Contention Ratio / Bandwidth Suckage

[Soupdragon]

Ok here's the deal. I've been with UTV in Cork for years (approx 5 years I think)
I noticed a real drop off in my speed about 3-4 months ago and random disconnects started happening.
Got my speed upgraded to 3Mb connection and a fixed IP address.
Now I get 2.6 Mbs in the morning then drops off during the day to 200-250 Kbs during the afternoon and gets as low as 100 Kbs during the evening with more random disconnects - basically the connection becomes unusable during the evening - I had 2.7 Kbs last night!!!

Bought a new router and micro-filters and using a new CAT 5 to connect to the router. No difference.

I'm being told that this is probably a contention ratio issue by UTV, but on a 3Mb connection the contention ratio should be 24/1 and I'm struggling to believe that so much bandwidth is being hogged by other users that my connection speed drops by a magnitude of 10.

Any ideas?

[underthesky]

I'm on UTV's 2Mb connection and your problems pretty much mirror mine. The service is absolutely rubbish in the evening here in Castlebar.

[Belzebub1]

My Download speed sucks while my upload speed is fine, see details below.
I ahve contacted UTVIP about the poor speed and they ahve advised that there are some issues with the Eircom network, it looks like eircom are reducing the speeds in the evenings and weekends. I ahve advised UTVIP that I will not be paying for their service while it has such a poor performance. I will await their feedback and possible report this to consumer rights folks as I am not getting what I paid for,


Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 2899984 bps
Upload speed: 262704 bps
Quality of service: 95 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 12 ms
Average download pause: 3 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 66 ms
Average round trip time to server: 67 ms

VoIP test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 8.0 ms
Jitter: server --> you: off
Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %
Packet loss: server --> you: off
Packet discards: 0.0 %
Packets out of order: 0.0 %
Number of supported VoIP lines: 4
Estimated MOS score: 3.9

[Hoops]

Hi all - I live very close to the Dún Laoghaire exchange, I have been with UTV for years (since dial-up) & on 3MB since it became available. I have always been happy with the service & I never (ever) had a speed issue with them until the last few days: My download speed average over 6 days (5am, 8am, 1pm, 5pm, 8pm, 11pm), several tests done on irishisptest & speedtest.net has been 0.02MB DL & 0.03MB UL - Lows of 8K down / 10K up !!!!!
I contacted UTV, here was the response:
"Good Evening,
I've carried out a test on your telephone line with Eircom and it came up with a result of RED. This indicates that there is something on the line which may be affecting your broadband connection/speed.
A fault has been logged over to them. I shall keep an eye on the status of this fault in the coming days. As soon as Eircom state the fault is "pending clear" or "clear", I will be in touch with you to assess how the connection speed is working."

Who is at fault here? UTV are leasing the lines, so Eircon should be providing proper support.....OR, are UTV not leasing enough lines for their new customer base & trying to rob Peter to pay Paul??????? Just a question!

[Soupdragon]

It's allegedly the upgrades to exchanges the Eircon has carried out.

Supposed to make the lines capable of 7.2 Mbs - which my test this morning would tend to back up.

My connection showed 5.8 mbs this morning but as usual is way down by this evening to 50-100 kbs at best.

Checked two nights ago with a neighbour who is on BT Ireland - he was rattling along at 845 kbs and I was scrawling along at 5 kbs!!!!

I smell a strong pong of fish!

Read it and weep :-(

Download speed 5 Kbps (socket test)
Upload speed 332 Kbps (socket test)
Quality of service 1 %
Maximum delay 30870 ms
Round trip time 71 ms
Upstream jitter 0.8 ms
Upstream packet loss 0 %
Upstream packet order 100 %
Upstream discards 0 %

Seriously thinking of ditching my ISP who I have been with for 5 years if this isn't sorted soon.

[Irishdaz]

I'm having the same issues too. I'm in Newbridge, Kildare using their 3mb package. I think they have increased my Bandwidth to try and resolve the problem but it hasn't worked. My router says i'm getting 7mb/s and if i do a speedtest on speedtest.net it usually says i'm receiving between 5 or 6 mb/s.
But when i try to download anything i get a transfer rate of about 20kb/s. Its ridiculous. I'm tired of complaining to them. It works in the morning, pointless trying to use it in the evening.

[Hoops]

I guess we are all feeling pain from UTV!! I kept a record from today which declined steadily! - I will just post a few instances below. I'd be interested to hear if youse guys have the same decline!

Sat, 5/9/08 - 105
Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 4720264 bps
Upload speed: 561752 bps
Quality of service: 60 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 119 ms
Average download pause: 2 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 49 ms
Average round trip time to server: 51 ms

Sat, 5/9/08 - 12:16
Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 263112 bps
Upload speed: 411056 bps
Quality of service: 31 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 978 ms
Average download pause: 57 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 99 ms
Average round trip time to server: 100 ms

Sat, 5/09/08 - 20:57
Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 57520 bps
Upload speed: 225448 bps
Quality of service: -- %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 12062 ms
Average download pause: 275 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 81 ms
Average round trip time to server: 81 ms

[moojosp]

I'm in Co Meath and until last Wed have had reasonable service from UTV (been with them 3yrs+). However, service went tits up on Wed evening and I was unable to play online games as usual. My latency peaked at 5K ms - bloody wonderful! :P

Following discussion with them, my information is as stated above. Eircom is doing upgrading work on exchanges and this is affecting all ISP services in the state. My argument is that as a customer of Eircom, they shouldn't be forced to accept this from a provider (even if its the only one) no more that we should have to pay for what we get as result. UTV should demand a rebate from Eircom imo.

Anyhoo, service improved on Friday and has been reasonable until this morning when I got the following reading:

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 333080 bps
Upload speed: 137408 bps
Quality of service: 59 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 576 ms
Average download pause: 41 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 251 ms
Average round trip time to server: 254 ms

Not good for a 3MB connection with 24/1 contention ration, eh?

[benbyrd]

I have been getting between 3MB & 50kbps download at different times of day. Upload is always at 55-57kbps anytime. I'm in cavan. Can anyone tell me what upload speed they are getting in other parts of the country. Customer service say that it must be conjestion but have no way of knowing what upload should be. They only work on download speeds which is up to 3.6MB. http://www.irishisptest.com:443/mysp...port?id=205805

[alexearnshaw]

yes I have been having similar problems with UTV in the last month or so. I am in Cavan (Bailieboro) and am on their 2Mb service for the last 2 years with no problems until recently. I get around 400kbps download in the morning but by evening time this is down to about 30kbps. My brother has UTVs 1Mb service in Killeshandra and he gets over 400kbps download at most times of the day and has not had any problems whatsoever. This would lead me to believe that maybe it is an Eircom line problem, so I wonder is it worth changing ISPs or will I have the same problems if it is an Eircom fault???

Has anyone with similar probs had any resolution from UTV or has anyone tried switching ISP?

[Soupdragon]

Alex unless you swap to a cable or wireless ISP you will have the same problem. As you'll still be using the same Eircon exchange and copper to your house.

[alexearnshaw]

I thought as much. I have contacted UTV support but no response as yet. I guess I'll have to just stick with it and hope that eventually things improve...I don't think there are any cable or wireless options where I live except for maybe Net1 who I've heard mixed opinions about...

[cunnijo]

It seems from what I read here that Eircom are up to their old tricks again. Making it awkard for other ISP's to use their network using the exchange upgrade as an excuse. You don't see many who are with them giving out about it do you? It seems all is reasonably working well for them.

In relation to wireless however it really depends on as was mentioned where you live and if you have a clear line of site of the nearest base station. Overall it may be a better option than DSL if the speeds mentioned are anything to go by. Of course if you are in a cable area that's another option too, as both do not depend on that monopoly telco.

[iprolonged]

hi all, similar tale of woe in Blackrock. just a quick question - how do I find out my contention ratio?

D

[oneill.dav]

If your exchange has been upgraded, the new 3Mb package will have a 48:1 contention ratio, same as with 1Mb lines. You will only get 24:1 if you are on the top residential package of 7.6Mb.

Again, it works out like this...

1Mb = 48:1
3Mb = 48:1
7.6Mb = 24:1


Any exchanges that have not received the Eircom upgrade will work out like this...

1Mb = 48:1
2Mb = 48:1
3Mb = 24:1



By the way, I'm experiencing issues with my connection too. I'm with UTV on the Killerisk exchange in Tralee. My line was downgraded today from 7.6Mb to 3Mb at my request, to hopefully save money and also to increase performance, namely in the way of consistency and latency, not top speed. My 3Mb line shows an SNR (down/up) of 32/19 and a Line Attenuation of only 3/2. Speeds of 100-500Kb/s during the day and evening. Full speed during off-peak times, usually the small hours. I can interchange my username and password in my router to use my own UTV credentials or my parents' BT credentials, meaning I can change ISP at will. Odd how it works, but it works, which I discovered by accident back in March this year. Switching my credentials over to BT shows no better results, so I can conclude that it's Eircom's fault. I hope it's only sawdust from the upgrades and that it will be sorted soonish.

[Raymeo]

I remember some time ago (cpl years) loads of people moaning about NTL service, in a sinilar fashion. Am with them the last 3 years, and was originally on 3mb, with was upgraded to 6, then 10, and now 20. My qos runs at about 90% on average, with DL averaging about 16MB, and Upload 1.2MB.

If you have the chance, make the switch. I soo feel for everyone going throught the issues mentioned above.

[Freddy687]

I have been with UTV for about 2 years. The service from the Fermoy exchange is also gone to pot over the summer. Hit a new low of 44k last weekend.
Two lads where I work , one with eircom and the other with BT are having the same trouble.
The BT lad was told its eircoms fault and if he is not happy then try a different ISP. The lad with eircom was told by tech support nothing she could do, except tell everyone else to get off net when he wants to use to surf!!!

[waxies]

I've been with UTV for about 3 years. All was well until about 6mths ago. I've been on 2mgb for about 18 mths. For the past 6 mths I've had total drop out, this was initially blamed on the line and so out came the eircom man to tell me that it must be my house connections(its not) but when he went back to the exchange he found a fault and fixed it. 1 week later still no improvement and so out came the eircom man, he says he'll pass it on to the 'road eircom man' met him on the road he said it was 'shot pellet' in the line and would trace and fix it...... and so it goes on and on UTV eventually logged it as a broadband fault and told me it was fixed, its not however it has improved as I was getting total dropped connection, now I can get 7.12kbps.... now can't get hold of UTV.
Regardless of where the fault lies I believe I have a contract with UTV it is up to them to provide the service I pay them for...probs with eircom are UTV's and they should play hard ball.... a UTV rep told me last week that there is a complant lodged with comreg regarding speeds an eircom and so the saga continues

[ardag]

Janey MAck and there was me thinking I was on my own, noticing UTV Internet broadband speeds going down the tubes - and getting 7.5KB/Sec on what is supposed to be a 3MB connection! Talk about rubbish! - Other than NTL - What is the Quality option?

[IRISHRANGER]

its all good (today)