Download speeds on AT&T high speed internet?

March 11, 2008 7:43 AM

Just switched to AT&T "Elite" Internet service from Comcast cable modem in a cost saving measure. AT&T promises download speeds of 3-6M Bps for this service (as opposed to 2-3 for their Pro service, which is a few bucks cheaper), but I'm only seeing a whisker above 3. Is this normal? Anything I can do?

The nice folks at AT&T say that this is within the level they promised, so is there anything else they can do for me today? Is 3.5Mbps typical for this, or should I just downgrade and live with Pro? Not the biggest deal anyway, but seems like if you advertise for 6 MBps, the actual speed should be closer to that, and not the lower end. Or, does this vary by time of day, like cable does?

posted by psmealey to computers & internet (11 comments total)

It may vary on your distance from the DSLAM. So the only people who may get 6 Mbps are the ones who live closer to the switching office.
posted by GuyZero at 7:48 AM on March 11

With any ISP, the promised, advertised, rated speeds are like mpg ratings on cars: it's a laboratory best-case, not a real-world average.

Yes, it will vary by day of week, time of day, remote site, size of file(s) being transferred, and about sixty-four other variables that are not really detectable discretely.

You don't say what it costs, but if it's $40 or less per month on the East Coast, I'd be content with 3MBps.
posted by rokusan at 7:52 AM on March 11

It's a question of line quality and distance from the CO/DSLAM. I pay for their 3.0Mbps service, which is advertised up to 3.0. The actual speed I get is 2.5Mbps.

You can call them up and ask a tech to manually requalify your line. Likely the speed will be the same but you might get lucky. You could also make sure that all of your home wiring is in good condition and up to spec.
posted by aerotive at 7:53 AM on March 11

What everyone else had said. If your distance from the CO/DSLAM is too far to get more than 3 megabits per second then your should switch to the cheaper plan. DSL is a distance-based system. The farther you are from the Central Office the worse your speeds. AT&T will happily sell you a plan that provides a speed that is impossible for you to actually get. You can call them up or make a ticket at dslreports.com for an AT&T tech to look at your line.

Then there's the whole world of line voodoo. Some people run a cat5 cable from their punchdown to where their DSL modem is to lessen line noise. Others buy newer DSL modems.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:13 AM on March 11

They won't even sell me Elite, and I get a steady 3 Mbps with Pro. I'm surprised they sold it to you.
posted by smackfu at 8:20 AM on March 11

to piggyback onto the question (and to followup on damn dirty ape's statement)...is there any cheap/easy way to know if the house wiring is causing slow downs? Is there a guide somewhere that would walk me through disabling my home phone wiring so that I could prove/disprove that being the source of my abysmal DSL service.
posted by mmascolino at 10:01 AM on March 11

The cheap way to figure that out is to move your dsl modem to your basement (or wherever the punchdown is) and connect directly to the pair that delivers DSL with a short cable. THis is much tougher than it sounds. Now youve eliminited the home wiring from the equation. Now you can see your signal/noise ratio and see if its any better.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:56 AM on March 11

Thanks ape...I've since done some more reading and came across a suggestion that I might be able to do this easily from inside the demarcation box on the outside of the house. Do you know if this is true or not?
posted by mmascolino at 12:35 PM on March 11

Never fails. Tech supports first duty is to try and somehow pin their problems on you. If I call Qwest for DSL problems, the first thing that they want to check is the house wiring.... well guess what? They charge (a lot) to check the house wiring unless you spend money monthly on their stupid insurance. Yet, there doesn't seem to be anything you can say to them to convince them that the problem is beyond the house wiring and is on their end.
posted by nickerbocker at 2:18 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]

mmascolino: "Thanks ape...I've since done some more reading and came across a suggestion that I might be able to do this easily from inside the demarcation box on the outside of the house. Do you know if this is true or not?"

This is really easy if you have an accessible RJ11 jack at the punchdown box. It's the same as all the other jacks in your house with the critical difference that it bypasses all of your internal wiring. If you get a better speed at that particular port, and no other, then some part of the internal wiring is defective. It's also helpful in finding shorts and isolating defective phones.
posted by aerotive at 3:55 PM on March 13

I have since learned that I don't actually have one of those "new" grey demarc boxes on the outside of my house (on closer inspection it was for Cable TV). I am stuck with this which I have doubts about its ability to really isolate the outside wiring from the inside due to all the craziness.
posted by mmascolino at 8:44 AM on March 14