Verizon DSL is going to make me cry

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Turbo Audi · #1 Post by **Turbo Audi** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:19 pm

I have been using Comcast cable internet for years. I shut off my Comcast internet and all TV services because I never watch TV. I saw Verizon DSL was only $25/month for .5 to 1mbps service so I switched to cut costs around the house. I am getting .8 down according to multiple Speedtest runs. I didn't realize how slow it is. Everyday I download a podcast that is anywhere from 200mb to 230 or so. It took only minutes to get it with Comcast, whereas it is over an hour with Verizon. It's killing me! Surfing webpages is not too bad, but it is the streaming videos and downloads that are the real problem. Anyone else use DSL?

#2 Post by **rkawakami** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:55 pm

Welcome to the (slow) club! Been using DSL since it became widely available here in San Jose. First it was PacBell, then SBC and now finally AT&T (all basically the same company). Current download speeds are hovering around 1Mbps since I'm at the upper limit of DSL service in terms of distance from the central office; about 14,000'. If you need more information about DSL speeds in your area, go to: dslreports.com

ref: http://www.dslreports.com/comments/311?1=1&p=19#review4 (a review on DSL service I submitted many years ago which is still valid)

Turbo Audi · #3 Post by **Turbo Audi** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 3:25 pm

Thanks, Ray. The VZ guy said I am 2,000' from the office, so it should be faster. No dice!

hunterman223 · #4 Post by **hunterman223** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:23 pm

I have had the terrible experience of staying with someone with Verizon, it's sloooooow, and very iffy. Over here in the UK we've got Virgin Media 30mbps, and it's pretty cheap too. (30mbps is the "slowest" available

)

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#5 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:11 pm

We had 5mbps Verizon DSL, slow as molasses... Best case maybe 0.8Mbps!
Switched over to 5Mbps Adams Cable, a HUGE improvement.
Got TV, internet and phone from Adams now, WWWWAAAAYYYY cheaper, faster, and better than Verizon.
Best of all, you call them, they have only one automated menu (TV, telephone or internet), and then you immediately talk to a human!

emtee3511 · #6 Post by **emtee3511** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:14 pm

I purchased my own Cisco N Dual Band Router to go with my Verizon DSL -- The Verizon Westell router will provide N channels only if all your machines are N -- if you use older B/G machines, along with N, the Verizon Westell Router defaults to G channels. With the Cisco router, I get 54.0 Mbps on my X200 upstairs at the back of my house, and 1000.00 Mbps on my X60 wired connection downstairs next to the router (according to Access Connections) But the CNET SpeedTest shows my upstairs wireless speed around 2600 kbps to 2800 kbps -- and my downstairs wired speed at 2800 kpbs -- so apparently no difference between the actual speeds of wired and wireless.

My Verizon DSL is called "high speed", but I don't have the fastest (whatever Verizon is calling it now) DSL speed Verizon offers -- they tell me it is not available at my address. They also don't offer Fios at my address. I have read here on the Forum and googled LOTS, but I still may not have my wireless settings at optimum -- sure wish I understood how these things worked a little better...

#7 Post by **rkawakami** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:44 pm

Turbo Audi wrote:Thanks, Ray. The VZ guy said I am 2,000' from the office, so it should be faster. No dice!

Well, if you're paying for .5 to 1Mbps speed then that's about what you're going to get

. I'd say that if you get within 85 to 90% of your "rated" speed on the speedtest.net or dslreports.com tests, then you're doing good. I'm signed up for 384/128 service (minimum) yet I typically get 1.2M/300. Most likely, given your stated distance from the CO, they are throttling your speed. You could try downgrading to a slower speed service, if available, and besides paying less $$$/month, hope they don't also lower your speed. Of course, your 200+MB downloads will still take the same amount of time. Or you could make some noise by calling up VZ, asking for the "retention department" and threaten them by saying that you are considering going back to cable because of the slow speeds. They can either call your bluff or bump up your service. Any idea what speeds you were getting with Comcast?

Turbo Audi · #8 Post by **Turbo Audi** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:57 pm

I have no idea what speeds I was getting with Comcast, but it was fast. I need to VPN to the office too, I have yet to try that with DSL. It was laggy with cable, but is to be expected. I have been downloading a 4gb file since 1pm, it is now 7pm, and has an ETA of 11 hours. I can't do this anymore and I just got it! Lesson learned. I have not yet returned my Comcast modem etc. I might have to give them a call tomorrow.

yak · #9 Post by **yak** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:04 pm

Wow, I'm surprised by the slow DSL speeds you guys have. Here in Germany I don't think anyone offers less than 16 Mbps (5 guaranteed) and this is slowly being replaced by VDSL (25/50 Mbps).

High end cable based solutions are still faster, around 100 Mbps.

Turbo Audi · #10 Post by **Turbo Audi** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:08 pm

yak wrote:Wow, I'm surprised by the slow DSL speeds you guys have. Here in Germany I don't think anyone offers less than 16 Mbps (5 guaranteed) and this is slowly being replaced by VDSL (25/50 Mbps).

High end cable based solutions are still faster, around 100 Mbps.

Everything in Germany is superior: the economy, cars, internet speeds and beer.

killer · #11 Post by **killer** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:20 pm

Not the beer! Fizzy keg beer isn't real beer. Belgium (bottled) and England (cask) make real beer. The best is from England because we use the correct hops. Ask any brewer.

Not the cars! The best racing cars in the world are made in Italy and England.

Their economy is a model though ... and they still make the best lenses.

Turbo Audi · #12 Post by **Turbo Audi** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:28 pm

killer wrote:Not the beer! Fizzy keg beer isn't real beer. Belgium (bottled) and England (cask) make real beer. The best is from England because we use the correct hops. Ask any brewer.

Not the cars! The best racing cars in the world are made in Italy and England.

Their economy is a model though ... and they still make the best lenses.

You can keep your Isuzu/Toyota powered Lotus.

yak · #13 Post by **yak** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:30 pm

killer wrote:Not the cars! The best racing cars in the world are made in Italy and England.

If you narrow it down to racing cars as you just did then yes, I'd have to agree.

ajkula66 · #14 Post by **ajkula66** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:02 pm

I have a verizon DSL 3.0/768 which is quite acceptable for what I'm paying for it...

...speedtest is always about 3-5% lower than these specs.

BTW, I'm 24,000' from the CO. Yes, you've read it correctly. No, I'm not kidding. These guys around here know something I don't and I know a lot about DSL.

Turbo Audi, 2,000' from the CO is a spit, you definitely can get a lot faster circuit, but question of the pricing remains...any CLECs in your area, such as XO or Covad?

hunterman223, UK runs on 24AWG copper cable where U.S. is 26, so no wonder that they're able to offer much faster DSL without breaking a sweat. Even the "premier" services such as T-1 (E-1 in Europe) and above are significantly faster on the Old Continent...

sysiphus · #15 Post by **sysiphus** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:51 pm

When we switched from Comcast Cable (~20Mbps down/5Mbps up) to Qwest DSL (5Mbps/576Kbps), it was obviously for $$ reasons, and I was expecting a painfully slow experience. Happily, we reliably pull at least 4Mbps down and get about 600K up, so I'll take it--it's barely good enough for Netflix HD streaming, which the most demanding use we have for it. I'm just outside of Seattle, though; the relatively urban location probably helps my case significantly. Meanwhile, my sister lives about 20 miles north, and can get Verizon's fibre service for pennies more than I pay for DSL, and gets better speeds than we ever did on Cable. Life just isn't fair

ajkula66 · #16 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun May 01, 2011 12:10 am

sysiphus wrote:

Happily, we reliably pull at least 4Mbps down and get about 600K up, so I'll take it--it's barely good enough for Netflix HD streaming, which the most demanding use we have for it.

I believe that you're confusing speed with bandwidth. Both are needed for a quality video experience, but I'll guarantee that you can stream Netflix all day every day with a slower circuit that has more bandwidth.

In my not-so-modest experience, Qwest ADSL is by far the best circuit of its kind on the U. S. market, but watch out...there is no more Qwest...they got eaten up quite recently and you might see changes to your service sometime soon...

As for FiOS, it's pennies while it's Verizon, but once it becomes Frontier the story changes...and all of it will eventually go to Frontier...

http://cable.tmcnet.com/topics/cable/ar ... ns-500.htm

So enjoy your DSL while you can...

Turbo Audi · #17 Post by **Turbo Audi** » Sun May 01, 2011 7:24 am

ajkula66 wrote:I have a verizon DSL 3.0/768 which is quite acceptable for what I'm paying for it... ...speedtest is always about 3-5% lower than these specs.

BTW, I'm 24,000' from the CO. Yes, you've read it correctly. No, I'm not kidding. These guys around here know something I don't and I know a lot about DSL.

Turbo Audi, 2,000' from the CO is a spit, you definitely can get a lot faster circuit, but question of the pricing remains...any CLECs in your area, such as XO or Covad?

hunterman223, UK runs on 24AWG copper cable where U.S. is 26, so no wonder that they're able to offer much faster DSL without breaking a sweat. Even the "premier" services such as T-1 (E-1 in Europe) and above are significantly faster on the Old Continent...

Yes, I'm sure I can get faster. I am trying to save money right now as best I can. I'll call VZ tomorrow and see what they say. Comcast is only $20 more a month, so far I think it money well spent. My DSL has been down for the past two hours actually. What a great start =(

Turbo Audi · #18 Post by **Turbo Audi** » Wed May 11, 2011 3:24 pm

Couldn't take it anymore! I got 25/25 FIOS installed today. VPN & downloading 4gb+ files is a breeze. I won't look back! (Got a very good deal too)

ajkula66 · #19 Post by **ajkula66** » Wed May 11, 2011 10:33 pm

Congrats!

FiOS is the way to go. Nothing - apart from possibly some of AT&T fiber offerings such as Uverse - comes close.

Enjoy. Wish I could get that in my neck of the woods...

ParatoOptimal · #20 Post by **ParatoOptimal** » Thu May 12, 2011 4:33 pm

I'm doing slow time with Verizon. It's much faster by dial-up standards that I used to have but SLOOOOOOOW by modern broadband standards.

I don't notice any difference weather I'm wired or wireless to my cheap, lifetime deal with Verizon. I imagine it's their slowest service for the $14.99/month I pay. A laptop with a better CPU made a difference. A 11n-draft card with 300 througput in place of the previous 150 throughput draft-n card made a huge difference.

@ emtee3511,
Connecting another router to your current router and setting one for b/g and the other for N only would give you 11N rates to your N devices and 11G rates to your G devices unless someone is connecting with an 11B device that would slow 11G connections to 11B rates but your N would always be N.

emtee3511 · #21 Post by **emtee3511** » Sat May 14, 2011 12:07 pm

"@ emtee3511,
Connecting another router to your current router and setting one for b/g and the other for N only would give you 11N rates to your N devices and 11G rates to your G devices unless someone is connecting with an 11B device that would slow 11G connections to 11B rates but your N would always be N."

I have a very hard time understanding how my router/wireless network works -- but I currently have Verizon DSL with a Cisco/Linksys E4200 Dual Band Router, with wireless Thinkpads upstairs and downstairs. My X61s Access Connections shows 54.0 Mbps wireless connection, and my X200 shows 144.0 Mbps -- My X60 ethernet connection to the Cisco/Linksys shows 1000.0 Mbps -- My son's T60 shows between 33 and 54 Mbps. All of the machines can use Netflix and youtube, but it seems only my X200 consistently streams HD from Netflix and youtube.

My old connection speeds were between 11, 33 and 54 when I was using the Verizon provided Westell router. Using the single band Westell router brought all my connections to the G band -- The Cisco/Linksys dual band must be using the highest band each device uses, because the speeds are quite increased with the Cisco/Linksys set up. I can't get Fios at my address

#22 Post by **bill bolton** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:33 pm

emtee3511 wrote:and my X200 shows 144.0 Mbps

Are you using WPA2 encryption on the 802.11n link from the X200? If not, you should enable that and you will get even higher connection speeds from the X200.

Cheers,

Bill B.

emtee3511 · #23 Post by **emtee3511** » Sat May 14, 2011 10:08 pm

I am using WPA2-PSK -- but I am upstairs and in the back of the house, quit a distance from the wireless router downstairs -- if I take my X200 downstairs to the same room as the router, it runs at 300.0 Mbps, and the N signal is strong -- but when I take the machine back upstairs to the back of the house, the N signal runs about 15% strength -- the G signal travels upstairs at 80% to 90% strength -- So upstairs my X200 runs at 144.0 Mbps, and I'm guessing it is using G, but not sure --

I have followed all the instructions I have been able to discover on the Forum and also google, but it is all fairly confusing to me. I am happy enough with the speed my X200 achieves with the Cisco/Linksys router, but don't want to waste the equipment if my settings should be different.

ajkula66 · #24 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun May 15, 2011 12:31 am

AFAIK, you can't get 144 Mb on G band, so it's using the N, but with a weakened signal comes the lower speed...

emtee3511 · #25 Post by **emtee3511** » Sun May 15, 2011 7:28 am

Thanks George -- it may seem like a small thing to you, but that one little piece of info is something I could not figure out on my own. I have been wondering if my home network was working as I intended, using both G and N, and now I know it is. It was on Bill Bolton's recommendation in another router thread that I learned about this Cicso/Linksys router --

love this Forum!

#26 Post by **bill bolton** » Sun May 15, 2011 7:39 pm

emtee3511 wrote:if I take my X200 downstairs to the same room as the router, it runs at 300.0 Mbps, and the N signal is strong

Just as a minor matter of interest, which WiFi card do you have in your X200s

Cheers,

Bill B.

emtee3511 · #27 Post by **emtee3511** » Sun May 15, 2011 9:49 pm

Bill, the device manager says Intel 5100 AGN -- is there a better card for this machine?

#28 Post by **bill bolton** » Tue May 17, 2011 5:51 am

emtee3511 wrote:Bill, the device manager says Intel 5100 AGN -- is there a better card for this machine?

The Intel 5100 is a 2T2R card (two antennas only), while the Intel 5300 AGN is a 3T3R (three antennas) card. If your X200S has three antennas, a Lenovo supplied 5300 would be worthwhile step up.

Your e4200 router is a 3T3R device. This is what Intel has tp say about 3T3R operation....

http://www.intel.com/products/wireless/adapters/5000/index.htm wrote:Up to 2x greater range enabled by 3x3 802.11n implementations with three spatial streams. Up to 450 Mbps of Bandwidth based on the theoretical maximum bandwidth enabled by 3x3 802.11n implementations with three spatial streams in combination with a three-spatial stream access point. Actual wireless throughput and/or range will vary depending on your specific operating system, hardware, and software configurations. Check with your PC and access point manufacturer for details.

Cheers,

Bill B.

emtee3511 · #29 Post by **emtee3511** » Tue May 17, 2011 9:50 am

Thanks, Bill -- that's very good information -- I'm not sure if my X200 has two or three antennas, but since it came with the 5100 card, I'm guessing it has two?? Also I have to decide if I'm brave enough to open up my favorite thinkpad to see how many antennas and possibly upgrade the card --

hunterman223 · #30 Post by **hunterman223** » Wed May 18, 2011 11:40 am

It won't be too difficult, all you will need to do is unscrew the marked 4-5 screws on the bottom and remove the keyboard and palmrest. Then you can see if there is a third wire tucked away somewhere.

Not sure about the X200, but with the newer X2** series the third antenna is not available along with the webcam.

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