Piss poor internet speeds

I've had it up to here(points to top of head) with my pathetic internet connection,
Bloody TELSTRA, when they laid the cables for our sub division only 12 years ago (internet existed then), they pair gained the whole suburb. Which means that most of the area can only get dial up and then only about 33k, I could only get 28.8 at best!!! So I had to sell my soul to the devil and sign up with TELSTRA to get ADSL enabled because the cables are underground and they wont let anyone else play with them. Funny how once I was enabled my dialup speed went up to 56k!! Anyway I immediately canceled with TELSTRA and signed up with TPG but I could still only get ADSL1 because of the pair gain limitations. So now I pay $49 a month for the max 1500bps available to me, and 20G, which while expensive, is occasionally quite good speed wise.

Right now though and for the last couple of weeks, it's PISSING ME OFF!!!!!
I posted a reply a minute ago and it took 3 minutes to go through. I'm trying to check stuff on fleabay and it takes FOREVER to reload. Forget about sniping anything! Normally Downloading a 500mb/hour show like "the Pacific" takes about 2hours ATM it tak 3-4DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Started getting episode X last night and now 28 hours later I've got a whopping 49% with an ETA of abbout 1-2 days
3rd world countries have better and cheaper internet than this and that's not a joke. Just to preview this post took about 15 secs!!!!!

My understanding is you cant have ADSL through a pair gains system.

Sure you aren't on a CMUX, RIM ?

There fazing out alot of the pair gains systems down my way. There are heaps of pair gains systems that only get customers coming off and going to there own pair.

I have a pit in front of my house that has a pair gains system in it, I know there crap speeds you get off dial up on a pair gains system.

Dave.

Dunno. all I know is it's pathetic that they are allowed to pair gain at all or even choose to do it when it means they cant then provide their own product (ADSL2) through it.

I feel for you, internet in this country sucks and no amount of federal government money is going to fix it in a hurry.

ADSL is available to pretty much all the houses in this area but the latest push from several of the providers is of course ADSL2, there is one exchange in the centre of town enabled for ADSL2 yet they are pushing customers to sign up no matter where they are. My mate lives about 1.8 ks from the enabled exchange and gets slower speeds from his ADSL2 than I get from my ADSL at 1500bps.

As most techies know the further away you get the slower ADSL2 can get yet the main local ISP offering these great ADSL2 deals is convincing customers that the signal is good for up to 4 ks and that as long as the speed is over 64k then there is no reason to complain. I know the speed can fall out of my connection from time to time and I fully expect it to happen no system is perfect but to advertise speeds up to 2400, charge people accordingly because they are a new provider only have ADSL2 contracts and then have the majority of users getting less than 1500 and telling them its ok is bullshit, but it's the way the industry works these days.

DVR said:

3rd world countries have better and cheaper internet than this and that's not a joke. Just to preview this post took about 15 secs!!!!!

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quite rare my friend. if anything its other countrys with million and millions of people in a smaller area. Think of the cabling per capita Telstra has to cover compared to Thailand/phillipines. To lie phone lines for 1 rural customer can be around 100k where telstra gets back say $500/year (average phone bill). If your trying to run a business you would tell that customer tuff luck but telstra has an obligation.

KraftyPg said:

ADSL is available to pretty much all the houses in this area but the latest push from several of the providers is of course ADSL2, there is one exchange in the centre of town enabled for ADSL2 yet they are pushing customers to sign up no matter where they are. My mate lives about 1.8 ks from the enabled exchange and gets slower speeds from his ADSL2 than I get from my ADSL at 1500bps.

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1.8km should get decent speeds even on thinest gauge (040). Many variables for speed issues >> modem adsl2 compatible? filters = c10245M?

IS ur mate with Bigpond? tell him to run a speed test via files.bigpond.com >> click browse the files library >> click 3d graphics >> click more info >> click download >> click start download >> click run. Then check what the transfer rate is for correct speedtest results.

if the transfer rate is less than 110kB/s then call isp.

KraftyPg said:

As most techies know the further away you get the slower ADSL2 can get yet the main local ISP offering these great ADSL2 deals is convincing customers that the signal is good for up to 4 ks and that as long as the speed is over 64k then there is no reason to complain. I know the speed can fall out of my connection from time to time and I fully expect it to happen no system is perfect but to advertise speeds up to 2400, charge people accordingly because they are a new provider only have ADSL2 contracts and then have the majority of users getting less than 1500 and telling them its ok is bullshit, but it's the way the industry works these days.

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if ur on adsl2 64k is shit..minimum is 110kB/s..il be def calling my isp to fix it.

"up to" is the only way to advertise. Im getting 2.5MB/s (2200kB/s). some custoemr benefit and some dont..yes i know sux. once connected if the speeds are unacceptable to the customer >> Close the account.

Mate we all know where the faults are and yes it's Telstra's lines but it's the ISP reselling Telstra that is the problem. Telstra are happy to admit ADSL 2 will drop with distance and that 2400 speeds are only guaranteed in the CDB where the exchange is located. It's the dodgy faceless ISP run from QLD that is pushing locals to believe the service is something it isn't. (They also use dodgy ex Neigbhours girls as their advertising campaigns which shows how little they should be trusted).

We've got a couple of local resellers down here (as well as all the wonderful flavours of companies available everywhere else) yet it's only one of them who claim 64K on adsl2 is acceptable, and unfortunately they have managed to sign people up on contracts. As yet I don't know if anyone of them have taken action against the company but I know my mate is moving from them as soon as the contract expires.

All I can say is that I'm glad to be out of that crap, I used to help run a local branch of a bigger ISP down here back in 94 (the wonderful days of dial up) and it was annoying then, the money might be better these days but money isn't everything

that is really bad marketing practice...pretty much lying. The TIO will own them soon.

if any customer complains enough they should be able to break outa that contract free of charge.

The current definition of broadband is any service capable of delivering speeds above 128Kbps.

If you are paying for broadband then thats what you should be receiving. If the ISP won't listen then: TIO - Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman home page

The TIO can only investigate a complaint if:

The consumer has given the service provider a reasonable opportunity to address the complaint;
The complaint is made within 12 months of the consumer becoming aware of the circumstances surrounding the complaint. The time limit may be extended by a further 12 months in certain cases;
Legal proceedings have not commenced;
The complainant was resident in Australia at the time that the circumstances surrounding the event occurred;
The complaint is made in good faith; and
The complaint type is within the TIO’s jurisdiction (set out below)

The TIO has jurisdiction to investigate complaints about:

The standard telephone service;
Mobile services;
Internet access;
Pay-phones;
Delays in telephone connections;
Printed and electronic White Pages;
Fault repair;
Privacy;
Land access; and
Breaches of the Customer Service Guarantee and industry Codes of Practice.

The TIO cannot handle complaints concerning:

The setting of tariffs and charges;
Privately-owned telecommunications equipment, other than the rented handset supplied with a basic phone service and mobile handsets sold as a part of a bundled contract;
Cabling, except cabling up to the rented handset;
Business directories (however, the TIO does have an agreement with Yellow Pages that allows us to help resolve some complaints);
Matters of telecommunications policy
The 000 emergency service;
Anti-competitive behaviour or restrictive business practices; or
The content of ‘information services’, eg. 1900 numbers and Internet content.

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I thought 64k was the minimum for broadband that might have been an old ruling. I'm not 100% sure on the wording in the legislation but I believe because the speed fluctuates and isn't constantly under the minimum then they have some grounds to claim they are providing a service that is acceptable.

Most contracts are breakable and at worst you can pay to get out of them which may or may not be worthwhile for some people but for my mate he's only got a few months left on his contract and it's easier to blame the kids for downloading too much and slowing them down thus keeping them off the computer than it is to bitch and argue to get out of a contract.

Unfortunately fly by night ISP's, just like so many other business' will never be stopped completely and it doesn't take long in a rural town for word to spread about who's good and who's bad at providing services. There's already been 2 ISP's in the last 10 years who have stopped advertising in this area because of word of mouth so there is hope the latest wont be around for long either.

DVR said:

Right now though and for the last couple of weeks, it's PISSING ME OFF!!!!!
I posted a reply a minute ago and it took 3 minutes to go through. I'm trying to check stuff on fleabay and it takes FOREVER to reload. Forget about sniping anything! Normally Downloading a 500mb/hour show like "the Pacific" takes about 2hours ATM it tak 3-4DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Started getting episode X last night and now 28 hours later I've got a whopping 49% with an ETA of abbout 1-2 days

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Do you know what speed you are syncing at? If you are syncing lower that expected, then that may indicate a line fault or a line profile on your service. Eliminate the prob being in your house by removing phones, disconnecting alarms, etc. I used to have a old cordless phone that would affect my dsl and ended up having to double filter it. Request a line fault through telstra.

If you are syncing at a decent speed, but getting crap throughput as a guess it would be your ISP not having a big enough pipe. TPG is known for leachers. it's cheap internet with massive download limits. So most of their customers will be downloading stuff at full rate 24/7.

Check with their support, they may have test files on the servers to test actual download speeds.

Dave said:

My understanding is you cant have ADSL through a pair gains system.

Sure you aren't on a CMUX, RIM ?

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Sounds like he was spilt pair and to get adsl, they connected a new pair instead. thats why the dialup speed went from 28/31.2 ->56k.

You think you have it bad. I can't get ADSL and never will. I can only bearly get telstra next G which for $80 per month, I get a massive 3G total data (up and down) and a speedy 100Kb/s connection since Telstra (and probably others) totally over subscribe their 3G services. I should be getting upwards of 8Mb/s

nismo4x4 said:

quite rare my friend. if anything its other countrys with million and millions of people in a smaller area. Think of the cabling per capita Telstra has to cover compared to Thailand/phillipines. To lie phone lines for 1 rural customer can be around 100k where telstra gets back say $500/year (average phone bill). If your trying to run a business you would tell that customer tuff luck but telstra has an obligation.

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I don't give a rats. The bottom line is this, I dont live in the bush, they laid the friggin cables in my suburb KNOWING that they would be unable to provide their own product through them. It would be a different matter if this was an old suburb and the old cables weren't up to scratch but this area is only 12 years old. No other provider can touch the lines cos TELSTRA owns them so if you want something done about it then you HAVE to sign up with TELSTRA or they wont help you. That's BLACKMAIL!!!
I had months of trying to get better dialup or ADSL with OPTUS at the time telling me that I have to approach TELSTRA cos it's their lines and they have to do it, only to be told by TELSTRA that I wasnt their customer so they can't help me, I have to do it through my provider, howerver if I would like to sign up to BIGPOND that would be a different story. So I got pushed from piller to post for months. Door to door pricks were constantly knocking on my door saying that they could help me only to get a phone call from them a month later saying "sorry" AARRRGH!!!!!

The best one was from a telstra salesman believe it or not about 6 months after I was ADSL1 enabled. I didn't go to TPG straight off as I said earlier but was with OPTUS on a 512 6g plan. I had this little Indian guy knock on my door who absolutely GUARANTEED that he could do me ADSL2. I laughed and explained to him what I was going through. He said he was aware of all that but TELSTRA had just released 20 ADSL2 slots and if I was quick I could have 1. I told him to ring them right now and verify that it would be available to me on my number. He made the call and said yep no problem, there were 2 slots left. I signed up. Nothing happened for 2 months and then I get a phonecall saying SORRY but ADSL2 is not available in your area.
!*#&%^ @(#&$&$%^%

I shut the door on them these days. I dont even give them 5 seconds. I know it's not their fault but I'm sick of being pissed around.

ADSL2 coverage is about 91%. appears ur part of the 9%. that would suck sorry buddy

DVR said:

I had this little Indian guy knock on my door who absolutely GUARANTEED that he could do me ADSL2. I laughed and explained to him what I was going through. He said he was aware of all that but TELSTRA had just released 20 ADSL2 slots and if I was quick I could have 1. I told him to ring them right now and verify that it would be available to me on my number. He made the call and said yep no problem, there were 2 slots left. I signed up. Nothing happened for 2 months and then I get a phonecall saying SORRY but ADSL2 is not available in your area.
!*#&%^ @(#&$&$%^%

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20 ports.

I see first hand they put in 384 ports at a time. The new ISAM systems are designed to be able to have Foxtel put through them aswell.

Dave.

nismo4x4 said:

ADSL2 coverage is about 91%. appears ur part of the 9%. that would suck sorry buddy

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While I'm not doubting that figure or saying you are wrong one should take into account that 9% of this country is still a lot of people.

Telcos have loved quoting figures of 90%+ coverage for years on all their services but while the majority of people do live in serviceable areas getting those figures is pretty bloody easy by hitting all capital cities and major towns. While there are blank spots in the cities like the OP is experiencing there is blank spots in many regional towns as well. I'm not even talking about towns where there is only 100 people and are so remote they don't see traffic I'm talking about towns where there is 40K people yet because of a lack on infrastructure (by all involved in planning and subdivision not just the telcos) many people can't get anything more than dial up while neighbours 3 streets away in older subdivisions can get adsl2.

There is no cheap or quick fix to such things and I can understand the OP'S frustration, all the telcos in this country are taking us for a ride and get away with too much. Telstra started it all those years ago and now the others who were supposedly brought in as competition are just following the same path.

9% is def a lot of people (11 million approx) and to upgrade all exchanges and relay cable would go into the billions (sif telstras going to pay that ;-/)....so telstra has spent millions pumping out NEXTG. cost effective, less maintainence and best chance of getting faster speeds. personally i think NEXTG needs alot of fine tuning tho and its pretty dear. which i assume why the government is bringing out NBN...they have the cash to spend..well sort of.

Next G is not considered a comparable broadband under the broadband guarantee funding model, unless you ask telstra.

i'm seriously considering switching to sat net due to how crap next g is out of the suburbs