DrQwerty90 wrote:...even in peak times Cable is faster for most people when compared to an ADSL service... ESPECIAlLY when you have the speed boost on it... then even when it is slow because of network demand it shouldn't drop below 30Mbps, otherwise why would you pay for more...
Actually that can be incredibly subjective, especially due to the fact that the -Guaranteed- speed is a miserly 1.5mbps compared to the UP TO(in fine print) 30 or 100mbps you are actually paying for.
So, Indeed "why would you pay for more"...for the potential to get a speed when what is advertised sounds almost guaranteed but for the fine print and legislation. Caveat emptor.
You're paying for the "chance" of that speed being delivered which is entirely out of your control and only a tiny fraction of that service quality guaranteed. A hard lesson learned by most Cable customers once their neighbourhood cable "node" gets swamped.
The problem is that the Internet Service Providers (ISP) tend to have way too many customers on the local infrastructure without actually ensuring the hardware can maintain even close to the 'advertised' speeds during peak times - when everyone is using the service the most. There are numreous and frequent posts both on here and the other popular forum for internet services, Whirlpool, bemoaning the incredibly disatisfying speeds during peak times on cable.
Whilst Cable "promises" speeds much higher than ADSL2+, at least ADSL2+s speed can be much more consistent if one is with an ISP that doesnt oversaturate it's hardware with more customers than it can handle without an upgrade or more space so to speak. ADSL2+ loses its speed over distance, but you are likely to keep whatever speed you can attain for most if not all of the time. On the flipside, Cable will give you almost all of the advertised speed...when nobody (likely including you) is using it. Great for downloading large files in the dead of the night or peak working hours but horrible during leisure time when you're home alone or with family and using the service along with the rest of the neighbourhood, sometimes scoring just barely above that guaranteed speed. Yes, I've hit a low of 2.8mbps one night, and no there was no issue on the line - it was that bad of a congestion situation.
Is it all Telstra's fault? Yes and no. Netflix changed the game, well after music streaming services and cloud storage services, since videos are such large files to stream. Telstra's fault lies with not bringing up its network up to snuff to deal with this increased usage....however why should they? The NBN is here and upgrading the Cable network or ADSL is pointless when the "future" is here (despite the inherent shortcomings of the current NBN deployment strategy).
It is not as if there is some mystifying reason as to why speeds drop for people. The Telstra hardware needs to be upgraded to account for the people being signed up instead of selling parking tickets to 200 people when there are only 100 car parking spots, figuratively speaking.
No amount of modem restarts, network device singling out, telstra technician visits or speedboost signups will fix the issue that can only be fixed by the network management department at Telstra.
Doing a search query over at www.adsl2exchange.com.au will give anyone a rough idea of what ADSL2 speeds they can attain, be it with Telstra or anyone else. Right now, Good speed most of the time is way better than great speed a tiny amount of time (when nobody uses it). Don't switch to cable unless the network improves, or wait for NBN, OP.