That chat with the datacenter tech made me doubt our fiber provider

I was talking to a guy from Cyxtera last month who told me our ISP's SLA means nothing if their backbone is congested at peak hours in Dallas. He said he's seen our provider's link drop 40% speed every evening for months, and customers just don't check. How many of you actually verify your transit provider's real-world performance against what they promise?

2 comments

2 Comments

fionaa3515d ago

Totally feel you on this one. It's one of those things where you pay for a premium service but the real test is if they actually deliver when everyone's online. I've seen it happen with my own connection where upload speeds just tank after 5 PM during the week, and you only notice if you're running a speed test or trying to send something big. Most people probably just assume it's normal and don't bother checking the fine print. You're smart to dig into it, because a lot of these providers rely on folks not looking too hard.

lunashah15d ago

Oh wait, actually I've gotta push back on that timing just a little. In my experience (and I've checked mine pretty thoroughly with different servers) the slowdown usually starts way earlier, like around 3 or 4 PM. I think it's because a lot of people are working from home now and hopping on Zoom or uploading files in the late afternoon, so the congestion hits before the traditional evening rush. You might be catching it at 5 PM but that's probably the tail end of a much longer period of throttling. It's worth doing a speed test at like 2:30 PM and then again at 3:30 PM to see if you notice the drop happening earlier than you think. Providers tend to have these "peak hours" windows that are longer than what they advertise in the fine print.