Problem with DSL speeds and Service Reps

I have Qwest DSL 7.1mb and I usually have no problems. My speeds at www.speedtest.net from Albuquerque to Dallas are about 5.230 DL and 730 UP with a 88ms ping.

Well today I wake up and it's .950 DL and 200 UP. I restart, unplug my actiontec 701 modem, replug, restart the comp and the best I can get is 2.950 DL and .750 UP.

I called Qwest, they did some tests and went through a few tests and said they showed a 7158K signal on my line. I hooked up another computer and got the same speeds. Qwest said contact the ISP. I did and they said "looks good from their end." I took my modem down and they ran some test and said if was fine.

The ISP rep said I was on a 3000K and up plan so what I'm getting is limited by Qwest. Well I say Bull! today and only today, I'm getting 1/2 speed.

Any ideas what the problem might be? Or what questions can I ask them to fix this.

Is someone else on your network? Check the router to make sure no one is piggy backing on your network and draining the bandwidth.

No, my modem and router are 4ft away from me.

Your router is not wireless then? And you don't have any other programs downloading or pinging anything?

it's wireless but it's turned off. There are no programs downloading. I have Avast spyware but it's disabled and only turned on for weekly scanning.

I know it seems trivial but have you tried rebooting the PC?

yep, the PC, modem, router, unplug and plug back in. Cleared all my temp files. I use mozilla and it's automatic

Then someone between ISP and Qwest doesn't know what they are doing... you are not running some ancient OS like Win 98 SE or ME, are you?! :eek: Those had some MTU packet settings that you had to change to allow faster speeds...

I guess either 1) pray for a better tomorrow or 2) keep complaining until you find someone who's competent enough to solve your issue.

I have XP Pro. I think it's their problem but they won't admit it. What to do?

Have you done a trace route to where ever you are measuring speed?
There could easily be a slowdown along the path due to a technical failure causing a few more hops along the path.

Try a "real world" speed test... go to sites like download.com and see if you can download something fairly fast.

I'm not sure how to do a trace route test. but I get the same DL speeds from 3 test sites.

Open a CMD window. Enter tracert <destination or ip>.

Examples
tracert www.level3.net
tracert 4.69.133.42

Like this?

https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/...2009/01/13.jpg

ok I think i've traced it back to my Farallon router. When I go direct to the modem I get about 5.320 and with the router I get 2.950

Consumer routers are usually to blame for these kinds of issues. They just have crappy hardware / firmware in general, and always tend to flake out after a few months of use. I'd go get a Linksys WRT 54GL and put DD-WRT or Tomato (my favorite) on it. That's about the best combination you can get with cheap consumer level equipment. My old WRT 54G v4 has lasted me over 4 years now using 3rd party firmware and has actually been pretty solid / fast.