Background: I’ve used my existing broadband cable modem provider (for both Internet & TV cable) for about 18 months; stability & speed of connection have been fine. I run two computers through a router; a laptop is connected 65% of the time. Since mid-January, my connection has been sluggish about twice a week. The slowdown generally occurs from 11 pm - 3 am (EST). Pages or sites take much longer to load – a random set of links just took an average of 14 seconds to pull up the page, versus .5 seconds during the day. 35% of the clicks resulted in “connection was refused”/“page cannot be found” on the first attempt.
When the problem does occur, it manifests across multiple websites and on both desktop computers (laptop is untested). It continues to occur when the router is bypassed by connecting a single computer directly to the cable modem. It occurs across multiple browsers (Explorer, Netscape, & Firefox all tested).
What I’ve tried so far:
- Deactivating e-mail virus scanner and firewall processes
- Unplugging/resetting both cable modem and the router
- Defragging disk drives and cleaning out temporary internet files
- Full virus scans, Windows Updates, driver updates, and Ad-aware sweeps
Tonight, I bit the bullet and called the provider (service 24 hours/day). The well-intentioned customer service person had me go to a site that monitored bandwidth. After an initial failure to get there because my connection was refused, my average bandwidth was 3000 Kbps. This was normal to high, explained my agent, and suggested problems were likely with my computer, not with them as a provider. She capably walked me through the steps for:
- Deactivating e-mail virus scanner and firewall processes
- Unplugging/resetting both cable modem and the router
etc…
She suggested I see if the problem resolves (which it will by tomorrow morning, only to return like a haunted fever dream), and to call again to set up a service call after trying everything on her list.
While I’m not disputing the bandwidth, my connection is substantially slower and has many more dropped connections than during the day. The agent was unmoved by the following arguments:
- I had just cleared temporary files/defragged/etc. last night after seeing the problem. It didn’t help last night. Why will reclearing day-old temporary files fix the problem now? (“because people download all sorts of stuff…,” explained my helper)
- I observed the same maintenance habits six months ago as I do now. No twice/wk slowdowns were experienced six months ago. Shouldn’t my unhealthy file cleaning habits have caused problems before this?
- Why does my computer cure itself during the day, only to succumb to problems in the early morning? (she suggested “peak hours”, but agreed it was unlikely most users in my area were peaking at 2 am rather than 2 pm)
After this rant, I have two questions for you folks. I’ve italicized them to make them easy to spot in the midst of my angst.
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What are your suggestions for fixing the problem? I suspect it involves the provider, and not my system, although I hate second-guessing people. I’ve had generally good experiences with both customer service people and technical support folks, but those occur when I feel as though I’m engaging with a real person, not someone who simply restates suggestions after being informed said suggestions had been performed in the last 24 hours. Reviews at DSLreports.com state that my provider has had trouble with low downstream signal strength in the past. I don’t know what this means, but could it be responsible for the problems I’m seeing?
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I know some of you work in customer service and technical support; I used to as well. I know many service people see customers as idiots, and many customers see service people as arrogant and poorly trained. What is the best way to approach my further interactions with these folks that will most likely result in better connectivity? I have a terrible suspicion that my service call is going to look like this.
(3 pm – Tech Person arrives for his 10 am - 12 noon service appointment)
ISP Tech Person: “So you have problems with connection speed?”
Me: “Yea, almost always occurs at night though, so you may not see a slowdown now”
ISP Tech Person: (while typing in bandwidth monitoring site) “Lots of times people download stuff they aren’t even aware of”
Me: “I try to keep up on that with Ad-aware and ZoneAlarm, not clicking on pop-ups…that sort of stuff”
ISP Tech Person: “PPhhtt…I’ve been writing stuff that can get around those programs since I was 13. What you really need is…hmmm, looks like you’re pulling a little more bandwidth than you’d be expected to”
(frowns and makes some mark on his copy of my service agreement)
“your speed is good – seems pretty zippy to me”
Me: “Like I said, it shows up after 11pm, but I know you don’t have service calls then. I noticed the problem last night, even though my bandwidth numbers were good.”
ISP Tech Person: “Well, maybe it cleared up. Why don’t you run a disk defrag and give us a call if it comes back again?”
Me: <sigh>
(cut to 11:40 pm that night)
Me: <strangled noises as my connections to the world around me are refused>
I just want this to get better. To those of you in the support industry, I understand that many people like to believe they are computer experts. I’m a psychologist – 95% of people I tell what I do say “Well, I’m not an expert, but I can read people better than most.” Half of them can, half of them sleep better at night believing they can. I get the overconfidence bias. What could a customer say to you that suggests he or she actually has tried most of the standard answers, and deserves to be listened to, not nodded at in mock agreement?