Unsolved mysteries

xaforb

With Eircom Internet since the beginning and all through its various upgrades from dial-up to DSL. Was then upgraded to NGB up to 8mb since it first came on stream. Eircom Netopia 2247 Router. After NGB activated, speed was consistently 5.27/0.43 night noon and day, all day every day. I’m one of those people who check every day and it never ever varied. My Router line stats were 6144/512. I use Ethernet connections and have always had the wireless disabled.

A few weeks ago speed suddenly dropped to 3.29. Line stats were drastically down to 3777/512. Nothing in my house or PC’s had changed. I did all the usual tests before ringing Eircom BB Support who made me do them all over again regardless. I was kept informed by text/phone of progress and, eventually they sent two men out. One found a fault on the line or in the exchange and said he fixed it. Speed increased but only back up 4.39 and they could not explain why. (In another earlier phonecall BB Support had said I should be getting at least 7 and a bit on my line). The second man had a phone-like meter and his machine said there was 7.6 at the door. So, where is the missing speed? My line stats are still showing only 5120/512.

At the very least I should have got back my 5.27/0.43 and 6144/512 when the line fault was rectified.

Over the past week I have taken the time to do regular tests and the line stats are still as above 5120/512. The Download speed is still 4.39 but the Upload speed is gone very erratic but only on the Eircom Speed Test. When doing speed tests the needle goes up to 0.40 and then suddenly drops to 0.27 and stays there. This does not happen with other testing facilities, eg. Speedtest.net which report 0.43. These tests have been conducted both at the computer desk (on three different PC’s) and in the hallway right beside the Eircom master socket.

I have done the tests using the current internal phone wiring system and also by direct line to the master socket both with and without the master filter. I even temporarily disconnected the Eircom Phonewatch line but this made absolutely no difference. My Sky box does not have a telephone line connected and there is a filter on the phone.

Some additional info. My immediate neighbour (using wireless) also had speed problems and, following a visit by Eircom this week, they are now at 5.27 and their at-the-front-door speed is also 7.6. Another neighbour across the road also has 5.27.

So, to recap:

Why can’t my speed at least be brought back up to 5.27 it was before the phone line fault occurred?
Why is my upload speed erratic but only under the Eircom Speed test?
Why is there 7.6 at the front door and much less in the hallway?

I have registered for FTTC which is due in my area but I'm wondering if the above problem will affect it, too, and not make it worthwhile.

xaforb

Well, they say miracles happen!!

Having posted this message at 10.13 this morning I checked my speeds and line stats at 12.36 without having had a reply or any contact from Eircom and the result is:

Speeds: 6.15/0.43
Line Stats: 7168/512

So, did the guys here work a miracle or was it a case that a general area fault has been rectified? Whichever it was, thanks.

eircom: Ant

Hi xaforb,

Thanks for posting on the eircom Forum on Boards.

The only thing I can see ,which you may not have checked, is testing your broadband speed on 1 standalone computer, with your other 3 computers shut down completely.

Essentially, this will help if one of your PC's has some spyware or software application(s), anti-virus and firewall(s) turned on, while testing your speed. Also when testing your broadband speed, try to temporarily disable all these programmes. Some applications like Skype, etc. maybe difficult to turn off, and maybe running without your knowledge.

I would also suggest trying a quick check on your one PC to see what tcpip sessions are established /or listening; Again try this with just one PC ONLY (all other PCs temporarily shut down). The best way to check this is simply to bring up a command prompt window on your PC. Type in the necessary command and count the number of tcpip, ssh and udp sessions .

That is : Open up a Black Dos or command prompt (hold down the window's key and press 'r'. On the run window, type 'cmd' to open the Command prompt :
At the flashing cursor, simply type the following :

FOR EXAMPLE :

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

H:\>netstat -a

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP J01134:epmap J0CCCCCeircom.ie:0 LISTENING
TCP J01134:microsoft-ds BB****.eircom.ie:0 LISTENING
TCP J01134:1047 J******.eircom.ie:0 LISTENING
TCP J01134:4863 ****.*********** ESTABLISHED
UDP J01134:1594 *:*
UDP J01134:1831 *:*
UDP J01134:3049 *:*
UDP J01134:3369 *:*
UDP J01134:3617 *:*
UDP J01134:3666 *:*

H:\>


If you have any more than 15 tcp, upd sessions open together this may suggest that you may have some spyware on your computer(s). This will have an effect on slowing down your connection.

Also, just ensure that you MAXIMIZE your command prompt window, and schrol up or down the window as you count the numbers of tcp and udp sessions.

If you're unsure how to complete this test, then please call into eircom Technical Support :


You also mention that you have a monitored phone alarm and sky box(s). Again, just make sure the sky box(s) are not connected to anywhere on your internal eircom phone wiring.

Only test your broadband connection on the masterphone socket (mdp). If this is clear where the mdp is, please take a quick look at : http://bit.ly/BBchecklist

Slow speeds can be caused by interference on your internal phone wiring system, as well as on your computer as described above. The following Broadband Check will help determine where this interference lies. Your modem itself may not be the source of the problem. Before you try the Broadband Checklist, please do he following quick maintenance checks:

Powercycle the modem:
Flick the power switch to the Off position on the back of the modem
Wait 30 seconds
Switch the modem back On
Wait two minutes for the modem to re-connect

*It is vital that you temporarily disconnect everything from the phone line: phones, fax machine, Sky Digital TV, or any other equipment connected to the phone line which may interfere with the broadband connection. Remove the adsl splitter and connect the modem directly to the main phone socket.

If you are unsure what this means, please take a look at our Broaband Checklist below

Broadband Checklist - http://bit.ly/BroadbandCheck

(If you have any problem opening the above website, please copy & paste the URL into your Internet browser address bar.)

If you are still getting low attainable rates, or slow speeds, after testing your connection as advised, then try a full hard reset of your modem. To do this please follow the instuction on the this Support Forum website -

Resetting the Modem - http://bit.ly/modemReset

If you are still experiencing slow connections after resetting the modem, then you will need to call into Broadband Support -

Completing the Checklist (above) will ensure that you have tested the modem as advised by Technical Support. Once this is done and you are still experiencing slow connection speeds /or low attainable rates / then please contact Broadband Technical Support ;-.

Broadband Technical Support : 1890 260260 (lowcall); Hours : 08:00 - 22:00 (Mon - Sun).

Please retain your case id /reference from Technical Support, as this will speed up your call time and help if you need to follow up. Alternatively, let us know your case id and we can follow this up as well with Technical Support.


Kind regards,

Ant

*NGB or Next Generation Broadband,is essentially fibre powered broabdand, which guarantees consistent download speeds, whatever time of the day, even at peak times.
NGB is also a free upgrade up to *8Mb (or up to*24Mb in specific cases). ADSL itself is rate adaptive based technology, which means that your broadband connection speed is governed by the distance from your premises to the exchange.. Upgrading to NGB won't change the distance or what your broadband connection pre-qualifies for.

xaforb wrote: »

With Eircom Internet since the beginning and all through its various upgrades from dial-up to DSL. Was then upgraded to NGB up to 8mb since it first came on stream. Eircom Netopia 2247 Router. After NGB activated, speed was consistently 5.27/0.43 night noon and day, all day every day. I’m one of those people who check every day and it never ever varied. My Router line stats were 6144/512. I use Ethernet connections and have always had the wireless disabled.

A few weeks ago speed suddenly dropped to 3.29. Line stats were drastically down to 3777/512. Nothing in my house or PC’s had changed. I did all the usual tests before ringing Eircom BB Support who made me do them all over again regardless. I was kept informed by text/phone of progress and, eventually they sent two men out. One found a fault on the line or in the exchange and said he fixed it. Speed increased but only back up 4.39 and they could not explain why. (In another earlier phonecall BB Support had said I should be getting at least 7 and a bit on my line). The second man had a phone-like meter and his machine said there was 7.6 at the door. So, where is the missing speed? My line stats are still showing only 5120/512.

At the very least I should have got back my 5.27/0.43 and 6144/512 when the line fault was rectified.

Over the past week I have taken the time to do regular tests and the line stats are still as above 5120/512. The Download speed is still 4.39 but the Upload speed is gone very erratic but only on the Eircom Speed Test. When doing speed tests the needle goes up to 0.40 and then suddenly drops to 0.27 and stays there. This does not happen with other testing facilities, eg. Speedtest.net which report 0.43. These tests have been conducted both at the computer desk (on three different PC’s) and in the hallway right beside the Eircom master socket.

I have done the tests using the current internal phone wiring system and also by direct line to the master socket both with and without the master filter. I even temporarily disconnected the Eircom Phonewatch line but this made absolutely no difference. My Sky box does not have a telephone line connected and there is a filter on the phone.

Some additional info. My immediate neighbour (using wireless) also had speed problems and, following a visit by Eircom this week, they are now at 5.27 and their at-the-front-door speed is also 7.6. Another neighbour across the road also has 5.27.

So, to recap:

Why can’t my speed at least be brought back up to 5.27 it was before the phone line fault occurred?
Why is my upload speed erratic but only under the Eircom Speed test?
Why is there 7.6 at the front door and much less in the hallway?

I have registered for FTTC which is due in my area but I'm wondering if the above problem will affect it, too, and not make it worthwhile.

xaforb

Thanks, Ant, for your reply. As explained in my first message I had already done ALL that, countless times.

However, as you can now see from my second message posted just before yours the problem has suddenly been resolved so I can now assume that, since neither you nor I have had any involvement in fixing the problem, it was some Eircom fault in the area which has finally been found and rectified and I have now got a 16% faster speed than I had before the fault occurred in the first place.

Sponge Bob

While Ants reply would be a good starting point for any normal diagnostic routine it completely fails to acknowledge that LINE STATS are NEVER affected by spyware and viruses...unless said spyware and viruses are running on equipment in the exchange that is.