Broadband Speed Test

[shack]

I was beginning to think my connections were getting a bit sluggish so I have just run Dan Elwells speed test.

All the ping tests came back with answers like
"This result is much poorer than expected and should be investigated" or "This result shows serious problems with your ping times and should be investigated" and the download speed was 750 instead of 2000kb.

Is there anything I can do myself about this or is it an ISP problem.

Thanks.

[airborne_artist]

You will find that 2Mb is probably not g'teed, so best to test it again at a quiet time like early in the morning. Also try at least one other test, to cross check eg http://www.speedtest.net

[spannersatcx]

Another one here (http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html) that I use which seems pretty reliable.
I'm supposedly on an ADSL max line! which is capable of around 6Mb/s but the best I've seen is almost 3.

[ZFT]

You should try 'surviving' in Asia post the Taiwan earthquake on 26/12/06.

On a 2gb set up the best I can get today is 410 kb download and 212 kb uplink and this is a good day!!

[BEagle]

Hmmmm....

My router's 'DSL status' reports 448K up and 5008K down, but the 'speedtest' reports 373K up and 2002K down.

And this is from an 'up to 8Mb' ISP - I'm about 1 mile from the local exchange.

Why would this be? Would be grateful to know, but not in geek-speak.

[oldbeefer]

BEagle. If you are on an 'up to 8 meg' deal, that is the most you could ever see. Practically, it will always be a lot less than that; how much less depends on distance from exchange (1 mile is considered a long way), condition of the line, extention cables that you may use to connect and time of day (more people using the system the slower the connection). My 'up to 8 meg' can vary from 500 k at a busy time of day to 4.5 meg in the early hours. In geek speak, this system is known as 'rate adaptive'. The kit in the exchange continually monitors the performance of the line, and trys to give you the highest speed that is stable.

[slim_slag]

I think the router is reporting the max speed that it has negotiated with the equipment at the exchange, the speedtest is reporting the actual value available. Your distance from the exhange is only one of many vairables that come into play, though in general the closer the better, it's not the only thing to consider.

One is moving house shortly and broadband is top of my list to get right, more important than the curtains, though the mrs doesn't like hearing me say that. Having done some research into broadband I've come to the conclusion it's all being sold on lies and deception.

[oldbeefer]

BEagle - forgot to mention, if you Google 'rate adaptive', you could find out much more about the system (should you want to!).

[VH-MTT]

It can also depend on the websites servers bandwidth allowance. i can get 16Mb which exuates to about 2MB a second, but i can only get this on certain sites that don't cap the download speed.

some sites still download files as if i was on a 56k modem.

so its not just your end but theirs too.

M.

[Keef]

It depends on a whole raft of factors, including how busy your local exchange is.

We have MaxADSL up in the Norfolk cottage. It's 50 yards or so from the exchange, and there are not many folks in the village with ADSL. It connects at 8 mbps (no surprise) and I normally get speed test results around 5.5mbps, sometimes a bit more. I've never noticed it slowing down in the evenings, either!

Now in Essex...

[shack]

Thanks chaps for all the replies, I did realise that the fact that the ISP says 2mb. does not mean that I will get that all the time (or ever) but my query was about the ping results, or is that all part of the same problem?

[slim_slag]

'Ping' tests latency in a network more than bandwidth. That's the time it takes for the 'ping' to get from your PC to a remote machine server, and get back again, across all the network kit on the way.

If you run a trace route you might see where the hold up is.

so for instane, go to a dos command shell and type

tracert www.cisco.com (http://www.cisco.com)

and see what you get back.. When I do this the longest hop appears to be the one from the UK to the US, which might make sense. You don't want to see the longest hop elsewhere, neccessarily. Just another tool to help you guess what is going on out there.

[shack]

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
Tracing route to www.cisco.com [198.133.219.25]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 4195 ms 72 ms 70 ms
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 86 ms 85 ms 85 ms amsterdam-6k-1-po100.intf.routers.proxad.net [21
2.27.56.42]
6 85 ms 88 ms 85 ms amsxnl.sbcglobal.net [195.69.145.135]
7 237 ms 235 ms 235 ms ded-p1-0.pltn13.sbcglobal.net [151.164.191.245]
8 238 ms 236 ms 240 ms Cisco-Systems-1151757.cust-rtr.pacbell.net [71.1
33.200.198]
9 239 ms 236 ms 251 ms sjc5-dmzbb-gw1.cisco.com [128.107.224.105]
10 238 ms 241 ms 247 ms sjce-dmzbb-gw1.cisco.com [128.107.224.2]
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 *
And then I gave in as it did not mean much to me!!!

[slim_slag]

Well, I stand to be corrected by others more knowledgable, but the first line tells the story

1 4195 ms 72 ms 70 ms 192.168.254.254

Something wrong with your home setup I believe......

[blackace]

A common misconception is that your DSL line rate is the speed you can download stuff at, it is not.

ISP's as previously mentioned use Rate Adaptive Technology to monitor your line and set what is called your IP PROFILE accordingly, that is the actual rate you can download at.

Your DSL might be 8mB but if your IP PROFILE is only 200K then thats the fastest you can download for example.

Normally your IP PROFILE is around 70% of your DSL line rate.

There have been many reports in the UK of the IP PROFILE not updating, so if your download speed is less than 70% of your DSL line rate I would certainly consider taking it up with your ISP.

So regardless of what your line rate is, the most important piece of information you need is what your IP PROFILE is, it is set by your ISP and you can check with them what it is.

[shack]

Thanks slim-slag---I think you have just depressed me!!!!

Blackace---Thank you the thought of talking to my ISP will probably stretch my French to it's limits.

[blackace]

OIC
Then if its the ping your worried about then slim slag has it spot on, for some reason your ping is bouncing around inside your local network for 4 seconds even before it gets anywhere near the outside world.

this could be caused by malicious software so check with adaware or a similar program.

A word of advice as well, if your on a fixed IP NEVER absoloutly NEVER post your IP on any public forum, I suggest you edit your post. Its like handing your car keys to a car thief.

Hackers will love you though.

On second thoughts no need to, thats a 192.168.xxx.xxx IP so its the internal IP of your router as seen from your side and not your IP as seen from the outside world

[shack]

Thank you Blackace for your advice, I shall be surprised if I have a nasty as I run Eiwdo (AVG now), Spyware Doctor, Adaware, daily whilst hiding behind AVG AV and a firewall, but then I guess nothing is safe.

Do I assume from your and slim-slag remarks that the problem can lie within my machine, presumably in the Registry?

[blackace]

The problem is prior to leaving your machine that's for sure. But I doubt its a registry related problem. There is certainly some conflict going on, routers can be nasty things especially when there is a network involved. To find out more I would need to know exactly what is connected to your home network and your router.

Then we can try some things that might identify what's causing your problem.

[blackace]

OK shack, please reply when you can, but this is what you need to do to in the meantime to try to isolate the cause of your problem.

1. Find out the IP of your machine and ping it, result should be <1ms.

2. Find out the IP of your router and ping it, result should be <10ms.

3. Find out the IP of your ISP gateway and ping it, result should be <30ms.

Do this and post the results.

[slim_slag]

Well shack, this is when I have sympathy for those people on the end of a support line.

Idle googling suggests (and it's a guess) that you have a FreeBox HD set top box connecting you to the internet. Well, another guess is that this is a proprietory type solution. The manual is here and it's a PDF and in French. ftp://ftp.free.fr/pub/support/MANUELFREEBOXHD-BOITIER-A.pdf

Section 4.5.4 says you can mess with the ping but you need to login to the box.

Basically all I would suggest is connect via a cable and not WIFI. Reboot your box (how to do that is in the manual, in French) and reboot your PC. Lame eh? Then type

ipconfig /renew

in your DOS shell.

If that doesn't work then prepare to pay 34c per minute to speak to support line which I am sure is happier to speak in French than English.

[shack]

Thanks slim-slag, why didn't I think of that (because you're stupid I hear from several ex-Service people on Pprune).

Having rebooted etc. there is a definite improvement--I still do not understand all the ping jazz, but there. I was much happier with my Netgear router but I have to use the Freebox to get my free telephone calls to most of the civilised world.

Thanks also to Blackace

[kishna]

My broadband speed has been very variable recently - it usually runs around 6Mb, but of late has been anywhere between 700k & 2.5Mb. Time of day doesn't seem to play much of a factor in it. If I moved to a different ISP, could the speed be more stable, or is it a function of the BT line in our village?

[parabellum]

but I have to use the Freebox to get my free telephone calls to most of the civilised world.

Have you considered using Skype? Free between computers and very cheap from your computer to anyones landline, ( you need to open an account). We use it all the time now as the quality is so good. Then you could go back to your Netgear router perhaps?