Slow Internet

[Thebananamonkey]

Hi All,

We moved from Telstra to Xnet about 4-5 months ago to avoid excessive data charges. Great success! I bought a Linksys WAG120N and have VOIP as the main phone (sometimes can be quite static, esp. the "Vacation express" cold-calls from India, which I don't mind so much :D).

However, we've noticed that there's a HUGE variance in download rates. Was home mid morning the other day, did a speedtest and found 5Mb/s! However, anytime that you might want to go online it sits below 1Mb/s.

I've replaced the original line from the socket to the router, which helped quite a bit. I moved the router around the house a few times to see what effect different phone lines had with quite a bit more. This place is probably not more than 20 years old, but was done on the cheap (renting) so I wouldn't put too much faith in wiring.

I live about a five minute walk from the Wellington train station, where the exchange is. Still, I get latency of 69ms if I'm lucky, but usually 100-150ms. I'm a gamer and this (semi-literally) kills me...

I've tried out various modulation settings in the router but only ADSL2 seems to work. Wasn't very scientific about it though...

Is there anything I should be doing with my DNS or other router settings? Do I possibly need a new router? Anything else I should think about?

Thanks guys and gals.

[gary67]

That seems about right for Xnet, definitely slower in the evenings and at night

[Speedy Gonzales]

That's true. Not much you can do about that at night. Until Xnet fix it. Its been like that since mid 2007. Going to different sites isn't the prob, its downloading files.

[Thebananamonkey]

****

I was hoping you wouldn't say that...

I'll send them an email just to voice my concern. Probably won't do anything, but will make me feel better.

[Speedy Gonzales]

Wouldnt waste my time. I did that and told them their torrent plan is to blame. Since thats when it went crap (when it started). They havent / didn't do anything about it, (besides change the time for the torrent plan, so they say) since its still there 3 yrs later. They either need better servers, or NZ needs better BB (which is probably the cause, its crap as well)

[Thebananamonkey]

I assume that Telstra goes through exactly the same cabinets though...

When I was with them they were extracting money at a frightening rate, but at least I got a consistent 2Mb/s+. The occasional 5Mb/s doesn't make up for 0.5Mb/s whenever I want to use it.

Has anyone had experience with Linksys WAG120N's before? I bought it because it was an N router/modem on special at Ascent and not on any particular advice. Wish I'd got a 54GL as most computers in the house are G anyway.

[Chilling_Silence]

No. Don't blanket blame that on NZ broadband. That ISP is oversubscribing their limited international connection. It's purely a cost thing for that particular ISP, they should just buy more bandwidth.

The WAG120N is pretty crap. Definitely recommend the 54GL over it ;)

[PPp]

My experience poor helpdesk, poor speed, poor phone. Geekzone have some very sorry stories about xnet.

[Thebananamonkey]

Are there any ISPs around with similar plans?

Quite like the whole VOIP and $1/1GB all you can eat thing.

Am willing to change if I can get better speed for approximately the same price.

Don't mean to duplicate threads here, but the other one doesn't look like it's going anywhere fast.

[johnfarris85]

Hello,

I really hate the slow internet, which makes my work pending, i want fast internet.

Thanks,
John Farris

[Speedy Gonzales]

Only way you're going to get fast internet, is move to Korea or Sweden. Then you'll know what fast internet means / is

[PPp]

Some corporate was more into profit than infrastructure so you get to inherit 1960s speed limits! No guesses please.

[jinja_thom]

TBM if you live in Wellington, is Telstra Cable not available at your address?
It's far superior to ADSL and it's speed is not effected by loading, I get
4Mbs/5GB consistantly day or night, and on October 1 it's going up to
15Mbs/10GB for an extra $10 a month and that includes the GST increase that was going on anyway.

[sahilcc7]

I get 4.38mbps down in hamilton east...

[Thebananamonkey]

TBM if you live in Wellington, is Telstra Cable not available at your address?
It's far superior to ADSL and it's speed is not effected by loading, I get
4Mbs/5GB consistantly day or night, and on October 1 it's going up to
15Mbs/10GB for an extra $10 a month and that includes the GST increase that was going on anyway.

We regularly use 60GB a month... the most we've had to pay has been about $120.

With their current pricing, Telstra isn't an option.