Is it normal for a 1mbps DSL connection to experience slowdowns during midday to evening?

Question

People said that DSL connections aren't affected by it..Why am I still experiencing this issue despite the fact that the first month with this isp was ok for me?

Answer 1

It is affected, just not to the same extent. Evening in particular is a peak time... the more people are using the net in your area or the websites you are trying to view, the slower it will be.

Answer 2

Most ISPs use a method called contention to balance their loads. It requires a lot of expensive equipment to cover all the users who subscribe, so they try to keep this down to control the cost of subscribing. They then have to off-load this by reducing bandwidth at peak times. Often if you subscribe to a higher bandwidth the contention rate is also reduced, which means it has less effect on the higher priced services.