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AOL - varying evening speeds!

I've noticed that AOL slows down in the evening from about 6pm until 10:30pm. Normally the speed drops from about 2Mb (which is what I normally get) to about 300 - 500Kb. On a really bad day, the speed can sometimes start to dip from about 1pm and not recover until about 1am, with the speed being about 100Kb at the peak times!

It varies depending on what speed tester you use - I think the ones based in America give slower results at the peak times than the ones in the UK. However some evenings the speed is full and there's no problem at all. Like I said, I normally get full speed during the day, just not during the evenings, so it's not a problem at my end!!

What's going on? I doubt I'm alone with this problem, but would like to hear from others what speeds they regularly get in the evening. There just seems to be no consistency to it at all - I went for about 2 weeks getting full speeds throughout the evenings, then suddenly yesterday started getting about 300 - 500Kb again at the peak times!!

Comments

  • incesticde
    incesticde Posts: 467 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    AOL are notorious for throttling bandwidth during peak hours.

    I had exactly the same problem with them and there is nothing you can do, it's in the contract you agreed to

    in the end i paid out the last two months so i could go to o2 who don't throttle the line

    I transfer today and am currently awaiting the text so i can start using it
    "I don't want to sound cold and un-caring, but I am those things so that's the way it comes out" - Bill Hicks
  • Inactive
    Inactive Posts: 14,509 Forumite
    incesticde wrote: »

    in the end i paid out the last two months so i could go to o2 who don't throttle the line

    Maybe not, but o2 have other speed issues.
  • incesticde
    incesticde Posts: 467 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    Inactive wrote: »
    Maybe not, but o2 have other speed issues.

    not on my exchange any more (I checked!!!)
    "I don't want to sound cold and un-caring, but I am those things so that's the way it comes out" - Bill Hicks
  • I e-mailed AOL and asked them about the slow evening speeds, and was first of all told it could be a line fault (LOL!) and then was told that every ISP has slow speeds during the 6pm - 11pm period as that's the peak time...

    Quite amusing that they should suggest it's a line fault when speeds to UK servers are ~ 2Mbps in the evenings but about 200Kbps to American servers! It's obviously a fault with the AOL servers or they're deliberately throttling connections to American servers.
  • Inactive
    Inactive Posts: 14,509 Forumite
    dw2009 wrote: »
    I e-mailed AOL and asked them about the slow evening speeds, and was first of all told it could be a line fault (LOL!) and then was told that every ISP has slow speeds during the 6pm - 11pm period as that's the peak time...

    .


    That is utter tosh, my speeds never slow down at any time, but I ain't with AO HELL.
  • *MF*
    *MF* Posts: 3,113 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    dw2009 ... you are not alone, same here.

    But hey, I slow down a bit in the evening, and have even been known to keel over completely - so in a way it suits, lol.
    If many little people, in many little places, do many little things,
    they can change the face of the world.

    - African proverb -
  • Is anyone else finding that AOL is on a bit of a go-slow this evening? It's been ok during the evenings for the past month or so, but at 5pm today it started slowing down! :(
  • alison999
    alison999 Posts: 1,769 Forumite
    the only thing aol arent slow at is collecting your money!
  • Inactive
    Inactive Posts: 14,509 Forumite
    alison999 wrote: »
    the only thing aol arent slow at is collecting your money!

    :rotfl: True.......
  • asperger
    asperger Posts: 87 Forumite
    just remember AOL are now owned by TalkTalk and they service is cheap but no where near the best. i have the same problems all the time
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