Slow evening speeds

Thought I'd start a new thread as the other one's been locked (it's still available here though - http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/aol/3713848-lost-co... )

I see they're now discussing the issues on DigitalSpy - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=...

I think it's going to get to a stage where AOL get so many calls about this, as well as people leaving, that they'll have to do something about it.

While I hope something is done, I have a speed test from 2008 with the same sort of peak speeds consistent with the past year. Anyway, as this is a new thread dedicated to evening speeds, it might be a good time to re-summarise our configurations and line speeds to see if there is something we can do.

DS Connection Rate: 7616 kbps
US Connection Rate: 448 kbps
DS Line Attenuation: 17 db
US Line Attenuation: 11 db
DS Noise Margin: 11 db
US Noise Margin: 21 db

Encapsulation: PPPoE. MTU: 1450. Non-LLU.
Package: AOL Gold (capped speed to 4000 kbps).

Edited by AndrewNi (Wed 03-Mar-10 21:06:00)

It's odd because some people in the old thread reported that their speeds didn't start becoming a problem until about 6 months ago. My evening speeds were never perfect with AOL, but they've definitely got worse in the last 6 months. I wonder if something happened at AOL (or whether AOL have been selling off some BT IPStream bandwidth due to the increased cost).

Good idea about summarising our configurations. My name is bluesea and I'm an AOL evening speeds sufferer!

DS Connection Rate: 8128 kbps
US Connection Rate: 448 kbps
DS Line Attenuation: 14 db
US Line Attenuation: 3 db
DS Noise Margin: 11 db
US Noise Margin: 26 db

Encapsulation: PPPoA. MTU: 1400. Non-LLU.
Package: Not sure, but I get full speed (i.e. 6.9Mb) during the day, so I must be on an up to 8Mb package. I thought I used to be on AOL Gold though.

Edited by bluesea (Wed 03-Mar-10 21:20:52)

In reply to a post by AndrewNi:

Package: AOL Gold (capped speed to 4000 kbps).

But you are not capped to 4 Meg as your Sync is 7616 Kbps, which accords with what bluesea said.

1999: Freeserve 48K Dial-Up => 2005: Wanadoo 1 Meg BB => 2007: Orange 2 Meg BB => 2008: Orange 8 Meg BB

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by AndrewNi:

Package: AOL Gold (capped speed to 4000 kbps).

But you are not capped to 4 Meg as your Sync is 7616 Kbps, which accords with what bluesea said.

I think the Gold package AndrewNi is on only allows speeds of up to 4Mb (formerly 2Mb). I thought I was on that (I certainly was not that long ago) but they must've upgraded me since. All of their new packages are up to 8Mb, so I suppose they're slowly bringing everyone up to the standards of their new packages.

I don't think the synch speed takes into account the restrictions offered by AOL on their older (e.g. Gold) packages, which is why AndrewNi is synching at 7616 but getting no higher than 4000.

Edited by bluesea (Thu 04-Mar-10 00:49:21)

My daughter was on AOL's 2 Meg package, which they called Silver, until Oct last year and they capped her Sync to 2 Meg all that time. She then got them to up her to the modern 8 Meg, with a new contract term, and her Sync increased to 8 Meg as soon as she put the phone down

In reply to a post by bluesea:

I don't think the synch speed takes into account the restrictions offered by AOL on their older (e.g. Gold) packages, which is why AndrewNi is synching at 7616 but getting no higher than 4000.

No, capping is applied to the Sync speed always, not the actual download speed. On non-LLU the download speed is limited by the BT IP profile, which it it help if you both would discover from the BT speedtester. There must be another reason for the 512 Kbps reduction in AndrewNi's Sync; perhaps just noise on internal wiring.

1999: Freeserve 48K Dial-Up => 2005: Wanadoo 1 Meg BB => 2007: Orange 2 Meg BB => 2008: Orange 8 Meg BB

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

She then got them to up her to the modern 8 Meg, with a new contract term, and her Sync increased to 8 Meg as soon as she put the phone down

This must be a first, someone who actually had a conversation with AOL support and they were able to understand and do something about it!

TBH on the rare (thankfully) occasions that I have had to phone AOL support it was frustratingly hopeless to make them understand my problem let alone do anything about it!

I'm just talking from experience really... I've always synched at 8128 but until recently I only got 2Mb download speeds. But I guess (like you say) it was my Profile that AOL were capping. I assume AOL increased it to the maximum (7150) at some point (actually, it seemed to happen when I phoned them up to enquire about something else, so perhaps they were just being kind and increased it ).

Just spotted this thread on Digital Spy - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=...

Looks like it's not just AOL that are affected by the slow evening speeds - Sky, O2 and Virgin all seem to be being affected too. So even if any of us could leave AOL, we may not end up getting anywhere. I think it's a case of "better the devil you know"!

I am still mad about the email they sent me stating the following:

As a ‘thank you’ for your loyalty, we’ve upgraded your service for free - to give you the fastest possible speed on your line - up to 8Mbps. In fact we’ve made it up to 4 times faster than before. Top speed depends on your telephone line and your location.

The great news is your speed upgrade has been done automatically so you don’t have to do anything. And the best part is it doesn’t cost you a penny more. It’s all part of our commitment to giving you the best possible online experience.

With your new faster download speed, you can browse the internet, download files, films, TV and music in up to a quarter of the time it used to take.

1. I was already on the 8 Meg service and have been since the day they started the Platium range
2. it states that I will get up to 4 times the speed that I had, I think they missed the word "Minus" LOL
3. I did notice that while I was away for the last 2 days my Router must of rebooted itself as my MTU is back from 1400 to 1492 for some reason and my log states it happened last night at 2AM

Pete
Formally known as BB4Grimsby
National award winner for Broadband Campaigning