If any of you work for "Deathstar" or it's related Satellite TV company...

[Aria]

I work for a DSL company in the great white North, and I'll just say that EricKei is spot on. We've picked up subscribers from our cable rival because they were TOO popular in an area and everyone's speed was getting choked.

As for the speeds you're getting... wow. In a bad way. I wouldn't put up with that, I would switch if they can't fix it.. It does make me laugh a little, though, because I recently had a customer complaining that we didn't have fibre in his area when he qualified for 50 megs on copper. :P When I told him that was a good copper qualification he asked me what I bad one was... I was like, 'Well, 15 megs. Or 6. Or 1." He could hardly believe people had connections like that.

[EricKei]

csq: Glad to hear that the upload limits have been improved! ^_^ Thanks!

Aria: We have 16 down/1.5 up here (small-to-midsize town, 25K in metro area), and our phone/DSL substation is literally across the street (visible from our front door, maybe 30 feet away)...And, while we get maxed out speed (usually) within that limit, we have learned to expect daily service hiccups (of 30 seconds to 5 minutes) at around 2-3 pm and just after dinnertime, every single day. This is on DeathStar wireless, and they have no earthly idea what's causing it. They even came out and ran new wiring to our house, as well as putting new wire into the substation box itself (which, to be fair, was due for an upgrade)!

[csquared]

I remember those old satelite and cable modems where you got fast (relative for the time) downloads, but uploaded over dial up.

Oversubscribing is one of the most common causes of the slowdowns. You will typically see the problem during peak periods, like the ones Eric mentioned.

If the slow speeds are consistent, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, then it is probably an equipment issue.

MJR, One other thing. Have you checked your data usage? Could someone be "borrowing" your network? Also, when you ran the speed test, did you kick everyone off the network and run it from a wired connection?

[EricKei]

Our hiccups are total service outages, always at the same time. Right after dinner makes perfect sense. The daytime one, not so much. They've run out of stuff to replace, in our case x.x

16down/1.5up for something like $50-60 a month, too >_< I've been trying to convince the fam to go to competing cable provider, who is offering ~25down/2.5up for the same price, 100down/10up (on cable, not ADSL...wtf?!?) for closer to $90, and as much as 400down/40up for more like $200. The ONE company that has true fiber lines here only offers that service to business customers.

[mjr]

MJR, One other thing. Have you checked your data usage? Could someone be "borrowing" your network? Also, when you ran the speed test, did you kick everyone off the network and run it from a wired connection?

Well, our network is only wired at my house. We have all wireless services turned off (due to the speed thing).

We have a total of seven devices. Three of which are wired. So needless to say, when we upgrade (if we go with Deathstar) we are gonna need something fast. As I stated earlier, I see ads on television for a company that rhymes with Plectrum that offers cable modem Internet at speeds "up to" 100Mbps. Their website says they aren't in my area, but I've seen trucks on my street, I believe, so I think they are.