To someone familiar with DSL (and maybe Bellsouth)

[ArmchairAthlete]

So from my normal speeds of 2.5-3Mbps download and decent pings of under 100 I sometimes go to an abysmal 100-300Kbps download and 1000+ms pings. I call to figure out what's going on.

Fast forward 20 minutes of my wasted time, the rep gets a line technician to run a test. Wow, magically everything is back to normal! After I report this she relays it back to the line technician, who then must've undone whatever he did because my connection is back to being awful again. I ask why whatever he did to fix it can't be left that way. She can't tell me what he did, only that it just works for about a minute.

What's the deal with that? What did he do?

 

[bruceb]

As a former Verizon tech, it sounds like you have some defective copper between the central office
and your home. It could be: Bridge Taps, Extra Load Coils (both of which must be removed for dsl to work properly)
Foreign Voltage on either the Tip or Ring to Ground or a Large Capacitance Unbalance from Tip or Ring to Ground
or across the Tip to Ring ... It could also be an Oxidized Splice at any of the many points the cable is joined together.
In the Central Office, it can also be a bad Solder Connection .. Have the telco dispatch a Tech to your home .. start
with a Complete Physical Line Test ... then if need be, ask for a Change of Sub Cable Pair .. this will move your dial
tone / dsl to another copper pair of wires
Also how far from the Central Office are you ? ? .... Anything over 15000 feet and DSL Will not Work Properly or at full speed
How many DSL Filters are installed ? ? ... DSL Runs at 10Mhz ... any more than 4 will degrade the High Frequencies
Have the Telco Tech install a Whole House DSL Filter / Splitter at the Point of Entry to the home .. you will need to run a cable
from the DSL Output on the Filter into your DSL Modem / Router ... this will help

 

[T3C]

Just following up on what Bruceb said, as a DSL provider, You may eventually find that having them lower your speed slightly will actuallyimprove your speed. Its all about Noise Margin.

Also, you are going to have to make them find the real problem themselves. If you call up and ask for a a change of sub cable pair (cfa) there is no way they are going to do it just based off that. Make sure they come out and perform a physical line test, let them track down the problem. Be persistent!

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Turns out I talk to my roommate later and he was seeding a torrent he uploaded with no cap on bandwidth. Thanks a lot roommate, I had suspected it but didn't want to mess with his computer.