RedOctober
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2004
- Messages
- 141
Hey everyone -
I've been trying to troubleshoot my poorly performing internet connection for months now. I've since found the issue, and the outcome (so far) is stunning and infuriating.
My download speeds are good (1.2 to 1.5Mb/s down, and 200-400kb/s up), but my latency to most locations ranges from piss-poor (300ms) to gawd-awful (1250ms). I've called my ISP multiple times about this, and each time, the process was the same (unplug the modem, remove the router, run the speedtest, etc...) No go. . It comes back with decent download/upload speeds as above, and they tell me it's all good.
Website surfing is painfully slow, and gaming is not possible. Today, I pushed back and got a "tier 2" support rep. Here's what he tells me:
"Due to excessive usage, your account's internet traffic is being managed. This means that your consumption exceeds the general guidelines of our terms of service (#11) and we have taken appropriate action to assure that our other customers maintain an acceptable internet experience."
Translation - my internet connection is being traffic-shaped.
OK - here's what I use the internet for:
Are you f'n kidding me? The agent told me that I was being traffic-shaped for "bit-torrent levels of data transfer" and that this issue was "self-inflicted". I reminded him that I do not use any P2P software - ever. He said "well, you certainly were not browsing and checking e-mail'.
I certainly have been using YouTube a lot lately, as I wanted to learn a number of new songs on the guitar, and it has been very helpful.
I asked what the threshold is that constitutes "excessive consumption", and he told me that there is no numeric threshold and limitations are based on a number of different criteria, and he asked that I check the websites' legal definitions for more information.
When I asked what I needed to do to rectify the current situation, he suggested that I discontinue my "excessive consumption" behavior. See above for the catch-22.
The ISP in question is Clearwire.
I am currently under contract with Clearwire for another year.
My current plan is to cancel on Monday, pay the ETF, and take them to small claims court over the ETF fee.
Suggestions?
I've been trying to troubleshoot my poorly performing internet connection for months now. I've since found the issue, and the outcome (so far) is stunning and infuriating.
My download speeds are good (1.2 to 1.5Mb/s down, and 200-400kb/s up), but my latency to most locations ranges from piss-poor (300ms) to gawd-awful (1250ms). I've called my ISP multiple times about this, and each time, the process was the same (unplug the modem, remove the router, run the speedtest, etc...) No go. . It comes back with decent download/upload speeds as above, and they tell me it's all good.
Website surfing is painfully slow, and gaming is not possible. Today, I pushed back and got a "tier 2" support rep. Here's what he tells me:
"Due to excessive usage, your account's internet traffic is being managed. This means that your consumption exceeds the general guidelines of our terms of service (#11) and we have taken appropriate action to assure that our other customers maintain an acceptable internet experience."
Translation - my internet connection is being traffic-shaped.
OK - here's what I use the internet for:
- Web browsing (the [H], Digg, Fark, Jalopnik, Slashdot, woot, BluesNews and what not)
- You Tube and similar (learning how to play certain songs on the guitar, car stuff, sports stuff)
- Gmail and Gmail Chat
- Occasional gaming (today, it was supposed to be Diablo II)
- Occasional crude humor and adult content (CollegeHumor, foobies, and the like)
Are you f'n kidding me? The agent told me that I was being traffic-shaped for "bit-torrent levels of data transfer" and that this issue was "self-inflicted". I reminded him that I do not use any P2P software - ever. He said "well, you certainly were not browsing and checking e-mail'.
I certainly have been using YouTube a lot lately, as I wanted to learn a number of new songs on the guitar, and it has been very helpful.
I asked what the threshold is that constitutes "excessive consumption", and he told me that there is no numeric threshold and limitations are based on a number of different criteria, and he asked that I check the websites' legal definitions for more information.
When I asked what I needed to do to rectify the current situation, he suggested that I discontinue my "excessive consumption" behavior. See above for the catch-22.
The ISP in question is Clearwire.
I am currently under contract with Clearwire for another year.
My current plan is to cancel on Monday, pay the ETF, and take them to small claims court over the ETF fee.
Suggestions?