DSL Slowdown?

wormbreeder Jul 25, 2010 23 Comments

We use Qwest DSL and for the last two or three weeks we have been having weird slowdowns. Most of the time, web pages load almost instantly but sometimes a page takes so long to load that we get a “can’t find the server” message. It’s not site dependent and we haven’t changed computers, DSL modem or router. It’s almost like we are getting a busy signal or something. Anyone else who uses Qwest DSL (especially in the Woodland area) experiencing these slowdowns?

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23 Comments

Beverly

about 14 years ago 

I have the same service, and the same problem.  It has only been a recent issue.  I thought it was just me.

zra

about 14 years ago 

We haven't noticed anything unusual here.

Beverly

about 14 years ago 

That's a little weird. I was going to say it seems to be happening to me, too, and there's another Beverly who already said that.

EvilResident

about 14 years ago 

I have Charter and it happened a lot at first. I was resetting my router 1-3 times a day... I have four people living in my house, each with at least 2-5 wi-fi internet devices... So I got a second router that functions as a range extender, and I haven't had a problem since.

It may be your router, not the service. I'm not experienced with DSL though.

Cynic

about 14 years ago 

If you have a wireless router, try plugging your computer directly into the DSL modem rather than using the wireless.  If that doesn't seem to help, then I would contact Qwest.

Carla

about 14 years ago 

Our Qwest T1 is doing the same.

ZB

about 14 years ago 

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

Jude

about 14 years ago 

I have Qwest and I have to unplug the modem a few times a week because out of the blue it kicks off DSL.  Sometimes it is very slow and I have to unplug and plug back in (a lot of exercise crawling under my desk).  Finally, I turned off my firewall because Firefox was having a zillion problems and things run a bit smoother.

huitz

about 14 years ago 

For what it's worth, I've recently had the exact same problem with charter cable.  It's completely unrelated, but just saying that both seem to be fallible at times.

We never had a problem with the corporate T1 in CO.  That was Sprint, IIRC.  Carla, a T1 usually has a guarantee of service in the contract.  You should call Qwest. You might have legal recourse. If it's a shared T1, on the other hand (like a 384K frame), then all bets are off.

wormbreeder

about 14 years ago 

I did turn everything off and then restarted when this all began. It seemed to help but the problem returned a few days later. I was not sure whether the reboot helped or I just got lucky for a while. If the modem is dropping DSL, it then picks it back up on its own because after a while things return to what seems like the normal speed. I guess I need to make rebooting a daily or every other day activity.

I am now using two computers on the same wireless where previously I was using one, but the slowness is there even when only one of the computers is being used.

Pear Head

about 14 years ago 

Carla, huitz:

You don't have QWest T1s (primarily as QWest doesn't offer T1 service to residences, if at all anymore) - you likely have DSL - there's a (big) difference.

T1 is rated at 1.544 mbit/s.

huitz

about 14 years ago 

When it goes out, see if your modem is terribly hot to the touch (I mean hot enough that you can't hold your finger to the hot spot for more than 5 seconds; hot spot varies depending on where the chip is).  It might be overheating.

huitz

about 14 years ago 

Pear Head, nice to know, but I don't have a T1, probably will never want one, and never suggested as much.  Don't really care that much since I'm stuck with charter cable for personal use right now.  I've never interacted with Qwest for that matter on communication issues, except for http://www.qwestdex.com (my favorite online yellow book, by the way).  My roommate deals with the landline phone since I almost never use it.  That might be Qwest; don't know.

huitz

about 14 years ago 

I should mention there was only one person I've met that had a T1 line to his personal home.  He was an expert on PBX's.  He also had a personal ACD set up.  No, he wasn't a geek.  He was a pretty laid back guy that if you met in the bar, you'd never know he knew as much as he did.  Big into off-road motorbikes. Acquired a couple boots and a motocross jacket from the guy just because his son didn't want them :^)

Zeito

about 14 years ago 

I live in upper Woodland and have been experiencing this for months.  Power cycling the modem/router does not seem to help much.  One night when it was real bad I kept a terminal open pinging google all night but did not see any lost packets.  It has become bad enough that we have started shopping other ISPs.

Beverly

about 14 years ago 

To my knowledge, there are two real choices for broadband in Duluth: Qwest DSL and Charter cable (I don't count the wireless services).

Pear Head

about 14 years ago 

Superior Broadband (fixed wireless) offers very competitive speeds (I'm not sure what they max out at although I'd guess it challenges QWest or Charter) although I believe they are a little more on the pricey side.

Prof. Cricket

about 14 years ago 

Do you have a Mac or a PC?  I had this problem for a while with Qwest and Googled how to fix the issue.  I got a new Mac and then I had to do the same thing again.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=358919

B-man

about 14 years ago 

My Qwest DSL kept cutting out and I would need to reboot multiple times a day, then it would go for a week with no problem.  Qwest pinged me and all was good with the hardware, they sent out a tech to take a look and found that squirrels had been chewing on the wires up on the pole.  They replaced the damaged wires and now no problems.

Do you have a ladder?

Karasu

about 14 years ago 

FYI, Charter users: when they upgraded service, they didn't automatically upgrade subscribers' modems. After the speed upgrade, I think we were actually getting slower speeds than before. We asked Charter about it and they came out, checked it out, and found it was just an older modem that couldn't handle the new speeds. Swap out and we're flying, now.

Zeito

about 14 years ago 

Thanks for the link Prof. Cricket, I'll give the new DNS servers a try.  I have experienced this on both a Mac and a PC in my home.

wormbreeder

about 14 years ago 

I cycled the modem and my wireless router again. I was not able to delete the single DNS server already listed in my Mac's network preferences, so I just added two of the servers listed in Prof. Cricket's post below the one that was already there. We'll see if that makes a difference.

wormbreeder

about 14 years ago 

So far, so good. I used the Open DNS servers suggested by Prof. Cricket and have not had the slow connection problem since. One added benefit: Open DNS will alert you to potential phishing sites and will stop you from connecting. I tried this by clicking on a suspected bogus link in someone's Facebook post. Sure enough, I got a message from Open DNS that it was a scammer site.

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