Thread: Internet speed - or rather, lack of it.

Just rang them.
Their customer service IS very prompt and the bloke was very good/

Apparently I can't expect very good speeds as we are 4km of cable away from the exchange.
They've done some tests - no issues identified (other than yes speed is slow).

They want me to try a different lan cable from the modem to the wall and see if that helps.

If I report back on that and no change they will "log a fault" whatever that means....

I was about to suggest:
1 - call them and ask them why its slow, then when they say "that's just how fast your connection is" give them the results of that test, they will soon try a little harder. Sometimes they can fiddle settings or something to squeeze a bit more.

2 - use an ethernet cable rather than wireless. I had lots of issues with my new router - apparently it has crap wifi, I ended up running networking cabling throughout the house. HEAPS faster.

but you have already done this... sorry for being too slow. Hope you can figure something out.

We used to have wireless internet here - called redfox, it used to be really good and at decent pricing. maybe that could be an option to look into?

Originally Posted by VladTepes

Just rang them.
Their customer service IS very prompt and the bloke was very good/

Apparently I can't expect very good speeds as we are 4km of cable away from the exchange.
They've done some tests - no issues identified (other than yes speed is slow).

They want me to try a different lan cable from the modem to the wall and see if that helps.

If I report back on that and no change they will "log a fault" whatever that means....

I am at least 7km from the exchange. What I usually experience is attached in the photo although this was early on a Saturday morning when the demand would not be great in our area.



However when it slows (which usually means everyone is using their internet of an early evening) it is not too often slower than 7 or 8 down.

I would have thought that even at 4km from the exchange where you are you would have gotten better speeds.

If I 'upgrade' to the NBN I have to go to wireless and that is 4km away (line of sight) and their antenna is barely above tree height so I may not even receive it...

Hope you get something sorted soon.

Distance from the exchange is sometimes not the only factor. What they wont tell you most times is that in the pit down the road from you there is a 'splitter' (I forget the tech term) this is supposed to service something like 70 lines, from 1 cable to the exchange. But what happens is as demand increases the just jam another 'splitter' piggybacked off that first one - so they get 139 lines. This is all well and good for phones but when it comes to the internet it means that everyone suffers with speed. Apparently that was the root of the issue with our ADSL speed issues.

Originally Posted by debruiser

Distance from the exchange is sometimes not the only factor. What they wont tell you most times is that in the pit down the road from you there is a 'splitter' (I forget the tech term) this is supposed to service something like 70 lines, from 1 cable to the exchange. But what happens is as demand increases the just jam another 'splitter' piggybacked off that first one - so they get 139 lines. This is all well and good for phones but when it comes to the internet it means that everyone suffers with speed. Apparently that was the root of the issue with our ADSL speed issues.

When I got ADSL put on it was because an ex Telstra tech managed to get me on a dedicated line all the way to the exchange. At 5km by road from the exchange it's quite good quality too. Telstra had told me I was too far away for ADSL. The devices that stuff up ADSL were called "pair gain" splitters or something like that. And if the landline goes down, as it does around once a year, 4G internet fills the hole adequately.

Check your synch speed in the modem status page
And report it here.
Using this we can help tell if it's a line fault or not.

4km is nothing. I'm 5.5km and get 3mbit down

I was told by a Telstra tech to go to the plug on the wall, unscrew the cover, then undo and relighted the terminals. Well I did and that little exercise got me a better speed. Apparently the terminals can corrode a bit.
Lindsay.

They went back through their records and apparently this is the speed I've always got and there's nothing they can do to improve it. I have probably only noticed the low speed lately as doing more internet demand things and investigating using Netflix. At those speeds it probably won't play nice.






They COULD send a tech to look but that's only free if there is an issue to my phone point (presumably at the street end). If it proves to be something else its a minimum $190 fee, and I'm NOT interested in payng that.