DSL Download speeds
 

Here's one for the gurus - I have a 1500Kbps ADSL connection, and 3 PCs on a LAN, one of them wirelessly connected.

I've "speed tested" the connection using a small app from somewhere or other on the 'net, and I don't expect actual speeds of 1500.

Well, two machines, including the WiFi get speeds between 1200 and 1300 odd, but one chugs along at around 650 - still better than Dial-up of course. All machines of similar specification in terms of processor speed and RAM.

Where is it choking?

Hard to tell without more information, but you could try:

(a) swap LAN cables around to see whether cabling is causing errors which might slow the effective transfer rate;

(b) see whether the "slow" machine needs the disk defragmenting.

(c) Look at applications running on the "slow" machine. Is there anything mopping up CPU time?

Hope this is helpful.

DOME,

Do give us the specs on the Hardware and OS. Also how much of the Hard Drive is used up on each comp?

Two tests you could use are:

Broadband Report's Speedtest

and

Bandwidth Connection's Speed Test

Take Care,

Richard

TM

1) have disconnected the router and used its cable - modem direct to PC NIC - no difference.

2) Defragged about 2 weeks ago.

3) not many apps running - basically only those required.

Richard,

at work ATM - will try the tests in another 5.5 hours - but who's counting!

DOME,

Then we solve it when you get home. ;)

Take Care,

Richard

Just for interest here in OZ I find that I'm getting 765 down and 90 up from a 1500/256 connection.....through IINET

Whatever happened to Truth in Advertising?

However I'm equally sure that their pre-prepared reply would leave me no wiser (were I to have the temerity to question it).

DD

Dagger Dirk,

Are you talking Bits or Bytes? A 1.5M Bit connection is 187K Bytes and 256k Bit connection is 32k Bytes.

Take Care,

Richard

Dagger said
Richard said
From
Broadband Report's Speedtest

and

Bandwidth Connection's Speed Test

I fairly consistently tested at those figures above - which I believe are kbits/sec. Now IINET claims to be selling us 1.5MBit/sec down, 256KBit/sec up.

Richard are you telling me that I'm getting what I pay for?
I know. The explanation will be just like the one where you're told by the ISP that your dial-up can never possibly achieve the 56K that your modem is cited as. It's probably the difference between factuality and reality eh?

I suspect that I'm a mug for paying for the broader bandwidth. I should pay a third of what I'm paying and possibly would then enjoy not much less than what I'm getting now (right?)

I have a similar interesting one.

I have a 100Mb router with four PCs plugged into it.

The router has a green light to indicate 100Mb service which goes orange to indicate 10Mbs.

One of the computers always gets an orange light, even though I have changed the NIC, the cables and the router port.

I don't really care, because it is only networked to get ADSL, but it still seems very odd.

almost definitely in Timothy's case, I'd say that the problem is that the Ethernet card that the computer is using is limiting the speed to 10Mb/sec
I would say the original problem has the same answer except that the speed involved is an odd speed for an ethernet card to stop at!

Dagger Dirk,

I am just saying that ISPs give their speeds in Bits while Windows reports upload and download rates in Bytes. You just want to make sure that when comparing the two you either multiply or divide by 8 appropriately so you are comparing apples with apples.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. As Rupert S said, it sounds like Timothy has an old 10BaseT card in that computer.