novafire
join:2005-06-20
Madison, WI
| reply to Brandynr
Re: Actiontech 701c Modem
TDS got confused the last time I called them and they downgraded me to 4Mbps since Weds. I still get a disconnect from time to time, but it is hard to say what is causing it, and its hard to say if changing my modem to ASDL2Plus is what is helping more than the downgrade to 4Mbps, because it had been a little better before they jumped the gun and downgraded me. I asked them to bump me back up to 10Mbps yesterday so I could at least finish my own diagnosis of the problem at 10Mbps. The rep told me it would be bumped within minutes, but it has now been a day and I am still at 4Mbps. When I called them to get the bump back up, the rep told me 10Mbps was not even available in my area, even though I had 10Mbps 3 days ago! It is so hard to find 2 people there who can consistently tell me the same thing.
I actually have a few of the router/modem/wifi Actiontecs laying around that I may try connecting up in place of this 701c to see how they perform. Now I just have to wait for them to bump me back up. |
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Brandynr
join:2001-11-03
Cross Plains, WI | Yeah, it's hit or miss on getting decent techs. But if you're getting drops on 4 meg, something is seriously wrong.
Are you noticing any particular time of day that it's worse? |
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novafire
join:2005-06-20
Madison, WI
| It seems to be worse from roughly 6pm to midnight. Since I have been running speed tests looking for my 10Mbps to come back, I also noticed that even with 4Mbps I was getting pretty poor speed tests last night: roughly 2Mbps several times from several different TDS test locations. This morning I ran a test and got 3.9Mbps several times. I realize that I was testing during peak hours, but I did all my tests from TDS's own speed test site. |
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Brandynr
join:2001-11-03
Cross Plains, WI
 ·TDS
| And therein lies my concern... It's about the same hours for me as well. Peak hours should not matter with DSL, as you're on your own line.
I'm going to see how it goes with the new modem, but it seems as if TDS might have oversold not only their bandwidth, but the line capacity, or the lines are getting old enough that they've degraded.
I'm really not sure what is going on at this point. The only reason that peak hours should matter is if the copper is degraded to the point that bleedover is occurring, or that's what my limited knowledge of the situation is saying anyway. |
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novafire
join:2005-06-20
Madison, WI
| The last tech they sent out seemed to agree with all the possibilities that you mention. Unfortunately he cannot do anything about it, being a lowly tech.
And you can bet that even if the higher ups know about it and know how to fix it, they are cutting corners and are not willing to spend the money to make their service reliable. |
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Brandynr
join:2001-11-03
Cross Plains, WI | Yeah, I know the higher-ups don't want to do anything. And a new modem certainly didn't help matters any. We'll have to see what tech support says. |
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Brandynr
join:2001-11-03
Cross Plains, WI | reply to novafire
Well, just as an update, the modem wasn't the issue. The tech tried putting me on a different pair of wires, we'll see how that goes. But so far so good. |
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novafire
join:2005-06-20
Madison, WI | Good to know. I've also been connected for over 24 hours now without incident. I don't know if anything was changed on TDS's end or what, but I am hoping things stay as is from now on. |
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