You may remember that about 2 months ago I came in here complaining that my connection was pretty crappy. Downloading only 400kbps (from Fileshack) where I should be downloading about 3000kbps. I said I had called Verizon and they said they couldn't do anything for me.
I kept calling every once in a while when I got fed up with my connection speed. In one of those calls, my speed increased to 1200kbps. I was pretty happy for a while until a few weeks ago...
I saw my cousin's connection going at full speed. I was pretty pissed off. Why don't I get that, I'm closer to the central office than he is. I just don't get it. So I called and they sent out the second technician. He was here since about 11AM to 2PM working on many things and thinking about all the different solutions there might be. He fixed a few things, making the signal quality better, but still the speed still sucks. He then noted that the DSL tree in the central office had a short. So after 2PM, he went to the central office to fix it and afterwards, the speed was actually a bit crappier. Giving me about 1040kbps. He said he checked everything and the hardware is working at excellent speeds, saying that I was getting 3360kbps going to my house. Weird.
So I called Verizon, maybe it was the modem or a software problem. The modem registerd the same speed, but something between the modem and my computer was messing it up. She tried some simple tweaks which didn't help but that was all she could do. I've already tried another modem, 2 different computer, and on a fresh new installation of windows and the problem still persists. After about 6 or 7 calls, Verizon is stumped at my speed.
I can't stand it. I don't think it's my BIOS settings. Maybe it's my house wiring, but that doesn't make sense. I didn't have this problem with cable. Everyone is stumped. Going back to cable however, is gonna be a task to convince my father, since he pays the bill.
Update 10/18/05
I was at my cousin's house again and envyous of his speed, thought of a new idea. I took my computer and modem there and tested them. I got the same fast speed that my cousin was getting. So, this rules out my computer and my modem. It's all Verizon or my house wiring. I called them and after about 30 minutes, the representative said they were gonna foward the information to the right people and I should have a call within 72 hours. Let's hope it works. I know it's not however.
Update 10/20/05
The guys called and said your connection is great, call technical support. After about an hour of switching cables and tweaking stuff, I was left with a malconfigured Router, now I have to call Linksys again and no solution to the problem. They said they don't know what's going on and sound frustrated with the problem. I asked if they could run a line from the NID to the modem, but they said it would cost 100 bucks. Hah. I've tried everything else and I don't think I'll risk 100 bucks for a chance that the connection might work like it should. So I told them to lower my speed to 768kbps, which will cut my download by 1/3 if it works like it should, but I get half off the price. So much for Verizon's help. I still want to try what cmetz said. But not right now. I'm gonna get my router working and then go kick ass in Quake 4.
Update 10/21/05
So now my speed is lowered to 768kbps. I only download at about 560kbps off of Fileshack. Where before I was downloading at 1.2Mbps. Even though the connection is within that 1.2Mbps, it gives me below 768kbps, which means that something is messing with my connection. Some wire. Maybe I'll call them back later and see if this means something to them, because it definitely means something to me.
Update 11/18/05
Today I got fed up with my connection again. Dammit. I called and somehow, I got around to checking out the NID. The NID was different than I thought it was. So I figured out how to work it, borrowed my cousin's wireless DSL modem & wireless adapter and checked out my connection from the NID. Still crap. Called up Verizon and they could only create another trouble ticket from this new information. Verizon technicians are attempting to fix my connection. Yay? I doubt they're gonna fix anything cause they didn't fix anything before. I need to wait till Tuesday or Wednesday of next week for a response. This is why you don't spend $100 on a hunch. They couldn't even F-ing do this themselves? Would it hurt to carry around a wireless modem and adapter in situations like this for troubleshooting purposes. This is weird situation though.
Today I got really annoyed at their phone service. Some Verizon personnel have attitudes with you. This one person interrupted me while I was talking and said, "Thanks for calling Verizon. Have a good day," and disconnected. WTF is up with that. Sometimes while being transered I either get disconnected or I'm on hold for a half and hour with no end in sight. That is just unacceptable.
My cousin has always had problems with his connection as well. Although he would get full speed, his connection would shut off many times during the day and sometimes it wouldn't come on for hours. This last time it did that, he got fed up with it because it was now working at 1600kbps instead of 3000kbps and asked me to call Verizon for him (he's not confident in his english). I called and they said the cable from the modem to the wall was too long. So I got him an early Christmas present -a wireless adapter. I installed it and hooked everything up and nothing changed. Even with a shorter wire, he gets 1600kbps. So I called again and guess what they did - created a trouble ticket so their engineers can fix the connection. And guess what happened. They said everything was ok from their end, it must be his computer. What a bunch of jerkoffs. I thought that what was happening to me was an isolated incident, but to my cousin as well, blocks away. Verizon must be in business only because their ignorant customers don't realize they are being cheated out of bandwidth.
Update 1/05/06
I bet you wished that in this update, the connection would have been fixed, right? Well, unfortunately for me, no it hasn't. Instead, it seems to have gotten worse with online gaming. I get high pings to many servers. One day CS:S servers under 100ms were plentiful, the next day it was a struggle to find one. Or a dozen or more would appear and then when I tried to connect, my latency would jump to 1024ms and then at times to 2000ms. I've only played CS:S twice since this started happening about 1 month ago. That includes today. I found one and I was kicking ass for like 5 minutes before I lost my connection.
This happens on CS:S and DOD:S. DOD:S shows many servers all the time, but my latency jumps when I try to connect. I'm able to find a little over a handful of servers under 100ms in COD2. I haven't been denied a connection there yet. And there are no Quake4 servers under 100ms for me. I live in the East US. You can compare with your connection.
So what have I resolved to do about my connection. First, I bought a Verizon Sux T-Shirt for $20. Google it if you want one. And 2nd, after paying off my credit card, which may take still a few months, I will pay: $78 to break out of Verizon's yearly contract and kick them out of my house; $100 to get a new coaxial cable installed to my room (satellite people messed it up); about $60 for a new cable modem and get Comcast back with their 4Mbps download. Oh joy. Can't wait to shake Verizon from my leg. It's gonna be Comcastic 😛
Update 1/30/06
The slow connection speed of the supposed 768kbps was too limiting. It was very difficult to find servers to play games on. So online play was almost impossible except on a few, hard to find servers. So, since I couldn't go to Comcast cable just yet, I ended returning to the 3000kbps connection for $30 from Verizon. 1200kps, what I was getting from the 3000kbps was much better than about 400kbps that I was getting from the 768kbps connection. And it was. More servers appeared with lower latencies.
Right now, I'm downloading Timeshift from Fileshack at 2840kbps. Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Great speed. I didn't touch anything. I don't know what happened, but today at least, for the first time, it is working as it should. Yay. :sun:
I kept calling every once in a while when I got fed up with my connection speed. In one of those calls, my speed increased to 1200kbps. I was pretty happy for a while until a few weeks ago...
I saw my cousin's connection going at full speed. I was pretty pissed off. Why don't I get that, I'm closer to the central office than he is. I just don't get it. So I called and they sent out the second technician. He was here since about 11AM to 2PM working on many things and thinking about all the different solutions there might be. He fixed a few things, making the signal quality better, but still the speed still sucks. He then noted that the DSL tree in the central office had a short. So after 2PM, he went to the central office to fix it and afterwards, the speed was actually a bit crappier. Giving me about 1040kbps. He said he checked everything and the hardware is working at excellent speeds, saying that I was getting 3360kbps going to my house. Weird.
So I called Verizon, maybe it was the modem or a software problem. The modem registerd the same speed, but something between the modem and my computer was messing it up. She tried some simple tweaks which didn't help but that was all she could do. I've already tried another modem, 2 different computer, and on a fresh new installation of windows and the problem still persists. After about 6 or 7 calls, Verizon is stumped at my speed.
I can't stand it. I don't think it's my BIOS settings. Maybe it's my house wiring, but that doesn't make sense. I didn't have this problem with cable. Everyone is stumped. Going back to cable however, is gonna be a task to convince my father, since he pays the bill.
Update 10/18/05
I was at my cousin's house again and envyous of his speed, thought of a new idea. I took my computer and modem there and tested them. I got the same fast speed that my cousin was getting. So, this rules out my computer and my modem. It's all Verizon or my house wiring. I called them and after about 30 minutes, the representative said they were gonna foward the information to the right people and I should have a call within 72 hours. Let's hope it works. I know it's not however.
Update 10/20/05
The guys called and said your connection is great, call technical support. After about an hour of switching cables and tweaking stuff, I was left with a malconfigured Router, now I have to call Linksys again and no solution to the problem. They said they don't know what's going on and sound frustrated with the problem. I asked if they could run a line from the NID to the modem, but they said it would cost 100 bucks. Hah. I've tried everything else and I don't think I'll risk 100 bucks for a chance that the connection might work like it should. So I told them to lower my speed to 768kbps, which will cut my download by 1/3 if it works like it should, but I get half off the price. So much for Verizon's help. I still want to try what cmetz said. But not right now. I'm gonna get my router working and then go kick ass in Quake 4.
Update 10/21/05
So now my speed is lowered to 768kbps. I only download at about 560kbps off of Fileshack. Where before I was downloading at 1.2Mbps. Even though the connection is within that 1.2Mbps, it gives me below 768kbps, which means that something is messing with my connection. Some wire. Maybe I'll call them back later and see if this means something to them, because it definitely means something to me.
Update 11/18/05
Today I got fed up with my connection again. Dammit. I called and somehow, I got around to checking out the NID. The NID was different than I thought it was. So I figured out how to work it, borrowed my cousin's wireless DSL modem & wireless adapter and checked out my connection from the NID. Still crap. Called up Verizon and they could only create another trouble ticket from this new information. Verizon technicians are attempting to fix my connection. Yay? I doubt they're gonna fix anything cause they didn't fix anything before. I need to wait till Tuesday or Wednesday of next week for a response. This is why you don't spend $100 on a hunch. They couldn't even F-ing do this themselves? Would it hurt to carry around a wireless modem and adapter in situations like this for troubleshooting purposes. This is weird situation though.
Today I got really annoyed at their phone service. Some Verizon personnel have attitudes with you. This one person interrupted me while I was talking and said, "Thanks for calling Verizon. Have a good day," and disconnected. WTF is up with that. Sometimes while being transered I either get disconnected or I'm on hold for a half and hour with no end in sight. That is just unacceptable.
My cousin has always had problems with his connection as well. Although he would get full speed, his connection would shut off many times during the day and sometimes it wouldn't come on for hours. This last time it did that, he got fed up with it because it was now working at 1600kbps instead of 3000kbps and asked me to call Verizon for him (he's not confident in his english). I called and they said the cable from the modem to the wall was too long. So I got him an early Christmas present -a wireless adapter. I installed it and hooked everything up and nothing changed. Even with a shorter wire, he gets 1600kbps. So I called again and guess what they did - created a trouble ticket so their engineers can fix the connection. And guess what happened. They said everything was ok from their end, it must be his computer. What a bunch of jerkoffs. I thought that what was happening to me was an isolated incident, but to my cousin as well, blocks away. Verizon must be in business only because their ignorant customers don't realize they are being cheated out of bandwidth.
Update 1/05/06
I bet you wished that in this update, the connection would have been fixed, right? Well, unfortunately for me, no it hasn't. Instead, it seems to have gotten worse with online gaming. I get high pings to many servers. One day CS:S servers under 100ms were plentiful, the next day it was a struggle to find one. Or a dozen or more would appear and then when I tried to connect, my latency would jump to 1024ms and then at times to 2000ms. I've only played CS:S twice since this started happening about 1 month ago. That includes today. I found one and I was kicking ass for like 5 minutes before I lost my connection.
This happens on CS:S and DOD:S. DOD:S shows many servers all the time, but my latency jumps when I try to connect. I'm able to find a little over a handful of servers under 100ms in COD2. I haven't been denied a connection there yet. And there are no Quake4 servers under 100ms for me. I live in the East US. You can compare with your connection.
So what have I resolved to do about my connection. First, I bought a Verizon Sux T-Shirt for $20. Google it if you want one. And 2nd, after paying off my credit card, which may take still a few months, I will pay: $78 to break out of Verizon's yearly contract and kick them out of my house; $100 to get a new coaxial cable installed to my room (satellite people messed it up); about $60 for a new cable modem and get Comcast back with their 4Mbps download. Oh joy. Can't wait to shake Verizon from my leg. It's gonna be Comcastic 😛
Update 1/30/06
The slow connection speed of the supposed 768kbps was too limiting. It was very difficult to find servers to play games on. So online play was almost impossible except on a few, hard to find servers. So, since I couldn't go to Comcast cable just yet, I ended returning to the 3000kbps connection for $30 from Verizon. 1200kps, what I was getting from the 3000kbps was much better than about 400kbps that I was getting from the 768kbps connection. And it was. More servers appeared with lower latencies.
Right now, I'm downloading Timeshift from Fileshack at 2840kbps. Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Great speed. I didn't touch anything. I don't know what happened, but today at least, for the first time, it is working as it should. Yay. :sun:
