Network performance poor but Sonic/AT&T deny it

General discussions and other topics.
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by eric.roth » Sat Jan 08, 2022 9:44 am
For about a month (since early Dec. '21) my network performance (as a Sonic customer) has been poor — it's maybe working at one-quarter to one-third speed as the previous several years; it can't even support a single continuous video feed -- but Sonic & AT&T simply say I'm wrong, that my connection is working fine. Sonic customer support only asks me what is running in my house that is "saturating" the network. No matter how many times I tell them nothing is (I'm a former software engineer; I know how this stuff works), they keep telling me I'm wrong despite a lack of evidence that anything new or different of mine is running. (AT&T replaced my router/modem, which is what they do when they have no clue what to do, but it made no difference.)

It appears my only recourse is simply to cancel my service and go to cable or satellite or something that might actually work properly. Anyone else experience anything like this? Any suggestions about how to deal with Sonic/AT&T to get them to restore the adequate service I had for twelve years in this house? Thanks in advance.
by gratonite » Sun Jan 09, 2022 2:45 pm
I just did speed tests on my Sonic(ATT) internet in West Sonoma County and then on my neighbors Xfinity internet 25 yards away, same laptop. The difference is clear. The ATT we get from Sonic is painfully slow. Every visitor who comes by and uses my internet says it's terrible. Sonic?
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by ngufra » Mon Jan 10, 2022 8:27 am
Please provide details about the type of connection you have so we know what would be acceptable.
What speed in each direction were you getting before?
How far are you from the central office?

To test accurately:
Disable the wifi on the router. Connect a single device (your computer) to one of the ports of the router/switch and do a speed test. Then use another computer and do the same to ensure the bottleneck is not your computer.

If you are still positive something is wrong, a tech can be dispatched but if it turns out the issue is on your side, you may be charged for the call.
Is is possible that you have added a device, gotten a virus, changed the settings on your TV to stream 4K or something that is more than your speed allows?
by eric.roth » Mon Jan 10, 2022 8:40 am
I have a Sonic connection. Beyond that, I don't know any "details about the type of connection" I have. How do I find that?

"What speed in each direction were you getting before?"

Considerably faster ones. Exactly how fast, I don't know. I simply know that my connection is much slower than six to eight weeks ago and for the several years before that.

"How far are you from the central office?"

I don't know. How do I find that?

"To test accurately: Disable the wifi on the router."

How do I do that?

"Connect a single device (your computer) to one of the ports of the router/switch and do a speed test."

I will try this, but I know that the one Mac I have hard-wired to the router has been getting the same lousy network performance (exact numbers notwithstanding) as the wifi-connected devices (iPads, iPhones, Mac, AppleTV, no three of which do I ever use at any one time).

"Then use another computer and do the same to ensure the bottleneck is not your computer."

As a former software engineer and communications software designer I am very confident that nothing relevant has changed inside my house since the network was working properly, but I will make one more attempt at disproving your repeated implications that something is different inside my house.

"If you are still positive something is wrong, a tech can be dispatched but if it turns out the issue is on your side, you may be charged for the call."

These constant threats to charge me to fix your network problems are poor customer service, to put it politely.

"Is is possible that you have added a device, gotten a virus, changed the settings on your TV to stream 4K or something that is more than your speed allows?"

I'm confident the answers is No, but if you have some suggestions for diagnostics beyond the above, I'm all ears.
by ngufra » Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:24 am
Sorry if it came as a threat.
Just a warning that a business cannot dispatch someone to a customer premises for free and find that the problem is on their end. However, if you rent the equipment from sonic, it may be part of the customer agreement.
If your service is from AT&T it may be different too.

If your connection is through phone lines (DSL) or fiber, the expected speed will be different.
If fiber, it should be theoretically 1 Gbps (or 10 Gbps) both ways.
If DSL, ADSL and VDSL will have different expected speed.
If you have 2 DSL lines bonded, it will be twice the speed of a single line.
Depending on your distance to the central office, attenuation will lower the possible speed.
If annex M is enabled, up speed will be better than it could have been but the download speed will be halved; so depending on your usage, it can be a good or a terrible idea to enable.

Please try running speed tests at various time of the day and report the values and whether they are similar or if time of day has an impact.

I suggested you remove everything and disable wifi to ensure there isn't a device on your network that is doing lots of connections (like a user --authorized or not--, doing games or downloading torrents, or a security camera streaming all day)
To disable the wifi you would connect the administration panel of the router. Look at the stickers on the device for hint on how to do this and possibly the username passwords to use.

I have found sonic tech to typically be willing and able to help even if outside of their required service, so you may want to give another call to 611, maybe you'll get lucky and find someone that will be able to help more this time.


Good luck

-Francois
by eric.roth » Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:38 am
"Sorry if it came as a threat."

Cf. "If-pology"

"...a business cannot dispatch someone to a customer premises for free and find that the problem is on their end."

This is not true. A business can do many things to actually provide the service it charges for, including dispatching whatever technical expertise it takes to do so without charing extra. Nothing is "for free." I pay for the service — which I have not been getting for some time now — every month.

"If your connection is through phone lines (DSL) or fiber, the expected speed will be different. If fiber, it should be theoretically 1 Gbps (or 10 Gbps) both ways. If DSL, ADSL and VDSL will have different expected speed. If you have 2 DSL lines bonded, it will be twice the speed of a single line."

You would think Sonic would want to discuss these distinctions, but they only seem to want to do so when they're up-selling.

"Depending on your distance to the central office, attenuation will lower the possible speed. If annex M is enabled, up speed will be better than it could have been but the download speed will be halved; so depending on your usage, it can be a good or a terrible idea to enable."

Forgive my out-of-date expertise, but what is "annex M" and how is it enable/disable?

"Please try running speed tests at various time of the day and report the values and whether they are similar or if time of day has an impact."

You would think Sonic/AT&T could do this easily (I'm sure they can), but what they do instead is look at a screen for a few seconds and declare everything to be fine.

"To disable the wifi you would connect the administration panel of the router. Look at the stickers on the device for hint on how to do this and possibly the username passwords to use. / I have found sonic tech to typically be willing and able to help even if outside of their required service, so you may want to give another call to 611, maybe you'll get lucky and find someone that will be able to help more this time."

Hints & luck. Thoughts & prayers. And yet they keep charging for this level of service.
by ngufra » Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:16 am
Hi Eric

I am just a fellow user and was trying to help out (emphasis on was).
I understand your frustration but with the little information you provided, I don't think I can be useful.
You can google "annex m" or investigate the other ideas I suggested or wait for magic to happen.

Best of luck

-Francois
by charles2 » Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:15 pm
> "To test accurately: Disable the wifi on the router." How do I do that?

On the webpages that control the router, there will be a checkbox for wifi off/on. It might be labeled wifi radio. There might be two boxes, one for 2.4 GHz wifi and one for 5 GHz wifi.
by virtualmike » Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:58 pm
For an issue like this, your best bet is to contact Sonic support. They have direct access to the information that François was requesting. Sonic staff check into the forums on a regular basis, but their primary support is through phone/text/email, which you can access at the link above.
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