Eircom slow speeds at night(Clonee Exchange)

Kev.

Guys,
Hopefully one of you BB heads will be able to shed some light on this or help me in some way

I have Eircoms 3 meg package,everything was fine until a few weeks ago,I was happy enough with speeds etc

I noticed that every night at around 6 o clock the speed drops from 2.5 to around 0.5

I have done everything to troubleshoot from my end,
modem on/off,reset everything,secure WAP,ethernet cable to my laptop you know yourself...

Anyway I rang up Eircom and to cut a long story short the told me that the problem lies in the Exchange that Im using (Clonee)and it needs to be upgraded,
They cant tell me when this will be done but the manager told me it should be done by the end of the year!

As most other companys run off Eircom are there any other options/providers/solutions for me....

I seriously cant believe that in this day and age a person living in the capital of Ireland can get proper broadband.


Just to add that I ran a speedcheck on my neighbours eircom line from his house and he had a good connection of 1.5meg

Anybody any thought or opinions what I should do?

Thanks in advance

Kev.

Anybody any ideas please?

Sponge Bob

I would change to a business package for a while ( unless you are in a contract like a 12 month bundle) .

Once they admit congestion it is true, are you dropping in Connect speeds ( check line stats ) or speed TESTS which do not show line conditions .

Kev.

Sponge Bob wrote: »

I would change to a business package for a while ( unless you are in a contract like a 12 month bundle) .

Once they admit congestion it is true, are you dropping in Connect speeds ( check line stats ) or speed TESTS which do not show line conditions .

Thanks for your reply,SB

Would changing to a business package be better,whats the difference between that and home?

Thanks in advance

TheDeficit

you're not alone, my 7mb package slows to near dialup speeds some evenings, no explanation ever given. They're a bunch of gangsters and we can't do nothing about it.

Kev.

TheDeficit wrote: »

you're not alone, my 7mb package slows to near dialup speeds some evenings, no explanation ever given. They're a bunch of gangsters and we can't do nothing about it.

Exactly mate,dont know how they get away with it

lockers55

I have an eircom 7mb broadband package and for the last week or so it has dropped to under 2mb. I have tried all the usual tricks nothing has worked. My pings are now above 100. Im on the rhode exchange in offaly.

wannabepr

lockers55 wrote: »

I have an eircom 7mb broadband package and for the last week or so it has dropped to under 2mb. I have tried all the usual tricks nothing has worked. My pings are now above 100. Im on the rhode exchange in offaly.

same for me the last few months!

TheDeficit

any of you lads tried streaming a soccer game or use xbox live in the evenings? attempted both earlier but that's all it was, an attempt :rolleyes:

Sponge Bob

it is local congestion, we have had this from Oranmore and Frenchpark and Monasterevin in the past ( off the top of my head)

Complain like **** and then complain like **** again . Paul Donovan is the CEO and he is based in Heuston Square in Dublin . John McKeon is in charge of the exchanges ...same address .

Kev.

Sponge Bob wrote: »

it is local congestion, we have had this from Oranmore and Frenchpark and Monasterevin in the past ( off the top of my head)

Complain like **** and then complain like **** again . Paul Donovan is the CEO and he is based in Heuston Square in Dublin . John McKeon is in charge of the exchanges ...same address .

Thanks for that SB,Ill be ringing up John Mc Keon today,

No better man to keep complaining......

I was thinking this morning of changing providers in an attempt to sort it out?

Solair

Are there any alternatives to DSL out there?

Digiweb Metro's pretty decent, so is UPC cable broadband.

Sponge Bob

John McKeon is in charge of eircom wholesale who 'own' and run the exchanges and backhaul .

Many exchanges only have 155mbits of backhaul or are clustered around a larger pipe which serves a cluster of exchanges and is itself congested .

Thankfully my local exchange has 1gbit of backhaul and is itself subtended off Mervue which has 10gbit of backhaul to Dublin so congestion is not an issue . I told then that if it does get congested I will simply rip the substandard fibre out and use it as fishing line. They believed I would

This doc is a little bit out of date now but shows the problems and the issues very clearly .

http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/PDanon.pdf

The eircom core network itself runs at around 25gbits right now.

In that context a 10gbit pipe Galway > Dublin is pefectly adequate for another year or two and they should be able to bond a few wavelengths to get it as far as 40gbits before they run out of capacity on that particular fibre !

Eircoms plan , now complete , was to have 66 10gb sites and 170 1gbit sites for a total of 240 fast sites nationwide. Some are exchanges and some are datacentres/big customer , probably 200 exchanges in that mix .

However they now have near enough 800 DSL exchanges so ONLY 1 in 4 exchanges have 1Gbit or higher and the rest typically run at c.155mits or c.600mbits or in a few cases as low as 30mbits .

These 600 exchanges with legacy backhaul are the ones most at risk of congestion.

Like I said, complain like **** !

TheDeficit

Sponge Bob wrote: »

John McKeon is in charge of eircom wholesale who 'own' and run the exchanges and backhaul .

Many exchanges only have 155mbits of backhaul or are clustered around a larger pipe which serves a cluster of exchanges and is itself congested .

Thankfully my local exchange has 1gbit of backhaul and is itself subtended off Mervue which has 10gbit of backhaul to Dublin so congestion is not an issue . I told then that if it does get congested I will simply rip the substandard fibre out and use it as fishing line. They believed I would

This doc is a little bit out of date now but shows the problems and the issues very clearly .

http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/PDanon.pdf

The eircom core network itself runs at around 25gbits right now.

In that context a 10gbit pipe Galway > Dublin is pefectly adequate for another year or two and they should be able to bond a few wavelengths to get it as far as 40gbits before they run out of capacity on that particular fibre !

Eircoms plan , now complete , was to have 66 10gb sites and 170 1gbit sites for a total of 240 fast sites nationwide. Some are exchanges and some are datacentres/big customer , probably 200 exchanges in that mix .

However they now have near enough 800 DSL exchanges so ONLY 1 in 4 exchanges have 1Gbit or higher and the rest typically run at c.155mits or c.600mbits or in a few cases as low as 30mbits .

These 600 exchanges with legacy backhaul are the ones most at risk of congestion.

Like I said, complain like **** !

Do you know if eircom users suffering from this congestion would have the same experience with BT?

Lorcan 17

BT are simply a reseller of Eircom BB so the answer to that question is YES .

Sponge Bob

If your exchange is congested then complain to John McKeon ...no matter who your operator is. Send BT a copy by al means.

Kev.

Hi SB,

THanks for your time on this,

Is there any other way to contact John McKeon other than at this address

http://www.eircomwholesale.ie/about/

Maybe a phone or e-mail

Thanks in advance

Kev

Sponge Bob

You can punt one at initialsurname@eircom.ie or surnameinitial@eircom.ie and then PM me if either work

Kev.

Sponge Bob wrote: »

You can punt one at initialsurname@eircom.ie or surnameinitial@eircom.ie and then PM me if either work

Cheers SB,ill let you know if I get a reply,

Quick update

I rang Eircom to get a new phone line installed capable of getting better speeds(I can only get up to 3mb!)

The chap on the phone told me that my exchange is getting upgraded to ADSL2 by November and this should generate speeds of up to 8MB,This comes with a new price package and a limit of 50 GB Download and NO contension


So is my solution in sight?Hope so!

Thanks

Kev

Sponge Bob

Kev. wrote: »

The chap on the phone told me that my exchange is getting upgraded to ADSL2 by November and this should generate speeds of up to 8MB,This comes with a new price package and a limit of 50 GB Download and NO contension

He said WHAT ???

1. I believe the ADSL2 upgrade as Clonee is a large exchange , they may even do the backhaul in November as well .

2. They do not upgrade people when the exchange is upgraded to ADSL2 .

3. This package he is on about does not exist ....although it may by November. All eircom packages are contended to some degree ....there is no such thing as an uncontended ADSL package ....no matter how much you pay them.

Maybe he meant they will then offer 8mbit SDSL or Metro Ethernet which are uncontended as you would expect at the price .....around €2000 a month .

Kev.

Sponge Bob wrote: »

He said WHAT ???

1. I believe the ADSL2 upgrade as Clonee is a large exchange , they may even do the backhaul in November as well .

2. They do not upgrade people when the exchange is upgraded to ADSL2 .

3. This package he is on about does not exist ....although it may by November. All eircom packages are contended to some degree ....there is no such thing as an uncontended ADSL package ....no matter how much you pay them.

Maybe he meant they will then offer 8mbit SDSL or Metro Ethernet which are uncontended as you would expect at the price .....around €2000 a month .

Cheers SB

1.Hopefully they do both!

2.He said when this is done we will all be contacted and asked if we want this "New" package

3.Hopefully by November we get a new package,I also had doubts about contention,but if they get the speeds up with ADSL2 ill be happy enough

I got through to John Mc Keons office via e-mail and telephone and although he wasnt there his collegue told me she will defo have him contact me on Monday so I am hopeful on that side of things....

SB-do you thing with the exchange getting upgraded to ADSL2 with these supposed new packages this will solve my problems and I could even have 8 mb Broadband or is this wishfull thinking?

Thanks in advance


Kev

Sponge Bob

Kev. wrote: »

up with ADSL2 ill be happy enough

I got through to John Mc Keons office via e-mail and telephone and although he wasnt there his collegue told me she will defo have him contact me on Monday so I am hopeful on that side of things....

Thanks for the PM

SB-do you thing with the exchange getting upgraded to ADSL2 with these supposed new packages this will solve my problems and I could even have 8 mb Broadband or is this wishfull thinking?

If within 1.5 miles of the exchange then _probably_ . Giz your line stats then willya !

Kev.

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Thanks for the PM



If within 1.5 miles of the exchange then _probably_ . Giz your line stats then willya !

Sorry SB,do ya still need it via PM?

Bit of a tard when it comes to stats-

1.How do I find out where exactly the exchange is?

2.Whats the best way to get the stats?is it this-192.168.1.254-Go to troubleshoot -and stats-Att and snr


3.Ill post them in the morning when I get home.....


Thanks for you help on this SB your a star!

Kev

Sponge Bob

stats are click on http://192.168.1.254/ and then advanced / diagnostics I think ...somewhere in advanced anyway. You will see snr and margin info which tells us how 'noisy' the line is and from which data we can guesstimate sustainable line ( not backhaul ) speeds.

look at Deja Vus thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055658940

Kev.

Okay heres the stats,go easy on me:

Downstream Upstream
Max Allowed Speed (kbps) 3072 384
SN Margin (dB) 11.00 12.00
Line Attenuation (dB) 56.00 31.50
CRC Errors 384 13


Connected without filters:

Downstream Upstream
Max Allowed Speed (kbps) 3072 384
SN Margin (dB) 11.50 12.00
Line Attenuation (dB) 56.00 31.50
CRC Errors 0 1

Ive checked it through this and its not looking good is it?

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php

Sponge Bob

Looks like a 2mbit line to me with 56db of attenuation .

Looks like you are well over 2 miles from the exchange ..or that something is wrong with the wiring somewhere .

Did you test off the main eircom socket with everything else disconnected bar the modem ...especially sky boxes and dect phones ??

Is there a phonewatch and how recently wired was it ??? That also needs a filter which may not have been installed if the phonewatch is a few years old pre bb .

Run stats in daytime when it is behaving , I would expect more like 25-20db than 56db .

In that case maybe the problem is not congestion in the exchange but crosstalk ( line interference between you and the exchange ) . ADSL2 can improve this too .

lol_leo

Been reading this thread with interest. I basically have the same problem...everything was fine up to a few weeks ago and then my ping times have gone through the roof come 6 in the evening. Im in Navan and my ISP is Perlico so I called them up and they pinged the local exchange and said everything was ok on their side but were still suprised with the ping times on my side. Basically they tell me its the line Im on to the exchange which is overloaded and nothing they can do about it as its Eircom who assigned my line (max 42 households per line). Can I still complain to Eircom or is it they wont listen as Im not a direct customer?

Funny my D/L speed is still ok mostly just the ping times that is the issue. Could it be that other users on my line are given prefference by Eircom?

Sponge Bob

Again a set of good time and bad time line stats are in order to eliminate local conditions or house conditions .

If the line stats are the same in both circumstances the problem could be

1. interference within your house from a sky box etc
2. a neighbour using the same wireless frequencies , change the channel in the Netopia router from 6 default to say 1 7 or 11 and see if that gets you around the issue .

If the line stats actually change then it is a Crosstalk/Port issue , these are often complex to resolve but sometimes if you hassle eircom for a different port in the exchange they go away . Crosstalk may occur on distribution frames or in cable bundles out to housing estates . Better quality modems than the Netopia can sometimes nail the line up better, kitz.co.uk explains a lot of these issues

However if the line stats do not change between good and bad periods it is not the line .

If your lines stats are perfect and you eliminate wireless interference by using a network cable from your pc to the netopia then the slowdown is congestion in or beyond the exchange and you need to complain to eircom who own the exchange .

Some slowdown is expected sometimes but catastrophic slowdowns are not acceptable.

Kev.

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Some slowdown is expected sometimes but catastrophic slowdowns are not acceptable.

I agree SB,absolutely ridiculos.

I hope to hear from John tommorow so Ill keep you updated

sexmag

what i a minute who said clonsee is a capital???:D

Kev.

sexmag wrote: »

what i a minute who said clonsee is a capital???:D

Good catch,obviously I live in Blanch and am connected to the clonee exchange haha

lol_leo

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Again a set of good time and bad time line stats are in order to eliminate local conditions or house conditions .

If the line stats are the same in both circumstances the problem could be

1. interference within your house from a sky box etc
2. a neighbour using the same wireless frequencies , change the channel in the Netopia router from 6 default to say 1 7 or 11 and see if that gets you around the issue .

If the line stats actually change then it is a Crosstalk/Port issue , these are often complex to resolve but sometimes if you hassle eircom for a different port in the exchange they go away . Crosstalk may occur on distribution frames or in cable bundles out to housing estates . Better quality modems than the Netopia can sometimes nail the line up better, kitz.co.uk explains a lot of these issues

However if the line stats do not change between good and bad periods it is not the line .

If your lines stats are perfect and you eliminate wireless interference by using a network cable from your pc to the netopia then the slowdown is congestion in or beyond the exchange and you need to complain to eircom who own the exchange .

Some slowdown is expected sometimes but catastrophic slowdowns are not acceptable.

Im a bit confused about this but is it not a case of just pinging the router from your pc or laptop to see if there is a delay between them?

Sponge Bob

that helps eliminate local wireless interference yes , the results should be around 1 or 2ms every time . But local wireless interference from a neighbour would also give you a bad speed test albeit with nothing wrong with the line .

ongarite

I'm with BT on Clonee exchange and my speed tonight has gone to crap.
I'm on the top speed package with 24:1 contention ratio and I can usually max out my line at all times.

Edit:
Changed to Open DNS and all is back to normal.

dubdec99

Hi,

I got a phone line installed two weeks ago, i'm connected to the clonee exchange and have been informed by eircom that my line is an 'amber' line which basically means when they do a broadband test on the line, it neither fully passes nor fails....

They also told me my line is only capable of receiving 1mb speeds...the BT website line checker doesn't even recognise my phoneline as being able to recieve BB, even though when i rang bt they said i could receive up to 7mb but that eircom would have to update the line

Should I just go with eircom's 1mb package and hope that they upgrade the line sometime soon or look elsewhere for alternative means of getting BB?

Kev.

dubdec99 wrote: »

Hi,

I got a phone line installed two weeks ago, i'm connected to the clonee exchange and have been informed by eircom that my line is an 'amber' line which basically means when they do a broadband test on the line, it neither fully passes nor fails....

They also told me my line is only capable of receiving 1mb speeds...the BT website line checker doesn't even recognise my phoneline as being able to recieve BB, even though when i rang bt they said i could receive up to 7mb but that eircom would have to update the line

Should I just go with eircom's 1mb package and hope that they upgrade the line sometime soon or look elsewhere for alternative means of getting BB?

Personally I have changed to Imagine breeze,4mb down and up,if your only going to get 1 mb this might be worth a look at

Pjfc37

Hi guys ive recently had aptus rural broadband installed in my home in carlow,its called the rural broadband package you can view on there site www.aptus.ie its pretty consistent and it is 3mb download, 384k upload. i have an xbox 360 in the house and i can connect to xbox live send messages etc etc but CANNOT accept private chats and cannot seem to join games or anything i thought at first it may be my router so i plugged the internet straight in, is there anyone out there who can help me as its very frustrating to think i cant access xbox live even though everything seems to work im actually stumped, could it be that my upload speed is too slow?? i thought it woul be sufficient , does anyone have any past experience with this? thanks for your help.

lucernarian

dubdec99 wrote: »

Hi,

I got a phone line installed two weeks ago, i'm connected to the clonee exchange and have been informed by eircom that my line is an 'amber' line which basically means when they do a broadband test on the line, it neither fully passes nor fails....

They also told me my line is only capable of receiving 1mb speeds...the BT website line checker doesn't even recognise my phoneline as being able to recieve BB, even though when i rang bt they said i could receive up to 7mb but that eircom would have to update the line

Should I just go with eircom's 1mb package and hope that they upgrade the line sometime soon or look elsewhere for alternative means of getting BB?

It could be amber as the result has not been updated by eircom yet. Lines usually fail the test for up to a month at first. Would you say you are about 3 miles or more from the exchange?? If not, I would not worry about it.

dubdec99

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

It could be amber as the result has not been updated by eircom yet. Lines usually fail the test for up to a month at first. Would you say you are about 3 miles or more from the exchange?? If not, I would not worry about it.

The guy I spoke to from Eircom reckoned I was 5 miles from the exchange but said he couldn't be sure about it!!!!

me-skywalker

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Again a set of good time and bad time line stats are in order to eliminate local conditions or house conditions .

If the line stats are the same in both circumstances the problem could be

1. interference within your house from a sky box etc
2. a neighbour using the same wireless frequencies , change the channel in the Netopia router from 6 default to say 1 7 or 11 and see if that gets you around the issue .


If your lines stats are perfect and you eliminate wireless interference by using a network cable from your pc to the netopia then the slowdown is congestion in or beyond the exchange and you need to complain to eircom who own the exchange .
.

does sky box really interfeer with the net cause ive had slow down problems with mine since i got sky in althoug i jsut removed the phone line from the box but sill thinking it causes some interference....

lucernarian

The guy in eircom doesn't know shít about your line, beyond what a computer reports. It's usually easy enough to find out the location of the exchange, someone here might be nice and tell you where your one is. I can tell you myself in a day or two when i get the info.

I seriously doubt you're in the Dublin/Meath border area and are more than 5 miles from an exchange.



As for sky boxes, they don't (usually) slow the internet down. Like nearly everything digital with error correction, either it works or else the interference is enough to knock it off. Sometimes the box can lower the actual connection speed if it's unfiltered but the circumstances in that scenario are not often found.

If it's plugged out, it shouldn't cause interference. Unless the wiring itself has issues. The mere presence of extensions from your master socket, even if unused, can mess around with the DSL. Like a Bridge Tap (as seen stateside) of sorts.

dubdec99

I've ordered the 1mb package from BT....hopefully the line will be upgraded in the not-too-distant future

Thanks for all the replies.

lucernarian

Could you post back here with your stats when you get connected?? That will be the true test of how long your line appears to be. And your ping times to e.g. boards.ie or www.rte.ie. That will tell if you're on the ordinary 1mbit package or the reach extended one.

Then we can give you a good idea of what your line can take.

dubdec99

Will do

Sponge Bob

Line stats with sky box plugged in to line and stats without sky box plugged in, please.

dubdec99

My Stats:

Statistics Downstream Upstream
Line Rate 3072 Kbps 384 Kbps
Noise Margin 14.1 dB 16.0 dB
Line Attenuation 48.0 dB 27.5 dB
Output Power 0.1 dBm 8.2 dBm

lucernarian

Grand stats. Are they with everything (like sky boxes) plugged out, or with everything else filtered as per instructions?

dubdec99

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Grand stats. Are they with everything (like sky boxes) plugged out, or with everything else filtered as per instructions?

The only other thing plugged in is the phone and that's filtered obviously