ms TTL=122

Ping statistics for 84.234.17.86:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 582ms, Maximum = 687ms, Average = 628ms



Pinging jolt.co.uk [84.234.17.86] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=840ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=822ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=526ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=655ms TTL=122

Ping statistics for 84.234.17.86:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 526ms, Maximum = 840ms, Average = 710ms



Pinging jolt.co.uk [84.234.17.86] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=722ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=755ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=701ms TTL=122
Reply from 84.234.17.86: bytes=32 time=715ms TTL=122

Ping statistics for 84.234.17.86:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 701ms, Maximum = 755ms, Average = 723ms

lucernarian

Bad line quality does not cause bad ping times. Simple as.

With attenuation/signal quality, either the line works at the connected speed or else errors force it to disconnect and resync, usually at a slower rate. Also, line quality issues would occur randomly at any time of the day (or else rarely at light-up time, when dodgy street lights muck up DSL signals) and would result in the modem internet light sometimes going red if it's an eircom netopia one. Along with the internet simply not working for a couple of minutes of course.

The 500ms ping times are absolutely typical of contention issues that people have posted on boards since 2006 from exchanges like Dunshaughlin, Monasterevan, Clonee and sometimes bigger ones like Dundalk, Drogheda and Blanchardstown. In the case of a small non-tandem exchange like NMK, the best bet is to nag eircom to do something about contention in the evenings, as it's making the internet almost unusable for you. Also find anyone else with issues in the NMK area to complain also. I know that worked in the case of Dunshaughlin and Monasterevan but they were bigger places. A search will reveal more.

Btw, I'm not saying that line is great, but if it's not disconnecting, it's not an issue. My BT connection is an up to 24 mbps line, meaning my signal margin is never above 7dB as the line is going flat out. But it's still rock solid.

The mediocre but stable pings in the mornings etc. is due to the laws of physics and even eircom can't "transport" electrons to the UK much faster than 30 odd milliseconds. A direct fibre optic connection would only manage 15-25 ms.