Ok, remembering that I'm a home computing newbie let's begin!

I have just tried the adslguide.org speed test and got the outstanding download score of....61kbps!! And they say a 512Kbps connection should get a typical figure of 460Kbps!! The exact output is: So my upload speed is about half what it should be too!

So, any ideas as to why??

Current setup is:
500Mhz P3 with 384Meg of RAM.
NTL cable 600K
Netgear cable router

I had been enjoying whizzing along on t'internet (waaay better than dial-up!) but now am slightly miffed!

HELP!

TIA
Iain


[Edited by V5 - 1/8/2004 7:43:12 AM]

 

Depending upon what time you did the test Iain, it could a simple case of the 50:1 contention ratio kicking in. If there are a lot of people currently logged in (often the case in the early evening), then it could simply be that there is a lack of bandwidth. In this case, every user will have their bandwidth cut, which could account for the low score.

Try and repeat the test a couple of times, preferably at different times during the day and keep a record. If it stays low, then talk to your ISP. You don't say who you are with, but it hasn't been unknown for some ISPs to increase the contention ratio. BT allows ISPs to increase the contention ration but not decrease it under the standard 50:1 ratio.

I also wrote a reply on this thread that explains a little about contention ratios and how ADSL works.

Chris

 

That site sucks. I'm getting bad results as well.
Maybe it's just very busy or a route to it is bad.
Try this one.
http://promos.mcafee.com/speedometer/test_0150.asp
<a href='http://promos.mcafee.com/speedometer/test_0150.asp' target='_blank'></a>



[Edited by Sheepsplitter - 1/7/2004 8:11:42 PM]

[Edited by Sheepsplitter - 1/7/2004 8:12:15 PM]

 

I had a similiar problem and then tried it with the firewall [nortons] disabled and got a much better result. Now I dont even have nortons firewall installed.

 

Cheers guys.

Chris - I did say: NTL cable 600K That thread you mention is the reason I tried the speedtest (someone else posted a link). I understand the concept of contention ratio; does it apply equally to cable? I tried the test this morning between 0830-0900 and a short while ago and got the same figure.

It's not likely to be something in the router config, is it?? Don't think so meself, but thought I'd ask.

Sheepsplitter, cheers I will try that one too.

 

Gents

I had the saem issue. I run Norton and it was not that. Ran it past the Network/security/firewall gurus here at work and the issue was....

The microfilters. 2 problems - 1 duff one AND you also need, for best results, a filter on every telepone extension to stop any issues.

Did this and getting a consisten 492 download whatever the time

JB

 

NTL's ratio is only 20:1, so it shouldnt get as bad as ADSL

I'm about to find out if that works out in reality as i'm leaving NTl and going to adsl

 

what cable modem do you have ?

 

Monkeh - the one it came with! It says NTL on it! NTL:home 200 on the bottom.

 

Missed that Iain! Cable modems are slightly different, although they can suffer from similar problems. Cable modems are connected in what is in effect a large LAN. That is, you and your neighbours are effectively sharing a segment of the network. So you can still suffer the the same type of problems, rather like you can get when many people share a basic LAN hub.

Chris

Just edited to say that don't take the quoted contention ratios as gospel. In the real world, the 50:1 contention ration quoted by BT for ADSL is probably closer to 20:1. There are also differences in the way that DSL and cable modems transmit their upstream data and there are also differences in how DSL and cable modems behave when they become saturated by data. Cable modems use a form of time divisional mutliplexing that can lead to some very violent fluctuations in performance. It is possible that Iain has just experienced this!

Generally speaking we are still getting a raw deal in this country. Goto Japan and it is possible to get a 6Mbps DSL connection for little more than we pay for 512K. The same is true in the States. I would hope that over the next 12 -18 months we will see some big changes in the UK. Bandwidth is, despite what the carriers may tell you, pretty cheap. It is just a case of this being passed onto the consumer, hopefully elminating some of the performance issues we see now.

Chris

[Edited by Chris L - 1/7/2004 9:20:32 PM]

 

Chris No probs! Just done a full reboot and have hit the heady heights of 68kbps!

 

Your Connection
Direction
Actual Speed
True Speed (estimated)

Downstream 373 Kbps (46.6 KB/sec) 402 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 239 Kbps (29.9 KB/sec) 258 Kbps (inc. overheads)




thats with our home network which has 2 pc`s online at the same time

 

Ho hum. It's defo not the router/network side of things cos I've just reverted to cable modem straight into USB and I'm still only getting 68kbps.

 

Try going to

www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest

Very good and quite accurate

Matt

 

Well it's official - my connection sucks! I decided to ring NTL cos I thought it might be fairly quiet now. After about 10 mins on hold I got through to a very helpful chap. We did a bit of testing and proved it's pants, so now I wait for an engineer to visit. Hopefully not too long!!


And Chris - please stop teasing us with talk of 6M!! Where's a drooling smiley when you need one!

 

V5

Im on NTL what should the 600k connection produce as standard??
Upstream ans downstream.

 

Just changed from 1mb to 600kb and the test gave resuklts

Downloaded 1572864 bytes in 21994ms (558 kbps)
Testing upstream speed...
Uploaded 65269 bytes in 4228ms (120 kbps)

Is the upload speed slow?? i see some people getting around the 200 mark

I then got this with norton firewall disabled

Downloaded 1572864 bytes in 21854ms (562 kbps)
Testing upstream speed...
Uploaded 65269 bytes in 4338ms (117 kbps)

[Edited by BL - 1/8/2004 7:16:00 AM]

 

Ok now! Well, even more so!

Out of curiosity I just tried the speed test on my laptop which has a wireless connection to my router and got a download speed of near 560kbps!!! (BL - v similar to you, and my upload speed is the same: about 120)

So WTF is the problem?? It can't be the actual cable connection because it's ok with the laptop. It can't be the network card in the PC because I got the same (poor) result using the cable modem straight into USB. Gah!

So, any ideas as to what might be the problem?

 

Broadband Speed Test Results
Results from broadband speed test recorded on Thursday, 08 January 2004, 09:59.

Your Connection
Direction
Actual Speed
True Speed (estimated)

Downstream 457 Kbps (57.1 KB/sec) 493 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 244 Kbps (30.5 KB/sec) 263 Kbps (inc. overheads)


'Actual Speed' is the amount of useful data that your connection can transmit/receive per second. The 'True Speed' figure includes an approximation of data overheads (non-useful data) and is estimated to be around 8%. 'True Speed' is for informational purposes only and is not used in any ISP rankings.

Speed Comparison Chart
Tip: hover your mouse over each bar to display more information.

Red bars indicate results from your test (upstream/downstream). The Grey portion of each bar represents estimated packet overheads.

Type 0Kbps 150Kbps 300Kbps 450Kbps 600Kbps




56K Modem



ISDN



Dual ISDN



192Kbps MP3



Upstream



300k Video



Downstream



DSL 0.5Mbps




0Kbps 150Kbps 300Kbps 450Kbps 600Kbps



-------------------------------------------

Anygood??

[Edited by Luke - 1/8/2004 10:03:02 AM]

 

That's about right for 512K

 

V5

So are our results OK or are they below standard?

 

is my maths is correct...... 61000/8 = 7.6KB/per sec 122000/8 = 15.2 KB/per sec kin ell you can almost get that from dial-up

 

BL - yours are right!

RB5-Black - nope, your maths are correct. Hence my plea for someone to come up with some ideas as to what it might be!!

It's annoying that my laptop was downloading at 560kbps cos it means the issue isn't with the service or the cable modem, but the puter.

 

Oh, I'm going into the office now so won't be back online until this evening.

In the meantime, please feel free to tell me the answer!!

 

Sweet

Testing downstream speed...
Downloaded 1572864 bytes in 21775ms (564 kbps)
Testing upstream speed...
Uploaded 65269 bytes in 4182ms (121 kbps)

 

**** off!

[Edited by V5 - 1/8/2004 7:18:00 PM]

 

Iain,

Sorry to say:-

Testing downstream speed...
Downloaded 1572864 bytes in 24119ms (509 kbps)
Testing upstream speed...
Uploaded 65269 bytes in 7947ms (64 kbps)

Upload a little low, but at this time of night I'm not too concerned about that.

 

Scott, can I refer you to the sixth post on this page?

Thank you!

 

 

My Blueyonder 1MB service gave (just now) -

Downstream 1044 Kbps (130.5 KB/sec) 1127 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 243 Kbps (30.4 KB/sec) 262 Kbps (inc. overheads)

Looks about right to me

Cheers

Mark