DSL Speed dropped from 3 Mbps to 1.5 Mbps

[mike19861]

After having a reliable 3 Mbps DSL connection for 2 years my connection is now maxing out at 1.5 Mbps. Actual download speeds were always at 2.9 Mbps and uploads were above 600 Kbps. My family recently discontinued our Verizon land line telephone service and went with Verizon's wireless home phone service instead. We kept the internet plan we had, but for some reason right after we got rid of the land line the internet speed was cut in half. Verizon's customer service hasn't been able to solve the problem after two attempts. I am curious about what I should do to solve this problem. Does anybody have any suggestions? Also, does anybody know how to contact local customer service agents in the U.S.? Thanks.

DSL modem: actiontec gt704-wg

DSL info:

vpi: 0

vci: 35

dsl mode setting: mmode

dsl negotiated mode: g.dmt

connection status: showtime

speed(down/up): 1792/448 Kbps

atm qos class: ubr

near end crc errors: 13/0

far end crc errors: 0/0

Near End RS FEC: 0/0

Far End RS FEC: 47/0

discarded packets(within last 30 mins): 0

snr margin (down/up): 16/6

attenuation (down/up): 31/31 

[smith6612]

Either your line has degraded, since there's a good amount of noise on it that is preventing you from getting the full 3Mbps rate, or Verizon changed the line pair you were working on. You can try plugging your modem into your NID but I doubt it would give much of an improvement. You can get Verizon to fix the issue if you push them to do it as you technically fall within your speed package.

[mike19861]

Thanks for the reply. The modem is connected to the NID so the problem must be on Verizon's end. What exactly should I ask them to do to fix this? I think you are right that they changed the line pair because the phone number for the internet line changed when we discontinued our land line phone service. Also, what is considered an acceptable amount of noise for our line?

[smith6612]

For your line, you should be able to get 3Mbps with margins holding around the 16dB mark or higher. Upstream should hold at 10-13dB.

[mike19861]

Thanks again for your reply. I will contact Verizon again to try to solve the problem, but I am not quite sure what to ask them to do. Is it possible to have them switch the line pairs? Also, I read in another thread that a person had Verizon switch "nodes." What does that mean?

[smith6612]

It could mean a few things. Typically when people are sayign they were moved, it means they were moved to another DSLAM or another edge router or circuit in the CO to alleviate congestion.