Disappointing Speeds with Fusion, Disconnects

[lvidal]

Now I wanna start out by saying that it's my fault for having lackluster speeds. I'm not here entirely to complain, but more to ask for some advice. When I signed up for the Fusion 1-line service, I underestimated the importance of distance from the CO in terms of speed. I THOUGHT I remember it saying around 9000 ft, and I told myself, "I'll be fine." I ran the distance test again today, and it's telling me I'm 11,088 ft from the CO.

Now, I've seen the speed/distance chart Dane posted and I think I'm right where I should be in terms of speed, maybe even better than expected. I'm sitting at around 2.2 Mbps down/0.82 Mbps up. Not terrible, but for me it's pretty disappointing for the price I'm paying (I don't use the phone line at all) for what I thought would be blazing speeds. Again, it's my fault for not paying attention to the CO distance, but is there any way I can boost my speed? Should I just move down to a lower non-Fusion service to get more bang for my buck? Just for reference I have the ZTE ZXDSL 831II modem from Sonic.

There was one more issue when I first starting using the service, was that the connection would drop randomly for 30 sec to 1 min somewhat frequently. It wasn't the "disconnect every 5 min" issue, sometimes the connection would be fine for hours and other times it would drop in 5-15 min intervals. The disconnects seem to have subsided significantly the more I've used my connection, so I'm gonna go ahead and say it's fine now. Nonetheless, it was a frustrating issue I had to deal with at the beginning.

EDIT: Sorry forgot to mention my location, I'm in Alameda, CA.

[jleake]

I'd recommend giving us a call here in support. We can take a look at the line stats and see what can be done to improve stability and possibly speed. We may or may not be able to do much about the speeds short of upgrading you to bonded service, but you definitely shouldn't be getting dropouts like that.

[tracer]

I'm having the same problem with the drop outs and my dl speed is 2.53 upspeed is 0.86, I'm in Santa Rosa

[jleake]

Without having more information, it's hard to tell if those speeds are typical for your distance, but you definitely shouldn't be having dropouts. Please give support a call so we can resolve your issue!

[cbreyman]

I have also been having problems with disconnects ever since switching from dual bonded to single line fusion. The quality of tech support so far has really depended on who I get - mostly they say home wiring and let me flap. (Again - I wasn't having this issue when i had dual bonded). This is true for both my original comtrend and new netgear modems.

From the modem:
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 6976 Kbps 1024 Kbps
Line Attenuation 34.8 dB 18.0 dB
Noise Margin 7.9 dB 14.0 dB

For me, bandwidth is much less important than reliability.

[cbreyman]

San Francisco

[jleake]

In most cases, we can trade off bandwidth for stability, at least as a temporary measure. That will help even if the issue is internal wiring. You'll want to give us a call, as adjusting the line will drop you out briefly. We'd be glad to review the troubleshooting steps we've already taken and make sure there's no indications that the issue may be outside your home.

I hope we're able to resolve the issue for you soon!

[cbreyman]

Hey all - I noticed that the DHCP leases are only 5 minutes. A slow DHCP lease renewal might explain the "dropping every 5 minutes" phenomenon. Using the tools, I switched over to static IP and have not had a problem yet. FWIW, if this post jinxes the fix, I'll post back.

[vsp]

Now I wanna start out by saying that it's my fault for having lackluster speeds. I'm not here entirely to complain, but more to ask for some advice. When I signed up for the Fusion 1-line service, I underestimated the importance of distance from the CO in terms of speed. I THOUGHT I remember it saying around 9000 ft, and I told myself, "I'll be fine." I ran the distance test again today, and it's telling me I'm 11,088 ft from the CO.

Now, I've seen the speed/distance chart Dane posted and I think I'm right where I should be in terms of speed, maybe even better than expected. I'm sitting at around 2.2 Mbps down/0.82 Mbps up. Not terrible, but for me it's pretty disappointing for the price I'm paying (I don't use the phone line at all) for what I thought would be blazing speeds. Again, it's my fault for not paying attention to the CO distance, but is there any way I can boost my speed? Should I just move down to a lower non-Fusion service to get more bang for my buck? Just for reference I have the ZTE ZXDSL 831II modem from Sonic.

There was one more issue when I first starting using the service, was that the connection would drop randomly for 30 sec to 1 min somewhat frequently. It wasn't the "disconnect every 5 min" issue, sometimes the connection would be fine for hours and other times it would drop in 5-15 min intervals. The disconnects seem to have subsided significantly the more I've used my connection, so I'm gonna go ahead and say it's fine now. Nonetheless, it was a frustrating issue I had to deal with at the beginning.

EDIT: Sorry forgot to mention my location, I'm in Alameda, CA.

[vsp]

How did you run the distance test?

I think I'm about 4000' from the CO. How can I determine that?

I have been hassling with AT&T and sonic for two or three weeks now. AT&T has been out 5 time -- that's right FIVE -- in the past two weeks. I've spent untold hours on the phone to sonic. I have replaced everything. New CAT5 from the POE, new phone, new modem.

The last thing was the NID, which in my case was something dating from the telegraph era. It was nothing more than two exposed bolts on a metal base that phone wires connected to. Finally, after five times out here AT&T put in a real NID.They could have saved a bundle in tech time if they'd just done that from the first visit because -- Big surprise here -- No more IM shorts (which I never believed anyway), no more dropping sync, steady, flat download speeds at 4.6-4.8M and upload at 0.8. We used to have upload capped at 0.3 or something because the line was so noisy on upload. Now I'm pretty much right up against the cap from sonic.

So, I'd like to know what I can expect in speed now that we (I hope) have truly resolved the problem. First, I'd like to know distance to the CO so I can set that aside or acknowledge that it is a real limitation. I can't fine any "distance test". Can you tell me how you ran this test.

I'd call service again, but, frankly, I'm tired of all the time I've spent on the phone to sonic. The techs have never been anything less than helpful and polite, but I've gotten conflicting information from all of them. I'd like get back armed with real information I can trust.