Slow internet at work

[Rinaun]

Our internet at work is amazingly slow; slow enough to make any page take a good 6-15 seconds to load at times. I also work keeping the PCs updated here. I have to actually schedule to work late sometimes if I need to fix a PC and I will need to DL to fix the issue. It's so bad IT can tell when one person does something even remotely intensive online (publishing files, scanning server, etc)from the lag amount....... even the VOIP phones cut out from this issue.


I'm sure this is standard elsewhere, but I'm just amazed at how crappy our internet is and how much it affects our productivity. How can you expect me to work if I can't access half of said work?

Sadly, they seem to ignore it. Any other similar horror stories?

 

[ViviTheMage]

That is not the standard in most businesses

before someone else does it... /firstworldproblems

 

[RPD]

I get just under 3mbps down and up. At home I get 24mbps down and 5 up. Our work connection sucks, big time.

 

[Rinaun]

I get just under 3mbps down and up. At home I get 24mbps down and 5 up. Our work connection sucks, big time.

Well, if it is a SOLID 3MBPS that isn't terrible with 10-15 or so employees. Right now I believe we are doing 1.5 x 2 or linked; tldr some jazz which just really isn't working well. Our services have people accessing databases all day scanning so really the design they implemented just never feasibly would of worked with people spiking loads scanning.


On that note, I wish I got 5mbps up actually Damn comcast!

 

[RPD]

Comcast is who I have at home, it may be closer to 4, I just think everyone near me has the crap DSL which I recently canceled.

 

[JTsyo]

Any idea how much work pays for internet?

 

[RPD]

Hopefully not much.

 

[Rubycon]

speedtest.net
pingtest.net

Both of those make me cry.

Well most of the time.

 

[jtvang125]

With most businesses the SLA is more important than the speed you get. You have to pay big bucks for that SLA so that doesn't leave much budget left for faster speeds.

It took us years to move up to a T3 from a single T1 and we have over 100 employees.

 

[Vic Vega]

QoS.

My bet is you have plenty of pipe but your IT department is probably limiting bandwidth routing out to the 'Net coming from VLANs they have tagged for desktops... they don't want you sucking up the connection they are trying to run VOIP and data replication over with YouTube, FB, torrents and other such nonsense.

 

[Sixguns]

The internet where I work is so great, when I try to get on and read the news, it will pull up the news from three or so days ago. I can almost never get anything current here.

 

[darkamulets]

With most businesses the SLA is more important than the speed you get. You have to pay big bucks for that SLA so that doesn't leave much budget left for faster speeds.

It took us years to move up to a T3 from a single T1 and we have over 100 employees.

Where are you that some synchronous DSL or even business class cable wouldn't be a better option? Maybe even entry level metro-E?

 

[Rinaun]

Where are you that some synchronous DSL or even business class cable wouldn't be a better option? Maybe even entry level metro-E?

Exactly. I think they realized this here and are readjusting this at the new location.

The system we have currently isn't as advanced as you think it is; it really is just a domain/group with 25 or so users on it, with VOIP phone being prioritized via some form of QoS. We actually gained nothing by QoSing that aside from our phone lines no longer cut out when someone is downloading a 5mb pdf >.>

Our newer location will have a MUCH broader setup since it will be 4x more people. I'll run a speedtest tonight, because I have a feeling its going to make the internet unusable for 5 minutes

 

[Lifted]

100Mb metro fiber ($1k) with T1 backup ($500). If you have an actual IT department, I can't believe your company can't afford decent WAN circuits.

It's possible your company does have better circuits than you think as they've segmented them based on department needs.

 

[Lifted]

We actually gained nothing by QoSing that aside from our phone lines no longer cut out when someone is downloading a 5mb pdf >.>

Nothing? What else would you want with QoS for SIP trunks?

 

[guyver01]

We actually gained nothing by QoSing that aside from our phone lines no longer cut out when someone is downloading a 5mb pdf >.>

the amount of stupid in this post is staggering.

QoS is ONLY supposed to provide priority to voice traffic.

Without QoS options properly configured, the quality of voice will be sacrificed by the overall demands of general traffic.

QoS options provide a priority channel that is used by the voice traffic so that quality can be maintained in voice conversations while also allowing general traffic flow.

If you thought QoS did anything different... you don't understand what QoS is for.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

I'm downloading porn in the back office. Don't mind me. It's hard business-related work.

 

[Rinaun]

Nothing? What else would you want with QoS for SIP trunks?

Well for one, I'd QoS our Database Scanning tool so our workers don't need to wait 1-2 minutes per scan, multiplied by 40-60 (how many scans per day). They could also you know........block streaming/websites.

I think though overall no amount of shaping will solve having a line that is overcrowded to begin with.

 

[guyver01]

I'd QoS our Database Scanning tool

which has absolutely nothing to do with VOICE traffic.

 

[Rinaun]

the amount of stupid in this post is staggering.

QoS is ONLY supposed to provide priority to voice traffic.

Without QoS options properly configured, the quality of voice will be sacrificed by the overall demands of general traffic.

QoS options provide a priority channel that is used by the voice traffic so that quality can be maintained in voice conversations while also allowing general traffic flow.

If you thought QoS did anything different... you don't understand what QoS is for.

I understand what QoS does; thanks for the refresher I guess?

I was commenting when we did have the main IT staff look at QoS it wasn't even on to begin with, or if it was phones were not being prioritized on any level. When they did adjust QoS and content filtering all-around (blocking streaming, prioritization of shit etc) we gained a little boost but hardly much.

Also, I hope you do realize QoS is used for things other than phones. And I realize QoS did not BLOCK streaming; that was the content filter. They just deprioritized anything that sounded streaming, lol.

edit: To prevent audio issues caused by voice and data competing for the same bandwidth over your Internet connection, make sure your network router’s Quality of Service (QoS) settings are set to the 8x8 default QoS settings to optimize and prioritize the handling of voice packets on your WAN connection. Note: if you ordered your router through 8x8, it came preconfigured with these settings. The 8x8 default QoS settings are:

UDP/3479 - Priority: High
UDP/15044 - Priority: High
UDP/5060 - Priority: High
UDP/5199 - Priority: High


This is basically what they did, and I was trying to explain that this, and using a content filter resulted in a small boost but nothing huge. I believe they did prioritize some form of webapp for the workers as well but I'm not too involved in their programs; I just keep them going.

 

[seepy83]

100Mb metro fiber ($1k).

I wish we got pricing like that. We pay around $1k for 5Mb metro.

 

[Scouzer]

Our work connection until a few months ago was a 256kbps dual ISDN shared by 3-5 people. that was pretty darn awful.

The good news is they recently announced plans to upgrade us from Office 2003 to 2010 by 2015.

 

[xeemzor]

The work connection we have is fine. Only problem is that it feels like the web filter catches everything. How can I be productive at work without reddit and youtube? Seriously.

 

[Rinaun]

HAH! I hear ya. If they block AT I'd go insane. Luckily it's my job to kinda keep up and up on tech and they encourage me to read

I wish at a point though this company actually looked at some of the OTHER people here; some people here apparently have enough freetime to find ways around the filter they set up haphazardly.

 

[spidey07]

the amount of stupid in this post is staggering.

QoS is ONLY supposed to provide priority to voice traffic.

Without QoS options properly configured, the quality of voice will be sacrificed by the overall demands of general traffic.

QoS options provide a priority channel that is used by the voice traffic so that quality can be maintained in voice conversations while also allowing general traffic flow.

If you thought QoS did anything different... you don't understand what QoS is for.

Technically it does a whole shit ton more than what you described.