Download speed drops drastically but upload is fine.

[Greg Weldon]

So where I live the best I can get for download speeds is a 75 down/8 up. I live in an apartment complex, if this helps. Now, throughout most of the day, I can get this 75 down/8 up. But around 7pm EST, and even at random times throughout the day (as I've discovered since we had the day off due to snow and ice on the ground), the speeds drop to 4 down/8 up. It's horrendous. That's when it's at its worst, but even then it'll fluctate from 4-20 down.

I don't care if everyone in my neighborhood is streaming 4K Netflix content, there's just no way my bandwidth should be affected that dramatically. I've called the cable company, they can never see anything horribly wrong on their end.

The cable guy came by awhile back and checked out all the cables in my apartment but he mentioned briefly that there are cables the apartment complex maintains. I'm just trying to figure out who to "blame" and who to call to get this fixed because this is unacceptable.

 

[putnameshere]

Who is your ISP?

 

[Jonas Magnusson]

The upload signal is a little liar sometimes, it tells you how much it sends our but not how much that reaches the other end and comes back.

 

[Onus]

Yes, who is your ISP? It is possible your download speed is being throttled by them due to "excessive" usage.

 

[Jonas Magnusson]

Onus, from what i know you usually get a message about that but it ain't like that for all modems though.

 

[Greg Weldon]

My ISP is Metrocast. I live in southern Maryland. I've asked them before if there are data caps, and they've replied that there are no data caps and if someone is using an absurd amount of data, they'd give a call asking them to try to back off.

I don't use that much data. Online gaming doesn't take that much and I'm hardly streaming shows. The thing is, my speed will be fine one minute, and an hour later, it'll drop down to those speeds, then be fine an hour later.

Whereas my friend who streams more content than I do has no problem keeping his constant 75 down.

 

[Onus]

At the very least, since it may involve their wiring, I'd let your apartment complex know about it. They may have a problem with bushy-tailed rats chewing their lines, and need to call an exterminator or encourage feral cats to take up residence there to control them. Based on what they say, you can decide if you also need to call your ISP.

 

[Jonas Magnusson]

You said when it was *snowing and ice on the ground* it got slower. It's because of the weather changes then, I'm experiencing them myself sometimes. Also, when you say *4/down 8/up* do you mean that in kb or mb?

 

[Greg Weldon]

You said when it was *snowing and ice on the ground* it got slower. It's because of the weather changes then, I'm experiencing them myself sometimes. Also, when you say *4/down 8/up* do you mean that in kb or mb?

I probably should've omitted that statement as it had no relevance. I've been having this issue since October of last year when the temperatures were still in the 50s and 60s easily. A few days ago, when I posted this, it was sitting at 75mb no problem during the snow, but would occasionally drop to those atrocious speeds. If that were the case, I'd blame the weather, but it's not in this case.

My best guess is that there is some wiring getting too close to something it shouldn't be or the signal is being affected by some outside source. I'm just not sure, and I was trying to see if other people had a similar problem so I had an idea where to start with customer support again, because it seems like they're just blindly troubleshooting as well.

 

[Jonas Magnusson]

You said when it was *snowing and ice on the ground* it got slower. It's because of the weather changes then, I'm experiencing them myself sometimes. Also, when you say *4/down 8/up* do you mean that in kb or mb?

I probably should've omitted that statement as it had no relevance. I've been having this issue since October of last year when the temperatures were still in the 50s and 60s easily. A few days ago, when I posted this, it was sitting at 75mb no problem during the snow, but would occasionally drop to those atrocious speeds. If that were the case, I'd blame the weather, but it's not in this case.

My best guess is that there is some wiring getting too close to something it shouldn't be or the signal is being affected by some outside source. I'm just not sure, and I was trying to see if other people had a similar problem so I had an idea where to start with customer support again, because it seems like they're just blindly troubleshooting as well.

I think onus has right about the rats, those nasty animals eat whatever they want.