PLEASE - Talk to me about my Verizon Internet service before I rip my hair out.
Greetings Everyone,
I'm hoping someone out there can help me figure out what's really going on with my Internet service. Please know in advance I don't know much about how networking works. I ask that replies are in simple terms so a novice like myself can understand what's being said, thanks in advance.
I've been a Verizon DSL subscriber for about 8 years now. For the most part it's always run good. I bought my first laptop 5 months ago. I was worried when I got it that I'd have problems with the wireless part & figured I'd use an ethernet cable to connect to the modem until I found out what I needed to go wireless. Much to my surprise, when I turned on the laptop it connected to the Net no problem.
My computers, modem, etc. are:
2 yr old desktop, nothing special but is decent & has never given me any problems. Windows XP Home Edition. Until last week I used BitDefender 2009 suite but now I use BitDefender AV 2010 w/Windows Firewall.
5 month old Gateway laptop with W7 Home Premium x64. I've used Windows Firewall since day 1 & started out with AVG then switched to BitDefender AV 2010 about 6 weeks ago.
Modem: Westell 327W sent to me by Verizon at least 5 years ago. I got it, hooked it up to my desktop & plugged it in. Never thought anything else about it, lol.
Internet Provider: Verizon DSL. Until very recently my pkg was for 1.5mb - 3.0mb. I now have the 4.0 - 7.0 "upgrade".
Some time in July I received an e-mail from Verizon concerning unsecured modems & suggesting to put a password on it. I figured out how to look at my network page & saw 11 devices attached to it, ack. I know all aren't active, I recognized my nephew's ipod & he lives in another state. Still, this really bothered me so after discussing it with a friend I put a WEP key on it in early August.
Here is my problem: For the past several weeks I've noticed a steady decline in my Internet performance. I run speed tests that get terrible results. A couple weeks ago I called Verizon, what a nightmare. I had to talk to 3 different people I could barely understand. The first guy wound up with access to both my computers *shudder* so he could check a few things. He dumped my temp files, cookies, etc. Took me to his speed test site, I then had him go to mine. All 3 sites produced terrible results. He did line tests before this that of course said nothing was wrong on their end. So after running me around he finally opens my network page & said exactly what I thought he would..."See those numbers there? That's what you're getting." He was referring to where it says Speed (Down/Up): 3360 Kbits/sec by 864 Kbits/sec. They are now 7616 by 864 since my so-called upgrade. These numbers have never changed any time I've looked at the page...never. After pointing out these numbers he then suggested that it was my computer's fault...both of them...and offered a paid for service by a "qualified" technician.
I am stuck with Verizon, it's them or dialup. I actually had them upgrade my sevice, lol. This kicked in early last Thurs morning. I've been reading about how Verizon is over loading their hubs & figured if I got more bandwidth maybe things would improve enough to make it worth it. Just so you know, I got this as a special since I didn't have any kind of commitment with them. It's pretty much the same price for a year's time of this "better" pkg that I was already paying.
I'm constantly running speed tests now, I'm sort of obsessed with it now, lol. I'm not getting very good results except for late night - early morning times mostly. A lot of times they're just as bad as before I upgraded. I have times where the U/L speed is higher than the D/L speed which is what went on when Verizon guy was on my computer as well as last night.
I don't know what to think now...is it me or is it them? I really think it's them though. Things I wonder about...are they really bogging down the hubs? How reliable are these line tests they do while you're on the phone with them? Maybe it's my modem, it's getting up there in years. Perhaps when I put the WEP key on it slowed things down? The timing does seem to jive with when I noticed my Net slowing down. Maybe I missed a setting that's crucial since I don't know much about these things.
I don't believe this problem is the fault of both of my computers, that's lame to me. If one had a problem or the other, sure, I could buy into that. But I have 2 completely different setups going on here & they're both experiencing the same problems. Both get very similar speed & ping test results.
Does anyone have any input or suggestions about this? The thought of calling Verizon again makes me depressed. I probably should've asked for a new modem when I had them on the phone recently. Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated. I'll add a reply after I post this with some test results taken throughout the day in case it helps. Many thanks in advance.
~Zendall
I'm hoping someone out there can help me figure out what's really going on with my Internet service. Please know in advance I don't know much about how networking works. I ask that replies are in simple terms so a novice like myself can understand what's being said, thanks in advance.
I've been a Verizon DSL subscriber for about 8 years now. For the most part it's always run good. I bought my first laptop 5 months ago. I was worried when I got it that I'd have problems with the wireless part & figured I'd use an ethernet cable to connect to the modem until I found out what I needed to go wireless. Much to my surprise, when I turned on the laptop it connected to the Net no problem.
My computers, modem, etc. are:
2 yr old desktop, nothing special but is decent & has never given me any problems. Windows XP Home Edition. Until last week I used BitDefender 2009 suite but now I use BitDefender AV 2010 w/Windows Firewall.
5 month old Gateway laptop with W7 Home Premium x64. I've used Windows Firewall since day 1 & started out with AVG then switched to BitDefender AV 2010 about 6 weeks ago.
Modem: Westell 327W sent to me by Verizon at least 5 years ago. I got it, hooked it up to my desktop & plugged it in. Never thought anything else about it, lol.
Internet Provider: Verizon DSL. Until very recently my pkg was for 1.5mb - 3.0mb. I now have the 4.0 - 7.0 "upgrade".
Some time in July I received an e-mail from Verizon concerning unsecured modems & suggesting to put a password on it. I figured out how to look at my network page & saw 11 devices attached to it, ack. I know all aren't active, I recognized my nephew's ipod & he lives in another state. Still, this really bothered me so after discussing it with a friend I put a WEP key on it in early August.
Here is my problem: For the past several weeks I've noticed a steady decline in my Internet performance. I run speed tests that get terrible results. A couple weeks ago I called Verizon, what a nightmare. I had to talk to 3 different people I could barely understand. The first guy wound up with access to both my computers *shudder* so he could check a few things. He dumped my temp files, cookies, etc. Took me to his speed test site, I then had him go to mine. All 3 sites produced terrible results. He did line tests before this that of course said nothing was wrong on their end. So after running me around he finally opens my network page & said exactly what I thought he would..."See those numbers there? That's what you're getting." He was referring to where it says Speed (Down/Up): 3360 Kbits/sec by 864 Kbits/sec. They are now 7616 by 864 since my so-called upgrade. These numbers have never changed any time I've looked at the page...never. After pointing out these numbers he then suggested that it was my computer's fault...both of them...and offered a paid for service by a "qualified" technician.
I am stuck with Verizon, it's them or dialup. I actually had them upgrade my sevice, lol. This kicked in early last Thurs morning. I've been reading about how Verizon is over loading their hubs & figured if I got more bandwidth maybe things would improve enough to make it worth it. Just so you know, I got this as a special since I didn't have any kind of commitment with them. It's pretty much the same price for a year's time of this "better" pkg that I was already paying.
I'm constantly running speed tests now, I'm sort of obsessed with it now, lol. I'm not getting very good results except for late night - early morning times mostly. A lot of times they're just as bad as before I upgraded. I have times where the U/L speed is higher than the D/L speed which is what went on when Verizon guy was on my computer as well as last night.
I don't know what to think now...is it me or is it them? I really think it's them though. Things I wonder about...are they really bogging down the hubs? How reliable are these line tests they do while you're on the phone with them? Maybe it's my modem, it's getting up there in years. Perhaps when I put the WEP key on it slowed things down? The timing does seem to jive with when I noticed my Net slowing down. Maybe I missed a setting that's crucial since I don't know much about these things.
I don't believe this problem is the fault of both of my computers, that's lame to me. If one had a problem or the other, sure, I could buy into that. But I have 2 completely different setups going on here & they're both experiencing the same problems. Both get very similar speed & ping test results.
Does anyone have any input or suggestions about this? The thought of calling Verizon again makes me depressed. I probably should've asked for a new modem when I had them on the phone recently. Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated. I'll add a reply after I post this with some test results taken throughout the day in case it helps. Many thanks in advance.
~Zendall
0
Comments
Just did this one:
Just did this one:
1) Test each computer with the other powered off and see if things speed up.
2) Next time it starts to slow down power cycle your modem & router and see if things improve, if they get better for awhile and then slow down again that is a symptom of overloaded network devices.
3) Make sure you have the most current firmware for your router
4) Get rid of the WEP Key, while it's better than nothing it's next to nothing. You should be using WPA 2 for security if all your devices support it and they should with no problem.
5) See if you can take your laptop to a friends place and hook it up or any free wifi coffee houses and test it there.
6) Remove your router from the equation and connect one computer directly to the modem and test it.
7) If you have any other non-computer network devices like an xbox, wii, ipod etc... or can borrow one for a bit test them out to see what the connection is like. It'll be harder to really validate it on xbox or wii but surfing the net and browsing vids on an ipod should show any slowdowns.
8) Get an Ubuntu Live CD and boot up with it (it runs the linux operating system off a cd nothing is installed on your computer) and test with it.
Asside from those things all you can really do on your side is do re-installs on your computers.
Now that being said. It is just as likely that it is Verizon's fault. It's not likely that their hubs are overloaded as that's one of the benefits of DSL over cable. But what they can and will do is increase latency (high ping times) at peak hours. That doesn't effect bandwidth (the pipe size) but it will effect the flow of traffic.
Lastly but perhaps I should have put this first. If you are downloading files off of Torrent sites they could be throttling your line while any torrent activity is going on.
I don't have a router I just have the Westell 327W modem Verizon sent me. I'm guessing it's a modem/router combo? I tried to do a firmware update but got an error. I tried to load the page that's in the addy bar & I get a "page not found" message. I went to Westell & when I type in my specific model & version I get the following message:
This product was specifically designed for Verizon and all support for this product is handled directly by Verizon.
Support Telephone: 800-VERIZON
Verizon Website: http://www.verizon.net
I can't find anything at the Verizon site though, probably because this modem is 5 years old. I don't know if the firmware is current or not & this is what it says on my network page about it:
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD width="22%">Check at URL</TD><TD><INPUT value=http://www.westell.com/upgrades/model327W/B99-327W15-00.xml maxLength=1331 size=70 name=ftpUrl> </TD></TR><TR><TD></TD><TD><INPUT class=button onclick=submitUrlForm() value=" Change " type=button></INPUT></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Update Status Unknown</TD></TR><TR><TD>Current Version:</TD><TD>VER:4.04.03.00</TD></TR><TR><TD>Newer Version:</TD><TD>Unknown</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>Status:</TD><TD>Last Update Check Performed: unknown</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Issues/Errata:
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
I've tried resetting the modem twice now using the Reset button but no improvement came from it. I will try recycling the power as you suggested next time things get slow.
On the WEP key, I'm not overly concerned about it at this time. I live in a somewhat remote area & other than one guy next door & the people upstairs my closest neighbors wouldn't be getting much of a signal, if at all. The upstairs people have their own Internet account & I'm not even sure if the guy next door has a computer. I check my network page almost daily so if I notice any strange devices I will definitely swap to WPA 2...if I can figure that part out, lol.
I will look into Ubuntu, I don't know what it is but I have the page open & will check it out.
Downloading torrents...yes, I do download a few shows I can't watch due to scheduling conflicts. I prefer to watch them on my WD TV box instead of on the laptop at Hulu. I do notice poorer test results when uTorrent is running which I know is to be expected.
I have some questions please. Should I be thinking of replacing my modem with something newer since it's 5 years old? I don't know if there's a life span for these devices. It does bother me that Verizon doesn't even have it on their site any more. Also, my network page has a Firewall Settings button. I clicked on it & it's set to None. Should this thing be on & if so, what does it do? I've always had a firewall on my computers but the ones that come from a software program. I am currently using Windows Firewall on both computers. What is the difference between what I'm using & one that comes from the modem? Is it a good idea to use one or the other or both?
Thanks again for your reply, much appreciated. I'll post my speed results now but only from my desktop since the ones on the laptop are practically identical. The first is before I turned on the laptop. After the laptop was up & running I did another & it was the same for both computers. Second set is after turning on uTorrent on the laptop.
First set, nothing changed after turning on the laptop & laptop had same results:
Second set, after uTorrent is running on the laptop:
To me, these are very good test results. I just wish they'd stay consistent. LOL, Verizon called yesterday to ask me about my recent service upgrade & wanted to know how my customer support experience went. Boy did he get an earful...
If you hit the reset button, sometimes that fixes things but you must have the username and password for the main verizon account to reconfigure it.
Also make sure the firewall setting is on on the modem. If you find it turned off then either one of the kids did it or you got a virus on your network.
Good Luck
paule54600@gmail.com
verizon tech for 14 years