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AOL slow at peak time - driving me nuts
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[Deleted User]
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Help - I am with AOL and they are driving me around the bend. The problem I am having is that every evening after 5pm it is impossible to use any web streaming apps such as iPlayer or Youtube due to speeds dropping through the floor.
I have used a number of speed testers (mainly speedtester.bt.com) and have conclusive evidence that downloads speeds drop from 4500kbps (at 2pm) to around 350kbps during the evening.
Normal surfing slows down a little, but downloading (not streaming) seems not to change at any time (I get around 600-700kb)
I have spend many an hour onto the "Help" desk to no avail. Unfortunately it seems to have got worse since recently moving onto "dialbb.com" login.
BTW I do not use P2P software and have ensured khost.exe is not running on any user.
Unfortunately I have another 11 months to go in my current contract
Any thoughts? JBB
I have used a number of speed testers (mainly speedtester.bt.com) and have conclusive evidence that downloads speeds drop from 4500kbps (at 2pm) to around 350kbps during the evening.
Normal surfing slows down a little, but downloading (not streaming) seems not to change at any time (I get around 600-700kb)
I have spend many an hour onto the "Help" desk to no avail. Unfortunately it seems to have got worse since recently moving onto "dialbb.com" login.
BTW I do not use P2P software and have ensured khost.exe is not running on any user.
Unfortunately I have another 11 months to go in my current contract
Any thoughts? JBB
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Non-LLU connections rely on the BT IPStream service, and AOL have to hire equipment and bandwidth from BT (to put it simply). With LLU connections, AOL use their own equipment so there are no issues with speed.
The official line from AOL about this is that it's congestion and that there's "nothing that can be done about it". Well, actually, if they hired more bandwidth from BT then the problem would be solved - other ISPs have had poor evening speeds on non-LLU connections, and purchasing more bandwidth from BT has solved the problem.
There's a massive thread on the Thinkbroadband forums discussing this issue: http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/aol/3713848-lost-connection.html
The people in the thread on the Thinkbroadband forum checked their exchanges and they're not congested, which points to the fact that the issues are AOL issues. My exchange isn't congested either. You can check exchange congestion here - http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/
Hope this helps!
I'd say it would be worth the effort (to keep pestering them) but if it's costing you money then it's probably not worth it! How long (i.e. how much money) does it take/cost to ring them up and give the result of another speed test?
This thread here is interesting though - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1225720
So it looks like non-LLU services on most of the major ISPs are below par at the moment. It's mostly urban areas which have LLU-enabled exchanges, and most people live in urban areas. So I suppose ISPs aren't too bothered with the minority of their customer base who are on non-LLU exchanges!
This will surely just make their systems even more congested, especially in the evenings! :mad:
They should sort out their IPStream issues before upgrading the speeds of those on non-8Mb packages. :rolleyes:
you have to remember people are coming home from work about 6.00 in the evening, having a quick bite to eat, and then logging on about 7.00.
from about 7.00 onwards, the whole world and his rocking horse are online.
That's true, but the fact is that (as a general rule) on LLU connections, the speed decrease isn't as severe as it is on non-LLU connections. Therefore there are issues with the connections between IPStream and AOL.
BTW does anyone know the email address of anyone important at AOL so I can write a stroppy email. I am at my wit's end dealing with the most woeful "Technical Help Desk" I have had the misfortune to come across. Period.
thanks
So it looks like they are traffic shaping on purpose by the sounds of things.
Dear J***,
Thank you for telling me that, my name is ***, I am sorry that you have experienced this issue and I am confident that we can work together to resolve it.
It would appear that the details you have are not logging you correctly onto the network for some reason. What I will do is now purge your connection an generate a new username. I shall test this for you now and with this we should have this issue resolved once and for all. These steps can be done offline so you do not need to be on the internet for this.
So, being in a caring sharing mood, I tried the new logon details just in case... You've guessed it, the speed I am now getting according to speedtester.bt.com is 151 kbps on a line that is syncing at 7200kbps.
I give up.
Yep the speeds are getting worse i had top speed of 0.2meg tonight
I have my MAC code and first thing tomorrow i'm going to use it after 9 years of being with AOL i'm out of there
I can't believe they're still trying to fob people off by implying that the slow evening speeds are isolated incidents!
Also you're either on their network or not on it - I don't see how "not being on it correctly" would cause slow speeds in the evenings!
I have a great graph in Excel showing the (odd) Up's and (many) Down's to share with someone at AOL that is not a call centre drone.
Now, just need to find out who to speak to...
I did the same as you and managed to speak to someone who didn't read from a script, and the general consensus was that it's congestion in the evenings and nothing can be done.
I had no problem getting my mac code from them at all came same day in my email, that was the fastest thing from AOL i have ever had