Slow network on T1 line

[miyamamo]

I'm helping out off the clock at my father's office, and one of the things a number of the people who work there have been complaining about is that the network, and internet access are very slow. They are using a T1 line, which is split between their phone service and 17 computers. The office manager spoke to the company that provides the service, and they said that installing a second T1 line and using one strictly for the phones and the other strictly for the computers would fix everything.

Understandably the office manager is somewhat dubious, and before buying anything is wondering if there was some way we could look to see if there's an underlying problem in the draw on the server from the computers.

Is there some diagnostic I can run on the network via either administrative access on a computer or on the server itself to try to understand why the network is slow?

The phones are definitely in use very often; indeed they are almost constantly in use, is this likely the major drain on the line? Would getting an additional T1 line probably fix everything?

Also, I understand there may be some difficulty in providing a fiber optic connection to an office building, does anyone know much about that?

[glc]

Have you done an Internet speed test? What is the exact topography - is the T1 router connected to a switch, and all computers to the switch? If you are using an old hub instead of a switch, that's the problem - hubs don't prevent packet collisions.

[miyamamo]

We appear to be using an HP ProCurve Switch 2124.

I ran the speed test at www.speedtest.net and found that the workstations have an average:
ping: 26ms
Download rate: 0.71 Mb/s
Upload rate*: 0.64 Mb/s (At first the average was in the .70s and then it dropped to about .45, I rechecked some already checked stations and their upload had dropped, a little while later I was testing computers in a room where two people were on the phone. One hung up and I retested afterward and the connection had gone back up to the .70s)

[glc]

It looks like you may have too many phone lines for a shared T1. A full T1 can handle 24 lines, and 0.71 indicates that you are getting 1/2 of the T1. If there are more than 12 phone lines in the place, then you are in a sharing situation.

The T1 situation should not have ANY effect on LAN performance. If the LAN is sluggish, you need to get a network engineer in there to figure out why. How often do they reboot the switch?

[mbossman2]

how is the T1 provisioned? straight pipe or channelized? if it's a straight pipe, the speed will yo-yo depending upon how many folks are on the phone. if it's channelized, then the speed should be quite steady regardless of how many folks are on the phone.

in addition, if, it's a straight pipe, you really need to check the CIR (committed information rate) and see what they are guaranteeing you as your level of service.

[miyamamo]

Unfortunately the office manager left for the day before I could ask her how the phone lines are set up. I talked to another member of office staff and they told me that while she did not know just how many phone lines there were, that they operated on some sort of "park" method, where incoming calls could sit on a parked line, without taking up a line? She didn't seem to understand how the system worked, and when I looked at the jumble of wires that make up their switch box I was able to discern little more than that there are, on certain individual boxes, as many as 36 connections, while on others there are only 24, and there are some ethernet cables that are not connected hanging out and with ominous purposes penned onto their length...

Also, I'm done here for the day, and since I don't work regularly I don't know when I'll be back, it could be tomorrow or it might not be for another week. Thank you for your help, though, I've never worked with a server before (I'm a college sophomore looking to major in Comp. Eng. and my father wanted me to help out around the office for the summer).

[miyamamo]

After speaking with the office manager I have confirmed that, all told, there are about 36 devices drawing from the T1 line. Unfortunately the office doesn't have any dedicated technical staff so there's no one who can adequately explain to me how the server was set up. As I don't have any prior experience with servers, I don't necessarily know how to check certain things.

Originally Posted by mbossman2 how is the T1 provisioned? straight pipe or channelized?

How do I check if it's straight pipe or channelized?

Originally Posted by mbossman2 in addition, if, it's a straight pipe, you really need to check the CIR (committed information rate) and see what they are guaranteeing you as your level of service.

How do I check the CIR?

Originally Posted by glc It looks like you may have too many phone lines for a shared T1. A full T1 can handle 24 lines, and 0.71 indicates that you are getting 1/2 of the T1. If there are more than 12 phone lines in the place, then you are in a sharing situation.

There definitely seem to be too many lines, if we were to purchase a new T1 line, how should we configure it? Should we have one line reserved for phones / faxes and one for computers accessing the internet?

Originally Posted by glc The T1 situation should not have ANY effect on LAN performance. If the LAN is sluggish, you need to get a network engineer in there to figure out why.

What agency should we contact for a network engineer to inspect our configuration?

Originally Posted by glc How often do they reboot the switch?

The current setup is not very old, and while the switch has been reset a few times, this has been done only when there were problems and on a regular basis the system has been left on at all times.

[glc]

Before buying another T1, you need to investigate business grade DSL, cable, or FIOS. It's going to be a lot cheaper and faster.

[mbossman2]

to check if the line is channelized or not, there are 2 ways:

1) check the interface on the router, the straight T1 interface is different from a channelized one. (if you have a Cisco router, what's the p/n of the interface card?).

2) call the service provider. Ditto for the CIR.

GLC is dead on for the upgrade. there are plenty of cheaper alternatives for high speed access and depending upon the T1 router, you may be able to add an interface card that allows for the alternative internet source and failover to the T1 line in case of DSL et al failure.

[glc]

T1's are essentially things of the past now. Their biggest selling point is usually guaranteed reliability and support response. They are being replaced with cheaper, higher speed connections (fiber, MAN, etc.) and VOIP.

[miyamamo]

I don't know much about networking, unfortunately. I have had a vague understanding that T1 lines were good, and I don't really know much about the alternatives. Our ISP is Paetec, we are located in Chevy Chase. If you could do or show me a performance comparison that would be excellent.

[mojo]

Originally Posted by miyamamo If you could do or show me a performance comparison that would be excellent.

Well, T1s only run about 1.5 Mbps. Compare that to consumer-grade broadband that frequently runs at 10 Mbps or higher. As GLC said, the historical reasons for getting a T1 was the guarantee of speed and service, as opposed to the best-effor nature of a consumer-grade connection. Now with business-grade cable and DSL you can get pretty much the same service guarantee and much more speed, all for much less money.