[Cialug] OT: Need plummer - internet pipes congested

[David Champion]

Ditto. From a former (and never again) Qwest customer, you'll be much 
happier with another provider, if you can get one.

-dc

Nathan C. Smith wrote:
> You may have other DSL provider options in Ames.
>
> -Nate 
>
>   
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org 
>> [mailto:cialug-bounces at cialug.org] On Behalf Of Claus
>> Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 10:32 AM
>> To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
>> Subject: [Cialug] OT: Need plummer - internet pipes congested
>>
>> Since the latter half of this year my internet bandwidth 
>> became really flaky.  Mainly in the evenings.  Using any kind 
>> of video streaming like youtube is out of the question as I 
>> have to let it buffer up for ever before it gets viewable.  
>> Even browsing sometimes becomes a pain. 
>> Download bandwidth test do sometimes show extremely low rates 
>> while upload is just fine and dandy.  Of course in the 
>> mornings, when I should be going to work everything works as expected.
>>
>> My own test concluded it had nothing to do with my local 
>> network.  I pugged the Cisco 678 (bridging mode) directly 
>> into the phone line outside of the house and connected a 
>> laptop with my public static IP. 
>> Conclusion: Just as bad.
>>
>> I called Qwest customer service and the tech support wasn't 
>> very knowledgeable, backpedaling from any statement she made 
>> that could cause an issue to blaming my good old trustworthy 
>> Cisco 678.  She was nice enough to schedule an appointment 
>> with a service technician that came out on a Sunday morning.  
>> Certainly not a time I have bandwidth issues. 
>>   However the technician did confirm there was congestion in 
>> my neighborhood/CO.  He was stating that they won't do any 
>> upgrades and instead wait until Ames gets fiber (i.e. higher 
>> than 1.5Mbps service). 
>> He was confident that this will happen by Summer 2010.  Pipe dream?
>>
>> In any case it does not resolve my frustration I have about 
>> my network connectivity and I don't see any viable options.  
>> The only other option is Mediacom and I'm not sure we're a 
>> good fit either.
>>
>> I'm running my own personal servers (Email, web, DNS for 
>> personal use), I'm on Qwest's AMESIAWS CO and use Freese 
>> Notise as my ISP.
>>
>> Is there anything that could be done to resolve the issue with Qwest?
>>
>> Has Mediacom become more friendly in regards of server usage 
>> and can I get static IPs?  Does Mediacom encounter the same 
>> trouble with network congestions?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>    Claus
>>