philipnet

SBC DSL "cap on dslam" at 768 Kbps I think this story -- of my DSL situation -- may be of help and interest and info to others. And I have some questions at the end. It has taken me years (literally...and I'm so embrassed to admit that) to get the info and figure out that the DSL speed to my house and my street block is VERY SLOW. (My THANKS to www.testmy.net and volunteers for making speed tests available -- that work on my Mac OS 9.) To make a long story short, I was recently been told by an Earthlink (EL) tech that SBC has put a "cap on the dslam at 768 Kbps". Did I get that wording right? Does that make sense to you? The gist is that SBC is not provisioning my block for 1500, but has cut the 1500 in half for a maximum of 768 of which I am getting about 70% of that. I thought I was "provisioned" out at 1500 Kbps, but I am only getting 320-595 Kbps download. I average about 500 Kbps download and 220 upload. ------------------------- Details of my DSL setup: My ISP is Earthlink DSL (but they use SBC's DSL lines here in NorCal). I'm in Danville, CA -- Central Contra Costa County in San Francisco East Bay. I'm running on an old 1996 Mac G3 Powerbook with OS 9.1. (I always just thought that my slow computer was to blame.) No router -- just ethernet to modem to phone line. I'm on the last street block in the small subdivision -- at end of street cul-de-sac. I'm pretty far from the phone co's DOWNTOWN central switching station -- which is the real problem -- but they have offered DSL service here since 2001 at least. Earthlink's ads generally state that my speed should be "up to 3.0 Mbps" -- 3000 Kbps -- with no guarantees of anything. But I've been getting the same speed for many years of about 500 Kbps. Earthlink recently told me that they have me as "provisioned" for 1500.....and that I should be actually receiving about around 80% of that. When I told them I wasn't getting even 600, their Tech Supp looked into it (probably checked with SBC). Next day, EL told me that SBC had a cap on the line and that EL couldn't do anything about it. Recently, I've had neighbors run speed tests via www.testmy.net: I (with Earthlink) get an average DSL download speed of 500 Kpbs. My neighbor ONE HOUSE farther up (with SBC) gets an average DSL download speed of 650 Kpbs. Two neighbors a couple houses farther up (with SBC) get "noticeable slow" DSL speeds -- but haven't done recent tests. One says he gets 300 - 500 -- which is consistent with my range. A neighbor (with SBC) ONE BLOCK AWAY and CLOSER TO DOWNTOWN is getting an average DSL download speed of 1150 Kpbs. (Can one block really make that much difference??) A neighbor (with Comcast Cable) a couple of houses away and closer is getting an average Cable download speed of 2400 Kbps. He thought he was "provisioned" for 3000. (So, guess what, I'm looking into SWITCHING to Cable! The DSL on my block sucks!) After speaking with Comcast -- they say they recently upgraded the area to 4000, so I now think that my Cable neighbor is actually provisioned for 4000, but hasn't cycled his Cable Modem in months and so is still getting the older slower speed. (Is that possible?) ----------------------------- WHAT DO YOU THINK? 1) Is there such a thing as a "cap on the dslam of 768"? 2) Can there be such a difference in DSL speed (1150 vs 500) with just one block difference in the same small subdivision? 3) My neighbor gets an average of 650, but I have never gotten more than 595. Is that just a factor of my slower computer? Or because I get my DSL via Earthlink versus directly from SBC? 4) Do you think it's possible that my Cable neighbor is only getting 2400 of 4000 because he hasn't cycled his modem after the Cable upgrade from 3000 to 4000 (as Comcast claims)? (He gone away for awhile, so I can't ask him to retest his speed.)

When you do a GOOD thing, you grow. Thanks to you all for the good site, good volunteer work, good advice/info. I've just found your site.....and I know that I've spread the word to 6 neighbors already. I had been using another site for speed tests, but then was without a site that I could use for about 8 months because I'm on an older Mac (OS 9) which won't work with newest Java version (and speed tests that require the newest Java version). Your service to the community IS noticed and appreciated!