Hi all, I've been experiencing a *lot* of issues with my DSL service for the past 18+ months, and have finally reached the point where I'm considering switching to cable. So I'm writing here today to see if what I've experienced is truly beyond my control and is simply "the way it is" and if I should go ahead and roll the dice with a new service.
Apologies in advance for the wall of text :D
Basic info - I live about 750 meters from my CO (according to techs who have visited) and that was supposed to be a real perk. So I switched to DSL about 5 years ago because our cable internet was slowing down significantly in the evenings and suffered frequent day long outages 2-3 times a month. The DSL worked great, and until last year I had no complaints other than the slow up speed.
My service plan is a 10 MB down, 1.5MB up - which has never, ever been the case in terms of up speed.
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This test above is actually higher an upspeed then I normally get to sites like youtube, Mediafire, or other hosting sites which is about 80KBs max. It's only been recently though that the upspeed has been an issue as I want to upload 720p or 1080p videos and they will take days, or find it impossible to maintain a positive share ratio on some torrent sites
However, poor upspeed hasn't been a deal breaker. I can live with it.
The crux of the issue is dropped packets, disconnects, and crazy pings, which CT tech support have fruitlessly danced around with no solution.
In the past 2 years, I've had the modem replaced 3 times, had techs out on half a dozen occasions to test the lines and replace various things from a box in the yard, the cables leading from it, to the phone jacks and wires in the house etc. I've also replaced my network card, tested the connection on other computers, and (hopefully) ruled out my own PC as the issue.
It has gotten to the point now when I call, they simply say "This is normal."
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Maybe it's because they just ping my modem 4 times and it works fine those 4, and doesn't show all the drops like a longer test? I don't know, frankly I'm not that technical.
But I can't play online games reliably, can't stream down any youtube content above 480p, have to refresh web pages to get them to load and my frustration level is getting critical.
The new Charter cable they've laid in the neighborhood promises 25 down, 10 up, and I'm seriously thinking it's just time to switch. Is there a fix for this?
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