Contention / Traffic shaping

Noticed during peak times my connection speed half's from 6mb to 3mb.

Whether it is contention or shaping does not matter, what matters is for whatever reason zen now decide to do this and charge the same money while the customer gets half their connection.

Ringing them and letting them know your not someone to be messed with may get your speed back for a while or may not work at all.

At some point nearly all company's will 'try it on' and if they get caught out they blame it on tech fluff.

I did not expect zen to ever do something like this, very disappointed indeed...

Edited by deleted (Sat 14-May-11 14:27:11)

In reply to a post by Tox_Laximus:

Whether it is contention or shaping does not matter, what matters is for whatever reason zen now decide to do this and charge the same money while the customer gets half their connection.

Perhaps it is your local exchange? Therefore a BT problem and not Zen's fault..

You should do a speedtest using the bt speedtest domain to see if that is also slow, which will point the finger at exchange contention.

I don't pay any money to BT, how can it be their fault?

BT provide all the backhaul stuff from the exchange to Zen you service is dependant on BT. BT also provide the DSLAM/MSAN's that you connect to at the exchange.

Do the BT speed test and post the results along with your line stats from your router please so that other may be able to assist.

http://speedtester.bt.com/

Edited by IamQ (Sat 14-May-11 15:06:47)

Ok, oh wait a minute, what the hell am I paying zen for if I have to do all this work?

And installing that system hog/spyware/bloatware called java really necessary?

In reply to a post by Tox_Laximus:

Ok, oh wait a minute, what the hell am I paying zen for if I have to do all this work?

Because like with Gas, and Water, and Electric & Telecoms in the UK there are several people offering the same backend services with different packages, prices and specs to suite people.

As for 'doing all this work' it's not much really - at minimum you run the speed test and report it out as a fault (If there is one) otherwise you post all the details I've said and allow other people to assist which may help when you come to raise a fault (or not depending what we find)

In reply to a post by Tox_Laximus:

And installing that system hog/spyware/bloatware called java really necessary?

I don't know if there is any way round that - I should point out that the speed test is the official test required in order to raise or have a fault recognised as both BT and the ISP (Zen in this case) have access to the test data.

The official BT site reports the details you/BT/ISP needs like you sync as reported by the exchange, your IPProfile and throughput.The other speedtest site only report how long/fast it is to download a file.

It's your call what you do - I'm only pointing out how it is and whats needed to help you.

In reply to a post by Tox_Laximus:

Ok, oh wait a minute, what the hell am I paying zen for if I have to do all this work?

Like many things, you have to do some work yourself to get the fault diagnosed without expense/problems. When my car does not work properly, I diagnose it myself, then I can take it to a mechanic (if I choose) and tell them what the problem is. I can do the alternative which most people do is say "It doesn't work" and then pay extra for the mechanic to diagnose the issue.

Java isn't spyware, but you may have a point re bloatware.

I am sure if you ask Zen to send an engineer to the premises and diagnose the line fault they will, but at an expense.

What you need to do

1) Do a normal speedtest at thinkbroadband speed test
2) Do a speedtest at the BT speedtest domain
3) Alter router configuration to connect to BT speedtest domain
4) Do a speedtest at the BT speedtest domain

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/btwperformancetest.htm

Analyse the results to discover where the contention is.

Is it a BT wholesale connection? (is it using the BT back-haul network to reach Zen?)

I'll presume it is. I have the same problems during peak on my connection too. It's BT through and through. I know this, because some years ago now, the ops department (which I was in) of the company I worked for were invited in to BT's head office in London, so we could be shown around their ops department. The colourful screens where impressive, but there was one quote that the BT guy said to us all that I just had an internal chuckle to myself about:

'nobody is to know this, but during peak times, we apply traffic shaping to all our connections to even out the load across our entire network'

There you have it, official from the horses mouth.

To sum up, if you get any broadband connection supplied using the BT back-haul network, expect your traffic to be shaped. Expect it all the time, during peak periods at least. And expect never to reach the full speed on speed tests during peak times. It is not Zen's fault, it is BT. Period.

Your only option is to go with an LLU provider, or, some other different IP stream package/connection where the contention/shaping isn't as high. I was with Be for a while and that was blazing, all the time. I never saw a slow down on their network during the entire 2 years I was with them. Now I'm back on a BT connection, and I have to put up with their p*** poor network again. Gutted.

Its contention at the exchange, so...

1. Can this be fixed?
2. If so, how long does it take?
3. How many phone calls will I need to make?
4. Will I need to contact ofcom?
4. How many tests will I have to run?
5. Will I have to install dodgey third party apps to run these tests?
6. Will it happen again?

I pay my provider (zen) money for line rent, calls and Internet, so its their responsibility to take care of everything up to the master socket, these providers have too many cracks to hide in and like to make us waste time by jumping though pointless hoops while they pocket the money from having more customers sharing bandwidth.

In reply to a post by Tox_Laximus:

Its contention at the exchange, so...

1. Can this be fixed?
2. If so, how long does it take?
3. How many phone calls will I need to make?
4. Will I need to contact ofcom?
4. How many tests will I have to run?
5. Will I have to install dodgey third party apps to run these tests?
6. Will it happen again?

I pay my provider (zen) money for line rent, calls and Internet, so its their responsibility to take care of everything up to the master socket, these providers have too many cracks to hide in and like to make us waste time by jumping though pointless hoops while they pocket the money from having more customers sharing bandwidth.

1 - It depends what's wrong. It might be as simple as a faulty cable or a tree fouling the OHLE.
2 - Depends what the fault is. It might take 1 min to fix, it might take 1 week or more.
3 - 1 initial call to TS otherwise, don't know - it depends if you follow the advice given here.
4 - No
5 - Only if you class Java as one of those '3rd party dodgy apps'
6 - Maybe - it depends what's wrong.

In all the time its taken you in talking about the fault you could of run the tests and people could be on there way to helping you.

Either do what's required & call Zen TS today (they are open) and raise a fault at least, or contact CS Monday and get your MAC and try find another provider who will give you this golden end to end service you think your entitled to.. Just because you pay your line rent etc to Zen there are still things expected of the EU - the speed test is one of them.

I pay my electric bill to Southern but if I get an outage on the CP side of the connection its down to me to check my own fuses/breakers and not call Southern.
If I suffer an outage from the street I then raise that fault with UK Power Networks (as was EDF) and raise the fault with them (Even though I pay someone else) they they deal with the backhaul/street/distribution systems They come along and fix it, or provide a temp supply (in some special cases)

There are lots of people involved in xDSL delivery - BTWS, BTOR and the ISP each has there own layers to get through - but as an EU you only ever deal directly with your ISP. You do what they ask/expect/say and you get the fault progressed) You don't do what they ask/say/expect they *might* send an engineer at *your* cost and this could be anything from £135+ for a visit.

Also remember it's BT who run the bandwith in the exchange and backhaul cloud they may have oversubscribed links which will hurt everyone on a given node/MSAN/DSLAM/exchange.

There is only so far one can go in offering helpful assistence...

Edited by IamQ (Sat 14-May-11 16:07:07)