VDSL2 speed went down and never back up

    • Hi there,

    After relocating last september I set up my connection with Draytek 167 and a pfsense box.

    Everything went smooth, a consistent connection, VDSL2, 90 mbps down / 25 mbps up

    But for 3-4 weeks now, bandwidth persistently went down to 70 mbps down / 19 mbps up, despite a reset and multiple reboot of the modem.

    The Draytek 167 has the lastest firmware. I called 3 times the Swisscom support but was very disappointed as it seems people are incompetent and bullshitting. Never experienced such a bad service like that in 25 years with Swisscom. What is happening?

    What can I do? Should I write a letter to the management?

    This post is in English

    • I don’t think there’s been any foul play by Swisscom or intentional throttling. Maybe there’s been some “rewiring” that caused the degradation.

      Otherwise, you’re within service parameters.

    It’s close enough. That falls under “normal” fluctuation. Guess you’ll just have to live with it.

    There’s not much the support can really do for you.

    This post is in English

    @Thisisit42

    @Thisisit42 wrote:

    Hi there,

    After relocating last september I set up my connection with Draytek 167 and a pfsense box.

    Everything went smooth, a consistent connection, VDSL2, 90 mbps down / 25 mbps up

    But for 3-4 weeks now, bandwidth persistently went down to 70 mbps down / 19 mbps up, despite a reset and multiple reboot of the modem.

    The Draytek 167 has the lastest firmware. I called 3 times the Swisscom support but was very disappointed as it seems people are incompetent and bullshitting. Never experienced such a bad service like that in 25 years with Swisscom. What is happening?

    What can I do? Should I write a letter to the management?

    Hello Thisisit42

    It’s very simple: the hotline won’t be able to help you because the Draytek 167 modem router is not approved by Swisscom. You are entirely responsible in case of any issues, and this could even result in charges from Swisscom if a more serious problem than just reduced speed occurs. It is better to connect with the Internet Box provided to you or to acquire a device approved by Swisscom.

    Doremi

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    The IB sucks, like any ISP box, although it is not the worst. You can not set it to bridge mode. I pay for an Internet connection, not for a limiting black box. I thought that G.fast and VDSL were standards ruled by RFCs. What are the supported VDSL2 modems then?

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    It would make sense to test with IB just to see if it makes any difference. I don’t think it’s a modem issue anyway.

    I would go for Zyxel GM4100-B0 if you decide to change. Don’t think it would be worth it for the small speed increment.

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    Thank you guys for your answers and supported devices list.

    When I first set it up, bandwidth I got with the IB and the Vigor were the same.

    I plan indeed to test again with the IB to see what I get.

    As DHCP option 68 was not enough, I had to spoof the IB mac address for it to work, as even with DHCP option 68 I was not able to access the Swisscom Internet Start page.

    By the way it’s a shame to force and complicate things for people who want to have their own router.

    Thank you guys

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    You mean option 60?

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    You have point there, it is a bit complicated for the average consumer. Bear in mind that Swisscom infrastructure needs to support multiple providers.

    If you’re running your own hardware, it’s assumed that you know what you’re doing.

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    Seems coherent indeed.

    So I’ll test with the IB and see what happens.

    Is there a possibility that the more people of a village are coming to Swisscom DSL (for example after a bad ISP, let’s call it Moonshine, acquired a random cable company), the less might be the bandwidth to guarantee a certain level of quality for everyone? I’m just looking for some rational explanation of this “downgrade”.

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    I love Zyxel products they are great.

    20 mbits is a lot of a difference for me.

    If putting back the IB I get 90 mbits download again, I might consider it

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    I don’t think there’s been any foul play by Swisscom or intentional throttling. Maybe there’s been some “rewiring” that caused the degradation.

    Otherwise, you’re within service parameters.

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    Just tested with IB3 => 64 / 17mbps, back to the Draytek => 70/ 19 mbps

    A few weeks ago it was 90 / 25

    That is more than a 20% service decrease, and support cannot help…

    This is really concerning to me as Swisscom is the only allegedly reliable provider in my area.

    At what % decrease would support react or a qualified technician investigate? Any SLA?

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    With IB3 plugged-in you can try to call support and ask them to investigate.

    It might go back to what it was on it’s own, without doing anything.

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    It clearly seems to be a line or an analog issue, things like attenuation etc, losing time with scripted rookie bot-like people pushing buttons will not help, 1 time out of 10 you are connected with a knowledgeable and nice person. High quality of service of this company is definitely a thing of the past, and the price asked regarding the service quality is an absolute shame is not anymore worth it. Thank you anyway for your guidance.

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    This is the thing with DSL/analog technology. I wouldn’t just blame Swisscom for that. Just hope you can migrate to fiber soon.

    You can also explore deploying a booster. Inquire with the support about this.

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    Yes I already have an “emergency” failover LTE card with a multi-device SIM on the pfsense box, works very well but unfortunately it tops up to 20mbits compared to the 150mbps available in my area because of the old modulation schemes of freebsd for LTE modems, which is my fault but just wanted to try it out. I plan to deploy a Zyxel LTE bridge, I think this will help. The Internet booster “boosts” the connection/bandwidth but does not provide failover right?

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    It does provide failover, but you’ll be forced to use double NATing with IB3 and pfSense.

    You could also consider Mikrotik LTE/5G gateways. Zyxel is also fine.

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    @Thisisit42

    Could you provide us with a screenshot of the diagnostics section in expert mode? We only need a screenshot of the transmission speed measurements up to the CRC errors.

    Doremi

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