Horribly slow speeds/modem constantly needs resetting

[garytracee]

So the past week or so, my Fusion service here in San Rafael has degraded to the point where it's bordering on unusable. Speeds have dropped to almost dialup levels (0.3mb/s with 978ms latency) and my wee ADSL2+ modem needs hard resetting 2-3 times a day. Granted it's an AT&T modem (the infamous Westell MSTATEA, which Sonic assured me would work fine when I switched from AT&T) and getting a wee bit long in the tooth, but wanted to see if there are currently any wider issues before calling support or considering new equipment. (Have unplugged any phone equipment to see if that's causing it, tried direct connections... nothing seems to help, at least on a long-term basis.)

[thulsa_doom]

From a quick look at your line stats, your sync rate has been quite stable, but you've have prolonged periods where your upstream connection has been saturated. This can result in a disproportionate hit to downstream performance. Regarding the Westell, I found it to be a solid little modem, and likely isn't the cause of the problem here. If you have anybody on your LAN that's uploading large files or participating in filesharing systems, it may be a good idea to set an upload speed cap in that software to free up your connection for normal use.

[garytracee]

Hmm, honestly John, haven't had anyone doing that, apart from a friend of mine who occasionally stays here, who's under orders to not use torrents when here (hasn't been here in several days, though). I do work from home as a graphic designer, though, and generally have to email a few files (5-10mb at a time, maybe 3-4 times a day? Occasionally have to upload print-ready files 20-30mb at a time maybe a handful of times a month). But have been doing that since day one, and generally that hasn't been an issue in terms of affecting my download speeds?

[thulsa_doom]

Replying out-of-thread.

[digitalbitstream]

Saturating uplink?
You can't figure out why?
Check for a virus, and a high level of traffic to Russia...

[thulsa_doom]

Saturating uplink?
You can't figure out why?
Check for a virus, and a high level of traffic to Russia...

Often it just boils down to something much more innocent, like impolite backup software getting greedy with available bandwidth.

[garytracee]

John, thanks for the PM - unfortunately, the system is letting me know that I'm unauthorized to respond to it. To answer the question tho (and appreciate the breakdown in the PM) Think I might have figured out the problem - I use Dropbox (given the file size I share with workmates is high, better to do it that way than clog up email boxes) and seems to have installed a wee helper program along the way that would constitute impolite backup software. That said, anytime I've uploaded anything to Dropbox, it's been done via FTP, so one would THINK that this was only causing download speed issues as it syncs the folder to the one on their servers?

And no virus or malware present, at least none that my antivirus software can pick up. Not that those pesky Russians might be up to something else...

[garytracee]

Well, that didn't fix it. Still needing to hard reset the modem usually once every morning (then resetting the PPP location to the router) in order to get reconnected. On average I have to do this at least once more during the day. And stll sporadically experiencing extremely slow speeds - although at the moment, a check on Speedtest has me at my usual 10mbps and my upload at the usual 1mbps.

That said, according to http://www.dslreports.com/coinfo/clli/SNRFCA01 I'm just 3,500 feet by road (not as the crow flies) from my local CO SNRFCA01 which based on the chart Dane posted on DSL Reports would indicate I SHOULD be getting more like 15mbps. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r26917794-

Maybe I'm just horrifically unlucky in that regard, but this is getting beyond a joke: