Broadband: Broadband: Is my cable connection becoming saturated?
- 10/2/09 10:18 AM
Speed Test SCAM...
by Good-PC.Guy! - 10/3/09 6:59 PM In reply to: http://www.speedtest.net/ by leehemenLittle doubt! ...
Cuz there's all sorts of such false tests & checks to be found on the www.net!
Most just want to pull something else on you while you're trying their claimed offers, etc.!
I guess ya just have to develop the knack of being able to tell the 2% of good/true stuff from the 98% of pure junk.
THE GOOD SITES WON'T TAKE OR ADD ANY UNAPPROVED DATA FROM / TO YOUR PC!
SO ALWAYS RUN A SEARCH ON YOUR PC (drive-C), FOR ANY NEW FILES WHICH WERE PICKED-UP DURING THE TIME WHEN YA TRIED SOMETHING WHICH WAS DONE FOR YA AT SOME WEB-SITE. ...
CHANCES ARE THAT WHAT YOU FIND (especially that which you had not approved), WILL SOME DAY BE IDENTIFIED AS SOME SORT OF MALWARE (by at least one of your anti-malware programs).
BE SMART... BE CAREFUL (on the net)!
Uniblue is a scam
by flrhcarr - 10/9/09 12:46 PM In reply to: http://www.speedtest.net/ by leehemenI agree, years ago I bought their crap. I have been much better with out it.
Few things to (add, to) ponder on your connection.
First, we all heard that cable will only give the high speed to those who don't connect all of the time, or for long.
Continuing on. Whether there is something lurking in your computer or not, you probably have way too many orphaned files, loading programs & things of that nature.
Isolate any virus first, than reformat your drive (s). Usually every couple years you should, just to clear out the junk (files, programs) that builds up.
Make sure you have the right drivers for your computer & the pieces inside. Which isn't always the latest or newest driver. Installing the wrong driver won't help & could in fact, mess things up.
Finally. There are a few normal programs that access the net while you're connected. Automatic update software is the biggest offender. I can bet you have more than just Windows doing it.
Anyhow I hope this helps. A little late in responding, but in fact, I was just reformatting my drive, & didn't want to write on my friend's computer, as she has automatic update everything (and the connection tends to be slow ;}).
Not a good speed test
by jrfoleyjr - 10/3/09 10:59 AM In reply to: Testing your Cable modem upload/download spped by ralphjramirezInstead try THIS speed test...
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
...for a mjore accurate result, not colored by a company selling a product to affect connection speed.
Flashing Light on Your Modem is your ISP
by parkpro - 9/18/09 6:18 PM In reply to: Broadband: Is my cable connection becoming saturated? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Your ISP pings your modem 24 hours a day to see if they need to decrease or increase bandwidth in your area. The more people it finds on line in an area of town the more bandwidth you all get. Servers cost big bucks along with the power to run them. There is no bogey man trying to steal your stuff. I use McAfree with Comcast and have never had any problems with my 4 computers on line 24/7 Gary
Did you change your modem?
by mike92105 - 10/2/09 5:50 PM In reply to: Flashing Light on Your Modem is your ISP by parkproIf you once had a Motorola 5100 and then went to a 5101 or 5120 the lights work just the opposite. On these modems the light goes off when information is being sent or received.
Cable Broadband slow down
by Zouch - 9/18/09 6:27 PM In reply to: Broadband: Is my cable connection becoming saturated? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Steve,
when your download speed deteriorates, the problem can lie anywhere down the path from the source site to your PC. The trick is to identify where!
In general, the speed of Cable broadband isn't as sensitive to load on your ISP's network as ADSL down the phone line but the trunks are still shared and that can cause some variation. From your description, it sounds like you are seeing a degradation, compared to when you forst got the broadband. This can be somewhat subjective, though, so it is worth running a speed test to check just what speed you are getting. CNET/Techrepublic/ZDNet have speed testers and these work reasonably well. It would be nice, of course, to compare with what you had originally but that is water under the bridge. So run the test every hour throughout the day (or at least that part of it you are awake!) and see if there is any significant variation, which would imply that you are experiencing load sensitivity.
The most common cause of load sensitivity on a cable connection is transitory overloads on the ISP servers. Here in the UK NTL (now Virgin Media) used to add a server when the average load reached 70% but other ISPs will use a different threshold. If this is what you are seeing, it is worth calling your ISP to discuss possible causes. Your ISP may also have a speed test specific to their network that they can give you.
I'm not sure what the activity light on your modem is - do you just have one or do you have separate transmit and receive lights? I'll assume it's a receive light, which would relate to your download sluggishness. It should only be on when data is actually being transmitted. If it is more or less continuously, that suggests there is a lot of data downloading. If this is more than you would expect from what you are doing, it could be error correction requesting retransmissions. If so, it could be due to deterioration of the cable itself, or the modem reaching end of life - you say you've had it for some years. I'm assuming here that our ISP hasn't increased the bandwidth on your line - if it has, it may be too fast for your modem and it's overrunning and requesting retransmission. Again, this is a call to your ISP. They should have diagnostics they can run to your modem to see if you are getting heavy error correction and if so, where. If it's the cable, expect a long wait while they replace it. If it's the modem, that's a relatively quicker solution.
Since you have your PC and your son's PC (albeit powered off) online, I assume you have a router in your home network somewhere. If the router is connected directly to the modem, before calling your ISP, it would be worth connecting your PC directly to the modem to see if that cures the problem. If it does, then the fault is on your internal home network; if it doesn't, then it's most likely the modem or the cable - or the repeater boxes on the line, again, a call to your ISP.
That's my "starter for 10" - hope it helps!
Broadband...
by CSpiridon - 9/18/09 6:32 PM In reply to: Broadband: Is my cable connection becoming saturated? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Dear Steve,
Yes, you are right. Your connection becomes saturated. Did you notice the time? Is it generally in the evening, 7PM to 11PM, 1hr, 2hrs or more?
I have had the same issue w/ AT&T DSL. It started in May. After a lot of trouble tickets, they worked hard, and improved my connections. But from time to time the problem is there again. They recommended to downgrade the DSL speed. I did it, the only advantage is that it costs a few dollars less, otherwise....is like above.
Good luck,
Constantin S
DSL is not the same as Broadband Cable!
by dilly1979 - 10/2/09 11:16 PM In reply to: Broadband... by CSpiridonDSL and Broadband cable are different. The number of users on a DSL line can/will effect performance. The further from the DSL source the slower the speed. There tech support should know this, and there isn't an easy fix, the speeds will still be faster than dial up but not as fast as promised in most cases, unless you are close the source.
Cable on the other hand is not going through a DSL line and speed from the provider should remain constant regardless of the number of users.
Speed on a cable modem line being constant?
by appleone8150 - 10/3/09 10:40 PM In reply to: DSL is not the same as Broadband Cable! by dilly1979Yes it "should" remain constant, and for the most part, it probably does, however, it can change, and it will most likely be slower. That's what happened to me.
I changed from dial up to a cable modem about four or months ago. When I first hooked it up, I did notice a very big difference in the speed, but It didn't seem to be as fast as I had expected. I called my cable company and they first told me to go to speedtest.net and test my connection speed. I was supposed to be getting an 8 meg connection speed but it tested out to be only about 5.75. It was about the same on the Speak Easy test site. They sent out a tech who tested all my equipment and cable line. All checked out okay. He said the only thing he could think of was traffic on the line. I checked my speed again today (10/3/09), and it is now only about 3.75. So I have lost speed. I sense that it has something to do with the software and anti virus programs on my computer, combined with line traffic.
Tim A.
Look before you leap - the culprit could be close to home.
by royhcunningham - 9/18/09 6:33 PM In reply to: Broadband: Is my cable connection becoming saturated? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Before you blame your ISP, or your neighbours, make sure it isn't YOUR PC. You mentioned that "the activity light is nearly always on". That indicates data traffic to/from your PC. You can use task manager to see where the activity is. Add some columns to the PROCESSES view (eg. I/O Reads, I/O Writes, I/O Other) and to the NETWORKING view (eg. Bytes sent and received per interval). If the counters show lots of activity you'll need to trace down the processes / tasks doing it.
Check for virus activity too. Make sure you haven't become someone's x-bot. You can download and run Malwarebytes A/V tool (www.malwarebytes.org) and SuperAntiSpyware (www.superantispyware.com) for free and see what they find.
If all that comes up empty, call your ISP with some confidence that they won't come back and say "it's YOUR PC".
Not the PC
by sbogucki2002 - 10/7/09 5:40 AM In reply to: Look before you leap - the culprit could be close to home. by royhcunninghamIt turns out that when I powered everything off (PC, router and modem), then turned on modem (no activity light), then router (whoa-ho! almost solid activity light!), there it was.
The router has wep encryption (yes, I know, not the best - extenuating circumstances there.) and MAC filtering, so only the MACs I entered myself should be able to access via my router. And we live in a rural area where to get within proximity to attempt access from outside the house would be obvious.
Saturated? Re high use and flashing light.
by anglonz - 9/18/09 6:41 PM In reply to: Broadband: Is my cable connection becoming saturated? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you have wireless, I would suspect your broadband has been accessed by a thief. The busy light flash a dead give away.
Change your password on the router and keep it VERY private.
I suspect a neighbour had been stealing mine as it was left 'open' (ad name only)
I hope this is of some use to you or any who use wireless. Cheers Anglonz
Check your wireless access on your router
by R Palumbo - 9/18/09 6:52 PM In reply to: Broadband: Is my cable connection becoming saturated? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you have a router with a wireless ability you may have an unexpected user. I your wireless in not encrypted anyone can the Internet through your cable modem. I had something similar happen to me until i encrypted the wireless access on my router.
Not wireless intrusion
by sbogucki2002 - 10/7/09 5:45 AM In reply to: Check your wireless access on your router by R Palumboencrypted and mac filtered.
But it appears to be the nature of the beast. See my posts at the end (page 7?)
Broadband cable saturation
by punky518 - 9/18/09 7:34 PM In reply to: Broadband: Is my cable connection becoming saturated? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello. I am unsure of what cable provider you have or the type of modem, but as long as your PC (or PC's) are powered on, the activity light should pretty much always be flashing. Having worked for my local cable provider a number of years in the broadband department I can try and shed a little light on why your service isn't always running at top speed. Each neighborhood with cable broadband is on what's called a "node", and yes, obviously the more users on at any given time can and will affect performance (i.e. you are just trying to download a song but your next door neighbor is downloading "The Dark Knight" in hi-def at the same time). Next, the level of service you have with your provider will always affect traffic speed. My cable provider has five (5) tiers of service now, with better up and download speeds for more $$$. I have their very fastest service (Cox Premier Plus), but to even get that I had to buy a new cable modem (called DOCSIS 3.0 - Motorola and Cisco make them, around $100) and bump my service level up, but at a price ($79.99/mo.). But now I get 30-50 Mbps downloads and 4-6 Mbps uploads. So check with your cable provider and ask what speeds you SHOULD typically be getting for your level of service. After finding out, go to speedtest.net and run their free test, which will tell you your exact down and upload speed so you can get a ballpark on if you are getting what you are paying for. If not, then I would inform your provider and maybe schedule a service call (bear in mind this might cost $$$ too). There are also a plethora of hardware (read: your PC) issues that may or may not be affecting your speed. Hope this helps!
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
