[jersey]

These people like to throttle or "cap" your connection if you use the service to it's advertised specs. I think it's important to start spreading the word, and this issue to be addressed. No where in their TOS does it say I can not upload my own content via ftp at the advertised upload speed (1mbps). It says "unlimited" all over the TOS. But because they feel that uploading disrupts service to other members, therefore they can "cap" you speed at 80 / 150 kbps or as they see fit. However this cap also affects your download speed, cutting it by approx 60%. Furthermore, they dont bother to inform you that you have been throttled. Estimates claim that anywhere from 20-30% of thier users are throttled and dont even know it.



I had the cap slapped on recently, and it's about a saga at this point.

So......

About 5 weeks ago I notice horrific slow downs in both directions. I called, they told me it was me (more specifically because I was on a Mac), so I did some simple things: reset the modem, reset the router, etc. Those didn't work, so I went so far as reinstalling my system software. That didn't work either. Then the others in the house were complaining about how slow speeds were in both directions.

So after a week I call back(4 weeks ago). They tell me it *must* be the modem. So as per their request I take it in and swap it out. get home and everything seems good, for about an hour, then everything goes slow again.

I call them again (3 weeks ago), and this time they tell me it is because I am using an old d-link router. Now, I knew better, but it was justification to buy the belkin pre-n. So I spend the $100 on the router and things are good... for an afternoon.

I call again (2 weeks ago) they decide the will send a tech out. Fine, I'll wait a week. So the tech was supposed to be here btwn 8-11 22nd. For that week, the service is practically useless.

The 22nd arrives (a few days ago). 11 comes and goes. I call, they claim he was here at 8 :45 and we weren't. B.S., it's my day off, I was home. They tell me he'll be out by 4. 6 shows up, and he hasn't been here. Call again, they claim he'll be out by 8. Nope.... 2 techs finally show at 8:40 p.m. Fine...

So I walk around the house, we agree that it's wired and split in some really stupid ways. But it has never been a problem before, so why is it now ? They change a couple of splitters, and re-wire a "drop". And, they unhooked the cable and plugged the reader into it and said the levels were where they were supposed to be.They come inside and change a splitter, then "test" the connection, and claim everything is fine. They unhooked the cable and plugged the reader into it and said the levels were where they were supposed to be. I left them alone while working, but did hear a couple of "oohhh's" come from the room. Anyway....

A few minutes after they left I went back my computer, and found they had left their diagnostics screen open and logged in to my account. (for validity sake the site is »tsgtools.noc...../) So, I do what any nerd does, I poke around.

In a big red box I see "CUSTOMER MAY BE RUNING A SERVER"

I dont think anything of it...." MAY BE " is not " IS " and I wasn't, so no big deal.

The connection was fast for about .11 seconds after they leave. I call again. Get the same run around, I tell them I have done everything, blah blah blah. The next day I call back again after everything begins to time out, and a tech finally told me I had been capped.

It took them 5 weeks to come clean on what they were doing? Thats complete B.S.. They wasted my time, money and fuel for no reason. Not to mention they wasted their own time and resources. Would it kill them to tell you when you call ?

So the tech that told me I had been caped (who was super nice and helpful, btw) asked me the general questions. I told him, yes, I ftp projects to school all the time, and no they aren't small. He pretty much assured me thats why I was caped. He said he would "submit my account for review" and to expect a call within 24 hours." That was 3 days ago. I figure I call and get abused tomorrow.

What annoys me, besides the obvious, is that I'm sure the node I'm on gets busy all of the time since it's the same node Rutgers New Brunswick is on. So pretty much ANY uploading will get me tagged. So... just like everyone else here... I cant use what I pay for, because the ones who offer it cant accommodate it.

Sorry for the rant.

[Eriamjh]

Sue them.

[Leia's Left Bun]

Are they both Cable providers or DSL?

[jersey]

Originally Posted by Leia's Left Bun

Are they both Cable providers or DSL?

cable... no dsl.

[Leia's Left Bun]

Originally Posted by jersey

cable... no dsl.

Ya the cable provider up in Toronto, Canada started doing the same the DSL companies are not.

It sorta makes sense as Cable internet is based on a large network so if one guy is hogging up all the bandwidth he can slow it down for everyone else.

Luckily DSL is not like that.

[Kevin]

Never had problems with my cable connection here. Always the promised speed. Very little downtime.

Said cable problem is only a problem if your company doesn't have enough bandwidth for it's customers.

[Leia's Left Bun]

"Running a service won't really hurt other subscribers.
Cable connections are particularly vulnerable to an Internet problem known as upstream saturation. If the upstream gets saturated, downstream speeds can drop by 90 percent or more. It's possible for services run by only a few subscribers to adversely affect hundreds of other subscribers. This is due to a weakness in the basic TCP Internet protocol, and is why many cable Internet providers prohibit servers."

http://www.g4tv.com/techtvvault/feat...nnections.html


" The DSL upload capacity has no affect on the download.
Unlike cable, at least you only have to worry about your own traffic and are not affected by what other subscribers are doing."

http://www.g4tv.com/techtvvault/feat...nnections.html

[Kevin]

AGAIN, when said cable provider has more than enough bandwidth, it doesn't happen.

Dig?

I've been on cable since 99. Using the SAME provider.

I am usually always downloading something. I have never had issues with bandwidth.

My provider however, doesn't have bandwidth problems some smaller cable providers might. And this indeed WOULD effect them.

NOT ONLY THAT the answer you quoted was an answer to this question

"Running a service won't really hurt other subscribers. "

Since most cable provider disallow such things from running, and or cap upload bandwidths on customers that don't have a business account, this simply doesn't effect them.

So it's irrelevant.

So basically what you said is TRUE, it simply doesn't effect most cable providers. AKA it doesn't happen.

Now it might happen with some 2nd rate cable providers, I am not sure. Never used them. Never would.

[jersey]

Originally Posted by Kevin

...
Since most cable provider disallow such things from running, and or cap upload bandwidths on customers that don't have a business account, this simply doesn't effect them.

...

they cap their business customers too. awesome, no ?

they also cap you if you are running voip. this way you buy their phone service.

dicks.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by Leia's Left Bun

"Running a service won't really hurt other subscribers.
Cable connections are particularly vulnerable to an Internet problem known as upstream saturation. If the upstream gets saturated, downstream speeds can drop by 90 percent or more. It's possible for services run by only a few subscribers to adversely affect hundreds of other subscribers. This is due to a weakness in the basic TCP Internet protocol, and is why many cable Internet providers prohibit servers."

For what it's worth, I do not believe that is correct (and that source* is certainly THE last word in technical issues... LOL). There is no fundamental "weakness" in TCP/IP that affects cable, and uploads don't affect others' downloads to any significant degree. Furthermore, while cable connections are "shared", they're not done the way people think, nor are they shared to the degree people think. (Nor is DSL as individualized a connection as many would hope.)

tooki


*I googled the alleged problem of "upstream saturation" and noticed something curious: most mention of it was on cable operators' sites (G4 Tech TV is owned by Comcast), and most of the remaining mention is uncredited-but-obvious paraphrasing of the article you linked. I think if it were a legitimate problem (e.g. a flaw in TCP/IP), then networking experts might just have picked up on it.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by jersey

they cap their business customers too. awesome, no ?

They cap them to the point of the prices. Meaning the more you pay, the more bandwidth you get. Just like anything else.

DSL does this a well.

[jersey]

Originally Posted by Kevin

They cap them to the point of the prices. Meaning the more you pay, the more bandwidth you get. Just like anything else.

DSL does this a well.

no.... they bang them back to 80k up if they are uploading too much, i asked. i was just going to move to the business account, serve my site(s) out of my house and ftp all day. between the money saved on hosting per month the difference would be less than $15. one of their advertised "advantages" is that business allows you to run a server. a slow server connection...just what you'd want as a business owner.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by jersey

no.... they bang them back to 80k up if they are uploading too much,

Huh? What cable company are you using? You pay for the bandwidth you can use up front.
There shouldn't be an ability to "use more"

[nerd]

This isn't a TCP thing. A quick quote from http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/109...mber_cmts.html Cisco has a lot of cool info like this page online. It makes some good reading if your into this kind of stuff.

Number of CMs per Upstream Port

It is strongly recommended that the provider keep the number of CMs per upstream port reasonable. This again is not a Cisco implementation restriction. A DOCSIS upstream channel is a multiple access time-aligned contention based communication channel. We do not want the contention level on any single upstream to be so high as to cause excessive multiplicity of collisions with ill effects of laser clipping, etc. Another by product of excessive collisions are latency of recovery times for Cable Modems when contending for a small amount of ranging opportunities when a large number of Cable Modems are already transmitting data. The Cisco CMTS uses dynamic ranging to ensure modems will always get a chance to register, but the number of opportunities decreases as the load detected on the upstream increases to ensure we are granting the data requests.

If the upstream is excessively loaded with too many modems then it may take longer for modems to recover to online state which can impact customer satisfaction.