Rural customers complain over slow internet

5.45 pm - By RICHARD WOOD

Provincial and rural internet customers are experiencing slow speeds and frequent disconnections of their internet services, but determining the cause is not easy.

An influx of emails on the topic followed discussion by Inbox columnist Don McAllister on the your net page of the Herald in which he identified a variety of issues affecting line quality and internet connections in provincial areas (www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=1191094&thesection=Story&thesubsection=&reportID=56524)

Discussions with internet service providers and modem manufacturers have also shown there may be issues of modems being incompatible with the technology used by ISPs or telecommunication companies.

Modems and the equipment used to connect with them contain firmware. This is the built-in software that implements the protocols used to connect.

Where incompatibilities exist between the firmware at the termination point and the firmware in the modem, and where the line quality varies during the connection, the connection can automatically slow down and ultimately drop off.

Modem manufacturer Dynalink's Casey Mak said a modem may slow down for the purpose of increasing throughput on a bad line.

This is because on a bad line operating at high speed, packets of data have to be resent frequently, whereas slowing down the connection means more packets might get through in the first place.

The problem is that incompatible firmware can prevent the modem switching back up to a high speed when quality improves during a connection, he said.

Repeated quality problems will lead to the modem slowing down more over the time of the connection - known in the trade as the "spiral of death".

A temporary answer to this is to disconnect and reconnect regularly.

Some readers have reported a difference in speeds and connection times between using Telecom's 0867 network and dialing an 087 number to connect - with the latter being notably faster and more reliable.

Calls via 0867 numbers terminate at the ISP concerned, where 087 calls are terminated within Telecom exchanges on equipment leased by ISPs from Telecom. Differences experienced in service levels between the two may relate to firmware differences, but investigations have been inconclusive.

The upshot however is that if a modem does not work with one type of dial-up number, it may be worth trying another before you go out and buy another modem. In some cases trying another number may involve signing up with a different ISP.

Further complicating matters, ISP Ihug's Richard Malcolm-Smith said that so-called "soft modems" appear in a large number of bad connection complaints. These modems are a piece of software that uses the computer's processor to do the communication.

On slower computers this can be affected by other loads on that processor. There is also no additional amplification of the signal in this case as well.

Typically these modems come bundled within the computer at a lower cost and Malcolm-Smith recommends upgrading to an internal hardware modem or external modem.

Dynalink has solved some rural problems by selling a version of their modem called the Dynalink Rural Modem. This generates a more powerful signal.

Dynalink's Casey Mak said he does not make any claims it will solve all problems.

"It's good for certain situations such as when you are on a long line and have noises on the line".

Telecom spokesperson Mary Parker acknowledged that some rural customer's cables are not performing to internet requirements. She said in some cases Telecom's rural cables were originally installed for voice only and work perfectly well for that purpose.

"The only issue is their length and that can be made okay by installing additional equipment and shortening the length."

Parker said the bandwidth and low noise demands of the internet and DSL were not known about when the rural copper cables were installed and so they were "dimensioned" around voice only.

"All new cables are installed to the latest designs with short lengths and perform okay for dial-up and are DSL capable when the DSL equipment is in place."

Parker said all existing cable is maintained as close as practical to new condition but the cable starts to age as soon as it's installed.

"We don't neglect it, we repair it and maintain it to a standard".

An ex-Telecom engineer agreed a lot of the country cables are actually in good condition. He said every 800 metres there needs to be a repeater station but it is a pure economic decision for Telecom whether to put repeaters in each case.

Parker identified there are 150,000 rural customers of Telecom and for 10,000 to 15,000 of those it is extremely expensive to provide services due to distance or terrain.

She said 80 per cent get dial-up internet access at 14.4Kpbs with another 15 per cent getting 9.6Kbps. This is the same basic speed promised to city customers but Parker acknowledges city customers generally achieve higher speeds than rural.

Parker said Telecom is actively looking at alternatives for rural customers including high speed DSL where possible, wireless, two way satellite, and its CDMA mobile network.

Possible reasons Parker gave for dropped connections in rural locations included electric fence interference, ISPs dropping idle lines, ISPs dropping after say a 12 hour period, the browser dropping the connection after 20 minutes of being idle, a call waiting tone, and occasional drop outs for connections that utilise radio.