Internet bandwith throttled down?

EddyC51

New member
May 26, 2009
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I was wondering if anyone else is having this problem with the internet speeds during the day.

I had the 768 Kb/s internet from Claro when i first got here to this country, but then I started noticing that the internet during the day was very very slow. I was getting about 7KB/s download speeds that is 56K (you all remember the 56k modem days!), and at night EXACTLY at 11pm i was getting about ~96 KB/s which is the 768Kb/s that they advertise. I fought and I fought but everyone in the claro office looks at me like if I was speaking jibberish and had monkeys on my face. No one has any clue what a Bit and a Byte is, or what is an "acceptable" internet speed.
So, I decided to cut the service down to the bare minimum because whats the point of 768Kb/s if i cant use it when i need it during the day? right? I went all over the town looking for another internet alternative, Viva, but they need your first born child, some DNA from the loch ness monster, and a toe nail from Big Foot for you to be accepted by their credit standards...

Anyway sorry for the venting... but its been killing me... well my question is, is the internet throttled down here in this country during the hours of 8am - 11pm? <---- yes i have tested this. (using p2p exchange). If so, why ALL the way down to dial up speeds?

Thnx
EddyC

---------------------------------------------
"I swear sometimes I think hamsters are powering the technological infrastructure in this country!"
 

Chip

Platinum
Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
I understand in some of the smaller towns in the Dr that they do this. Here in Santiago I have the 700k up and 500k down plan and I consistently have over 800k up and 700k down. This is pretty good considering that they will only guarantee 80% of the plan's speed.

As far as the techinicians not understanding what the download speed is, you are obviosly not talking to the right people or they don't understand you. The number to call is 809-220-1111. I have called them numerous times to resolve speed issues and they have always resolved it and most of the time they dialed up my speed right there in the main office without having to send a technician.

good luck
 
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cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
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We had a similar problem for quite a while, except at night. we bought 1.5 down, 756up and were getting 200 down and 400 up at night.

After NUMEROUS complaints and a pulled string through a family member, the problem was finnally determined to be a) old servers in the local switching station that were overwhelmed at night, and b) some bad cabling between La Vega and Santo Domingo.

This went on for 3 months, but finally got resolved AND (drum roll, please) through the perseverance of Sweet Alida, we got a CREDIT for 2 months off our bill.:cheeky:
 

EddyC51

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May 26, 2009
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Chip:
Ive called that number a few times myself and nothing really got resolved, they said they will send a tech down to see whats the problem, but as usual with stuff around here the guy never showed up. I do belive its bandwith throttling because it happens EXACTLY at 8am thru 11pm, you can set your watch to it, seriously. What you said about your internet, about it being faster than what u pay for, umm can I be your neighbor? please?! Are you using Claro or some other company?

Cobraboy:
Hmmm, you say that u are paying for 1.5m down right? well 1500/8 is around 200 (187.5 to be exact) so your speeds sound about right. you may get more or less depending on certain factors that i dont have the technical savy to explain lol. Or the 200 down, you are talking about is in Kilobits? cuz if so ya, u were getting screwed.

I understand the slight lag at night but my problem is during the day, and if it is just "day lag" why is it perfectly matching 56k speeds? at the exact same time every day?

I mean if it is bandwith throttling then at least say so on the contract when you sign up for the darn service. Or when I call the center, have someone tell me thats what it is.
 
Last edited:

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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Cobraboy:
Hmmm, you say that u are paying for 1.5m down right? well 1500/8 is around 200 (187.5 to be exact) so your speeds sound about right. you may get more or less depending on certain factors that i dont have the technical savy to explain lol. Or the 200 down, you are talking about is in Kilobits? cuz if so ya, u were getting screwed.
1.5mb down, 756kbs up. When slowed, we got 200kb down and 400kb up.

All is fine now.
 

liam1

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Jun 9, 2004
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How do you test the speed? On speedtest.net my results were:

Ping: 229 MS
Upload: 0.12 Mb/s
Download: 0.28 Mb/s

I find it slow because i can't watch videos on-line without it stopping every 4-5 seconds to load.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Here in Higuey I am getting about 650-700 kbps during the peak time (3pm to 6pm) and about 850 kbps during the night time, other daytimes I get about 750 kbps. I have 768 kbps plan.
 

ExtremeR

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Mar 22, 2006
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Keep in mind that bits and bytes are different (1 Byte is made of 8 Bits) and that the IPS's sells their service in bits because of a marketing strategy. When you download something in the internet (browser) the speed that you see it is showed in Bytes. Is old news but I think is good to have that in mind.
 

EddyC51

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May 26, 2009
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sigh.... I think im just gonna give up with this fight. I see its a losing battle with this company. Ive been going back and forth for about a year now. I just got word that I am moving back to the states. warning to everyone out there, Bonao is really bad in the technology dep. But oddly enough I seem to be the only one in this town that notices anything.

Well, I guess the mystery of the disappearing internet will never be solved......
 

mrchris74

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Mar 14, 2006
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Throttled

Its almost certainly a throttling issue. I have 2 friends in santiago that say (almost) the same thing. One lives in Las Colinas and says that the only time the connection never drops is after 11pm. The other lives on the outskirts of santiago on the road towards navarette and says that the only time there is ever internet at all is after 11pm. Somebody probably paid extra for the peak-hour bandwidth...

Chris
 

magoo

New member
Jan 13, 2005
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Yes, indeed. Claro is throttling internet bandwith from 8 am to 11 pm, but nobody in Claro office will admit that to you. This happens when using p2p programs and in online gaming (lags); direct downloads don't have this problem. I know a few people who have filed a complaint with Indotel, but no results.

On the other hand, Viva Interjet runs like a charm with p2p but is crappy with direct downloads servers. Since it is the same IP addres for all users, unless you have a premium account it's almost impossible to get a a free slot.
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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What EddyC51 left out of his post was that he is trying to do p2p downloading or newsgroups during those times, not regular internet usage. LOL
 

Ladybird

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Dec 15, 2003
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dreamteamdownloads1.com
"Concast" are doing exactly the same and they steal their server from either Codetel or Puerto Rico. They are sub contracted to DeLancer in Sosua and are nothing to do with the real Comcast. They share bandwidth that you pay for with many other people, so you never get what you pay for.

I spoke to DeLancer about this and he said he is waiting to buy more bandwidth, but he doesnt know when he will get it - from Codetel!!!
 
Feb 7, 2007
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"Concast" are doing exactly the same and they steal their server from either Codetel or Puerto Rico. They are sub contracted to DeLancer in Sosua and are nothing to do with the real Comcast. They share bandwidth that you pay for with many other people, so you never get what you pay for.

I spoke to DeLancer about this and he said he is waiting to buy more bandwidth, but he doesnt know when he will get it - from Codetel!!!

Unless Comcast (USA) has a registered trademark and business name in the DR anybody is free to use COMCAST name here.

What is Comcast?
For a U.S. person, it's a cable company from the States.
For European it's - unknown.
For Asian it's - unknown.
For African it's - unknown.
For more than 95% of the world's population Comcast name is unknown. So if the US based Comcast wants to have the name assured they have to register a trademark and a business name mark. In the DR that is done via ONAPI.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edited to add:

Comcast name registered with ONAPI


Detalle del Signo

No. Cert: 208909
Titular: SIGMUND FREUND MENA
Gestor:
Expedici?n: 7/30/2006 12:00:00 AM
Expiraci?n: 7/30/2016 12:00:00 AM
Domicilio:
Clase: N/A
Actividad:

I don't think this belongs to Comcast (USA). Whoever the owner is, he is free to use COMCAST name throughout the DR.
 

chola1978

Bronze
Mar 20, 2006
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in the north of santiago

Hi guys I live i nthe north of santiago Cerros don antonio
i have the 378kbps from codetel and it sucks all the time.. i can barely read emails.. i swear its slwoer that dialiup.. i keep getting nthe run around.. I am looking into wireless.. any suggestion?
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
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IMO, the infrastructure is being overloaded-at least it was in our case. The only way to solve the problem is equipment upgrading. That may take a while.

There are a LOT more folks online in the DR by an exponent than when the infrastructure was first built. They just never kept up.
 

Tropicdude

New member
May 26, 2009
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Well I thought it was only me lol, Just like clockwork at 11pm, my IP on Claro becomes "normal" speed and no Lag issues.

I like to play online games sometimes, and seems lag is a major issue until 11pm. then its smooth running. The weekends are usually OK also