UPC - Really Unhappy

sternpeak

Hello guys Im going to go on a bit of a rant now but i think its only fair.

The past 2-3 months I have had nothing but extremely HIGH pings / Jitter at around 4 o'clock onwards Everyday, This is on a PC directly connected to the modem, the modem is a Cisco EPC2425, I tested the laptops also to rule out the issue of being a computer related issue, I have restarted the router and my pc, I have tried different ethernet cables to rule that out. I rang up upc soo many times, i explain my issue and they tell me there is nothing wrong with my connection whatsoever, they said all the readings are coming up 100 percent on their line, I then explain to them how unhappy i am, and explain i play on a high level of games competing in online tournaments, He said to me, That the issue was coming from the game source, that it had nothing to do with UPC, eventho the game does not provide the servers and i explained this to them, I also tried to explain that when im testing my speeds and pings im not even in a game, This is also happening to a friend who lives a couple of doors up from me, He is on the same line as me. Another friend about 10 mins away on a different line Is having 0 problems whatsoever, I have asked them could they check the line in the area and the Transmitters and they said they have and there is nothing wrong, Im thinking am i being stupid continuing to accept this service, After many phone calls and hours spent talking to them im getting nothing back that i want to hear, im pretty sure they are sick off hearing me on the phone, but should'nt it be sorted by now? im highly considering leaving UPC if they do not sort this BS out. rant over, any suggestions on what i should do, steps to take, things to say to them ?

pings

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speed test

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squonk

OP I didn't look at all your ping images but there's probably some contention going on. The UPC guy may be right also, are you sure that the game servers aren't somewhat at fault? Are you connecting to servers in the states or further afield?

Your speeds aren't that bad. If it's happening at 4PM every day then it may be down to contention and you've maybe got a fellow heavy gamer or torrenter close by.

sternpeak

the issue is not in a game server, the issue Is when im testing speeds, But it is really noticeable in a game server, and no it is not the host, a guy i play with lives up the road from me about 10 mins away and his connection is FINE. edit- he is on a different line to me,

squonk

Well it sounds a lot like contention to me. If you're sharing a line with a few people and they're also heavy users, you can't all expect to get top notch performance. As I say, you may be living close to some heavy torrenters. The fact that you can pinpoint a start time for the slowdown seems to suggest that a torrent client is coming up at the same time each day. There isn't really a lot you can do if that's the case. Your neighbours and you are heavy users so you're next best bet is to try out a lest contended service. what package are you on? If the 50 or 100MB packages are availble and have lower contention ratios then that might help. Also, are you using UPC's own broadband speed test for your measurements? They look lowish for the results returned by that service, and I'm assuming you're on 25MB?

sternpeak

Well im talking about the Area line, that is providing X amount of users net im my area, im on the 25 meg package but only get 6-10 on a good day.

cardol

I'm on the 25MB package too and for the last 3/4 weeks have been getting 6 - 10 on average.

I generally find the speeds on Irish ISP's drops after the first four months or so, seems to happen with all of them. The first 4 months I was getting about 20MB.

UPC say my neighbours might have BB(no kidding) or a wireless doorbell, or a wireless baby monitor, etc.

They say as far as they're concerned everything is fine from their end.

I too am getting very p****d off with the speeds as I'm paying for much higher.

rommy

Im on the 100m package and its a blinder 90% of the time the other 10% its fast out and ive had them over 4 months.

vibe666

cardol wrote: »

UPC say my neighbours might have BB(no kidding) or a wireless doorbell, or a wireless baby monitor, etc.

if you are using wireless only then they may well be correct and anything from baby monitors to bluetooth, wireless phones, car alarms or any number of dozens of other things which operate on 2.4ghz could be causing issues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_interference_at_2.4_GHz

i'm surprised they didn't ask you to test via a wired connection to rule that out, it's pretty much the firs thing that would be checked normally.

you can check wire wifi interference from your neighbours yourself if you download inSSIDer on a laptop and have a walk around your house (specifically stopping next to windows, upstairs and down, front & back etc.) with it to do a wireless survey and you will see a graph showing you what other wireless networks are in range and where which ones will be overlapping your own wifi and could be causing interference which would slow yours down.

once you know what other wifi networks are around you and what wireless channels are in use, you can pick one with the least interference to change your wireless to so you can try and improve your speeds.

cardol

Cheers for that vibe666, but I have a PC and I stressed to UPC that I would need WiFi because of that.

They did send someone out last month who tested the speeds on his laptop and he was getting between 15 and 20 over a half-hour period. Which is why they say everything is fine from their end, I guess.

But considering how I start off with ISP's giving great value for money, and the sudden drop after 4ish months, it's got to be something other than what my neighbour are doing.

Tommie Kelly

I know this is obvious but:

Have you checked spyware/malware and all that sort of ****e?

dub45

cardol wrote: »

Cheers for that vibe666, but I have a PC and I stressed to UPC that I would need WiFi because of that.

They did send someone out last month who tested the speeds on his laptop and he was getting between 15 and 20 over a half-hour period. Which is why they say everything is fine from their end, I guess.

But considering how I start off with ISP's giving great value for money, and the sudden drop after 4ish months, it's got to be something other than what my neighbour are doing.

Your isp is not responsible for speeds over a wifi network.

Bikerguy

dub45 wrote: »

Your isp is not responsible for speeds over a wifi network.

thats correct.

and your PING is more then good for wifi connexion. so get a cable and compare! for gaming over wifi question? if you wanna be a real gamer you should know thats not possible with wifi. and cables are very cheap nowadays.. 20m of quality cable is around 10e in amazon.uk +5e postage

vibe666

cardol wrote: »

Cheers for that vibe666, but I have a PC and I stressed to UPC that I would need WiFi because of that.

and you have got wifi. it's not UPC's fault that other people around you also have wifi that could easily be interfering with your wireless connection.

cardol wrote: »

But considering how I start off with ISP's giving great value for money, and the sudden drop after 4ish months, it's got to be something other than what my neighbour are doing.

you mean as more and more people around you get good value broadband and clog up with wifi spectrum in your vicinity?

in the 7 or so years I had a wireless network at my old home, wireless interference from neighbours getting their own wireless networks caused me to have to change my wireless channel at least half a dozen times.

there's probably half a dozen different ISP's (all selling wireless products) available to your neighbours, how do you expect UPC to have any control over what they do with their wireless? and when you add to that list everything else on the (unlicenced) 2.4Ghz band, you see wreless video senders, dect phones, baby monitors, bluetooth, car alarm keyfobs, microwaves (yup, them too) and a host of other wireless devices other than just plain old wifi and you potentially have a big problem.

and guess who's responsibility it is to sort it out?

myself and dub45 are well known around these parts as the first ones to jump on the UPC hating bandwagon, but not when something isn't their fault. if you wan to fix your problem you'll need to put some work into it yourself. in the time you've already spent waiting around for an engineer, you could have ruled out potential wireless interference issues yourself with a 5 minute test.

and if you really want the best performance for gaming, then you really need to get a network cable.

cardol

My Speedtest today on what should be a 25MB BB speed!

bealtine

cardol wrote: »

My Speedtest today on what should be a 25MB BB speed!

Unless you are testing on a wired connection that speedtest is meaningless.

cardol

bealtine wrote: »

Unless you are testing on a wired connection that speedtest is meaningless.

Just showing what UPC will promise you when they are trying to get you to sign up, and what the reality is.

bealtine

cardol wrote: »

Just showing what UPC will promise you when they are trying to get you to sign up, and what the reality is.

Not really you are just showing that you are likely to have interference on your wifi link, which is not UPC's responsibility,so unless you do it wired there's not a lot of point in showing random speed tests. Did you download inSSIDer and test your wifi?

cardol

bealtine wrote: »

Not really you are just showing that you are likely to have interference on your wifi link, which is not UPC's responsibility,so unless you do it wired there's not a lot of point in showing random speed tests. Did you download inSSIDer and test your wifi?

No I didn't download inSSIDer as I have a PC so can't go from room to room.

And I'm simply highlighting the fact the UPC will promise you up to 20MB of speed over a WiFi connection when they are selling their product, and when you encounter problems and contact Tech Support, they are frustrated that you have been told this.

I realise that WiFi in Ireland is shoddy at best, but I post these random speed tests to show others who might buy into what the Sales Team at UPC promise.

Nothing else. I'm not expecting advice/support here, just stating a fact.:)

bealtine

cardol wrote: »

No I didn't download inSSIDer as I have a PC so can't go from room to room.

And I'm simply highlighting the fact the UPC will promise you up to 20MB of speed over a WiFi connection when they are selling their product, and when you encounter problems and contact Tech Support, they are frustrated that you have been told this.

I realise that WiFi in Ireland is shoddy at best, but I post these random speed tests to show others who might buy into what the Sales Team at UPC promise.

Nothing else. I'm not expecting advice/support here, just stating a fact.:)

Except it's not a fact...it's just a guess.

Until you test the wifi link in *your* apartment/house you are pasting random rubbish and not being fair to UPC. You don't need to go from room to room you just need to test it at your PC. This comes up every week or so here and elsewhere. Even if you wire up the link as a test then we can take your points seriously until then it's still rubbish.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Wifi in Ireland" as it's the same wifi all over the world. It's your link from your router to your PC and again has nothing whatsoever to do with UPC.

vibe666

cardol wrote: »

No I didn't download inSSIDer as I have a PC so can't go from room to room.

then download it on your PC and check for interference there, it won't be 100% comprehensive, but it will probably give you an idea of what channels are in use nearby and what channel will give you the best speed.

cardol wrote: »

And I'm simply highlighting the fact the UPC will promise you up to 20MB of speed over a WiFi connection when they are selling their product

and that is EXACTLY what you have got. UP TO, entirely dependent on local wireless interference which is outside of UPC's control.

if you'd got the 100mbps product you'd have got a better router with 2.4/5ghz wireless N which is good for UP TO 60-70mbps over wireless, again dependent on local interference.

cardol wrote: »

I realise that WiFi in Ireland is shoddy at best, but I post these random speed tests to show others who might buy into what the Sales Team at UPC promise.

geographical location has nothing to do with wireless quality. 2.4ghz wireless G is perfectly capable of supporting 20mbps given an interference free wireless channel and a decent wireless adapter in a pc or laptop.

cardol wrote: »

Nothing else. I'm not expecting advice/support here, just stating a fact.:)

well for one, whether you wanted it or not, you've recieved a lot of good advice that would most likely solve or at least alleviate your problem, but you are choosing to ignore it in favour of giving out about UPC who have no control over your issues.

and for two, other than the name of your ISP, i don't see any 'facts' posted by you at all, just ill informed conjecture about something you obviously know absolutely nothing about and have no interest in even trying to fix.

cardol

vibe666 wrote: »

well for one, whether you wanted it or not, you've recieved a lot of good advice that would most likely solve or at least alleviate your problem, but you are choosing to ignore it in favour of giving out about UPC who have no control over your issues.

and for two, other than the name of your ISP, i don't see any 'facts' posted by you at all, just ill informed conjecture about something you obviously know absolutely nothing about and have no interest in even trying to fix.

Because I already went through all this with Vodafone, and before them, Eircom. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055871482
A waste of time. WiFi here is very bad.

callaway92

cardol wrote: »

Because I already went through all this with Vodafone, and before them, Eircom. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055871482
A waste of time. WiFi here is very bad.

If you live in Clonmel, it's a strange one. I'm from Cahir and can't get UPC, but I know people on 100mb speed in Clonmel and they are getting that wired.

The speedtest you showed, if wireless, is meaningless and obv not UPCs fault. Distance from router, interference etc is your own fault. Stop saying they advertised incorrectly. Same goes for Eircom and Vodafone

mark17j

I have the 25mb and use the Wifi feature mostly and also get hit with interference. My speed ranges from 8mb to 21 mb, I live in a built up area. you can't blame UPC for this.. when I connect with ethernet I have constant 27+mb download speed.

DingDong

cardol wrote: »

Because I already went through all this with Vodafone, and before them, Eircom. http://m.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055871482
A waste of time. WiFi here is very bad.

It doesn't matter where you are in the world wifi can be good or crap. Just out of interest which router are you using. Is it the same wireless card in your pc you were using with Vodafone?..

cardol

DingDong wrote: »

It doesn't matter where you are in the world wifi can be good or crap. Just out of interest which router are you using. Is it the same wireless card in your pc you were using with Vodafone?..

I'm using EPC2425 and my Wireless card was updated after I signed up to UPC, as they said that might be the problem.

I really appreciate all the help/advice here, but I'm not looking for that anymore. I will be one of the many leaving here asap, and all I'm doing now is pointing a sign for anyone else thinking about signing up for UPC. Or any of the others, for that matter.
I really thought that UPC could deliver what they were offering, and I'm sure others will fall into that trap too. I just want to flag it up. If I'd seen my posts before I'd signed up, I'd never have signed up.
Sorry for messing with anyone's head in that last sentence.

bealtine

cardol wrote: »

I'm using EPC2425 and my Wireless card was updated after I signed up to UPC, as they said that might be the problem.

I really appreciate all the help/advice here, but I'm not looking for that anymore. I will be one of the many leaving here asap, and all I'm doing now is pointing a sign for anyone else thinking about signing up for UPC. Or any of the others, for that matter.
I really thought that UPC could deliver what they were offering, and I'm sure others will fall into that trap too. I just want to flag it up. If I'd seen my posts before I'd signed up, I'd never have signed up.
Sorry for messing with anyone's head in that last sentence.

bye...

but then you haven't done any basic troubleshooting and blame your provider for what isn't their fault, so I don't see how that flags up anything helpful.

cardol

cardol wrote: »

Because I already went through all this with Vodafone, and before them, Eircom. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055871482
A waste of time. WiFi here is very bad.

Then get a 5 GHz wireless router or go wired. You don't seem to be interested in trying to troubleshoot the issue at all - you just seem to want to bash UPC for a problem which isn't even theirs.

DingDong

It would be worth asking UPC to upgrade your router to the newer 3925. It's is wireless N so should help with performance. I take it you're new wireless card is N rated and capable of the 5GHz range switching to this could solve your problem. Regardless of which isp you pick it sound like you will have problems so it's worth trying to solve it. Is it not possible to move the router next to the pc any Tv point nearby.

callaway92

In all fairness @Cardol. If you have had issues with Eircom, Vodafone and now UPC, I think you should look into the problem maybe being on your end like. . .

You must be a nightmare of a customer. No offence.

Solair

It sounds like you've a local problem with something broadcasting / interfering with WiFi signals.

You realise WiFi is a local network, created by the router in your house, much like a cordless telephone connection to its base station. It's not really in the control of the ISP.

You could try changing WiFi channels.
Check your WiFi card in your computer is actually working correctly.
Remove sources of interference : typically, baby monitors, video senders (they can wipe out wifi), some wireless security camera systems etc etc.

It could also be a neighbour.

If you've a UPC supplied Cisco or a Thomson router : http://support.upc.ie/app/answers/detail/a_id/199/~/change-cisco-wifi-modem-transmit-channel -- explains how to change the WiFi channel.

You may have to experiment a bit to find a clear channel.

WiFi occupies a range of frequencies that are only semi-regulated and that are increasingly cluttered as more and more wireless devices appear on the consumer market. It's a problem worldwide.

Software will usually identify other WiFi devices, but it may not be able to deal with something that it cannot detect e.g. an analogue video signal being broadcast on WiFi frequencies will just be interpreted as noise by a WiFi device.

Here's an example of the 2.4 GHz spectrum in my vicinity, taken from my router. It's virtually impossible to get a clear channel. Note the static on channels 12 and 13, the router claims this is due to a video sender in the vicinity. UPC have no control over this.

If the OP has a situation like this then 5 GHz or wired is the only way.