ISP internet speed question

[Tommy]

I live in a rural area where the only broadband Internet service is through a small, locally owned ISP. My download speeds vary some, but are typically around 1 MB/Sec plus or minus. Occasionally, when things get annoyingly slow, I'll visit Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test to see what the speeds are. Interestingly, each time I do that, the speedtest shows reasonable speeds and immediately thereafter, the pages that had been loading slowly start loading quickly again.

My question is this. Does anyone know beyond wild speculation why visiting speedtest.net might speed up a previously slow service?

[crASH]

Can't answer that one, but I would recommend downloading and periodically running "C Cleaner" from www.piriform.com. Disclaimer: I have no personal interest in this product, other than it works for me and it's free.

I run a couple of older PC/laptops and things get bogged down pretty fast when I've been surfing the net, particularly viewing large photos of Cobras, watching videos of Cobras, listening to sound clips of Cobras, "debating" with Club Cobra members, etc, so on, and so forth.

Running C Cleaner periodically cleans up a lot of the crap that slows down my old PCs.

[TXBLU]

I ran the test in your link, then ran this one; AT&T High Speed Internet Speed Test

They were almost identical. My connection tends to work pretty good. When I have a slowdown, I restart my access point and it's usually fine after that. BTW, I run the AT&T U-Verse internet connection with their wireless network gear.

Eric

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by TXBLU

I ran the test in your link, then ran this one; AT&T High Speed Internet Speed Test

They were almost identical. My connection tends to work pretty good. When I have a slowdown, I restart my access point and it's usually fine after that. BTW, I run the AT&T U-Verse internet connection with their wireless network gear.

Eric

I just ran this test and in reading the results,I'd just as soon be at the controls of the space shuttle as I have no clue what they mean, but,anyway, lately my computer has been running slower than it used to, my wife's also.......

I have a new Dell,an IT tech spec'ed it out for me, supposed to have all the latest bells and whistles, when new a few months ago, it was super fast, now, not much faster than my 6 year old computer it replaced.........

anyway,here are the results,can anyone tell me in plain english what they mean....
BTW: I have AT&T, DSL..........

download-.46 mbps
upload-.31 mbps

Using this test:Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test
results;
download-.19
upload-.31

David

[392cobra]

Originally Posted by DAVID GAGNARD

I have a new Dell,an IT tech spec'ed it out for me, supposed to have all the latest bells and whistles, when new a few months ago, it was super fast, now, not much faster than my 6 year old computer it replaced.........

anyway,here are the results,can anyone tell me in plain english what they mean....
BTW: I have AT&T, DSL..........

download-.46 mbps
upload-.31 mbps

Using this test:Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test
results;
download-.19
upload-.31

David

David,
You need to patch the holes in the blanket you're using to send smoke signals.
I really don't know what is all means but yours doesn't seem to be up to speed. Pun intended.

I have a year old Apple MacBook Pro..
AT&T DSL

AT&t Test
5.22
.62

Global Test
5.16
.64

[Tommy]

David,
Those speeds are slow enough to be very noticeable with you waiting for each page to load. Whether they are good or bad for your ISP is something you'd need to discuss with them. Ask them what your speeds are supposed to be and compare it with those numbers. If you don't like the slow speeds and your ISP can't do anything about it, you'll need to conisder alternatives if there are any.

[crASH]

In addition to Tommy's point, when I had DSL(before cable), I think the connectivity/download/upload speeds were also determined by the distance between your modem and the ISPs "central station" or something to that effect.

My house was close to one of these "stations" but we still had dreadful service. If you are a relatively long distance from one, I think poor service might be the norm. If your local cable provider can provide internet service, it might be worthwhile to investigate. It made a WORLD of difference for us, for whatever the reasons.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by Tommy

David,
Those speeds are slow enough to be very noticeable with you waiting for each page to load. Whether they are good or bad for your ISP is something you'd need to discuss with them. Ask them what your speeds are supposed to be and compare it with those numbers. If you don't like the slow speeds and your ISP can't do anything about it, you'll need to conisder alternatives if there are any.

In addition to Tommy's point, when I had DSL(before cable), I think the connectivity/download/upload speeds were also determined by the distance between your modem and the ISPs "central station" or something to that effect.

My house was close to one of these "stations" but we still had dreadful service. If you are a relatively long distance from one, I think poor service might be the norm. If your local cable provider can provide internet service, it might be worthwhile to investigate. It made a WORLD of difference for us, for whatever the reasons.

Painfully slow now....what has me scrathing my head is when I got this new computer a few months ago and would log onto CC for example, it would load up almost instantly, now lately (maybe a few weeks to a month), I sit and wait and watch for things to upload/download!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't change anything on my computer and as far as I know, nothing has changed on my DSL.......All that is avaliable here where I am is DSL, that's the bad part........
The only thing I can see is sometimes very late at night or very early in the morning, things are faster, I'm guessing too many people for the provider's service/lines?????????

David

[crASH]

I have had trouble loading Club Cobra pages in particular, or even the site itself during the past weeks, even while other sites load instantly. Maybe we're yammering on too much , and overloading their web host.

[twobjshelbys]

If you are on DSL have you tried rebooting your DSL router? You should be able to log in to the router and check the WAN status for current speed and signal quality. Sometimes mine gets a burst of noise, steps down but never goes back up. I find that a hard power cycle is generally more "robust" than a remote restart.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

If you are on DSL have you tried rebooting your DSL router? You should be able to log in to the router and check the WAN status for current speed and signal quality. Sometimes mine gets a burst of noise, steps down but never goes back up. I find that a hard power cycle is generally more "robust" than a remote restart.

If you explain how to this dummy how to do this, I certainly will try it, but have no clue how to do it.......
I will need simple step by step instructions.....as I'm not that computer savvy.........

David

[Ron61]

For a while I used a router to connect my two computers to the modem, but when the modem went bad and got the new one that I have it has enough jacks in it that I don't need the router. I do speed test on a routine basis and once in a while I will go into the modem software and see if everything is ok. But normally I just unplug the modem for a few minute and then plug it back in. That takes about 5 minutes for it to reboot and clears anything that I have acting strange. I think I still have the router in its box somewhere in all of my junk. I wish they would put fiber optic in here so I could get a higher speed. I am at the top of what paired wires will carry.

Ron

[tcrist]

Another thing about computers is you need to do a cleanup once in a while. All of the cookies, temp inernet, prefetch files need to go. Also it helps to clean up the registery once in a while.

Go here CCleaner - Download and download CCLEANER. Set it up and run it. After you run it, do a complete computer shut down and then power up your computer again. This could help. CCLEANER is the one that I use. There are more out there and a more literate computer user that me can direct you to other software that they like more.

As far as re-booting your router, Just unplug the power for 30-60 seconds and then plug it back in. As Ron said, let it reboot itself and then see how it works.

Hope this helps,

[Ron61]

Terry,

I also use C Cleaner and it does a pretty good job. I also run Hijack This once in a while but it generates a long log file that can be confusing and will be different on every computer depending on what programs they are running. When I do an uininstall from the control panel I always do searches for all of the left over files and folds and then manually edit the registry to take out what the uninstall program leaves in there. And there will always be left over files from just using the Internet. I have my browser set to delete all Temp Internet files and cookies when I go off line and then I do a search for any newly created files and get rid of ones that are of no use.

Ron

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by DAVID GAGNARD

If you explain how to this dummy how to do this, I certainly will try it, but have no clue how to do it.......
I will need simple step by step instructions.....as I'm not that computer savvy.........

David

Your DSL router will have an IP address of its own. Something like 10.0.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. So in your browser type those addresses and see what happens. If it does, chances are you'll log in with a username of admin and no password. (I'm saying that because it sounds like noone set it up yet). From there you will get an administrator web page and somewhere in there will be statistics page. It should list your uplink (960(?) Kbit) and downlink (1.5-7mbit) speeds. If they aren't what you're paying for then reboot the router and try again. If it still isn't working call your DSL provider.

Note: The address of 10.0.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 might be different depending on your setup. If you have a "network" icon in your task bar just hover over it and it will give you the address assigned to your computer. If it is a.b.c.d, c will likely be 0, and d some random number. You want to go to a.b.c.1 as your first try.

Good luck.

P.S. You're in LA - is your provider Century Link? They just bought Qwest...

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

Your DSL router will have an IP address of its own. Something like 10.0.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. So in your browser type those addresses and see what happens. If it does, chances are you'll log in with a username of admin and no password. (I'm saying that because it sounds like noone set it up yet). From there you will get an administrator web page and somewhere in there will be statistics page. It should list your uplink (960(?) Kbit) and downlink (1.5-7mbit) speeds. If they aren't what you're paying for then reboot the router and try again. If it still isn't working call your DSL provider.

Note: The address of 10.0.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 might be different depending on your setup. If you have a "network" icon in your task bar just hover over it and it will give you the address assigned to your computer. If it is a.b.c.d, c will likely be 0, and d some random number. You want to go to a.b.c.1 as your first try.

Good luck.

P.S. You're in LA - is your provider Century Link? They just bought Qwest...

Thanks for the info, I'll try it..........on AT&T.........service is crappy, internet goes down a number of times every day, usually not more than 5 to 10 minutes, but you can count on it going down for an hour once a day.......
We don't have cable internet and the local cable provider has been saying they are going to upgrade their systems to provide this for 5 years now,local people in the office tell me, "don't hold your breath and wait on it".....!!!!!!!!!
David

[Tommy]

David,
As you said your service seemed faster just after you started using your new computer, I'll add one more point. I have a friend who periodically complains about his computer getting very slow and sluggish when checking email and surfing the net. When I visit him, I'll turn on his computer and walk away for twenty minutes. When we return and have him try it out, it always runs faster. His problem is that he never turns on his computer except for a few minutes at a time when he wants to use it. As a result, there is a backlog of virus scans being run and automated upgrades being downloaded from the net as he is trying to use the computer. All he has to do to speed things up is give the computer time to do its internal housekeeping.

[Ron61]

David,

I have had AT&T Internet service ever since they offered it around here and I have never had but two instances of not being able to log on. One was a storm that knocked down some lines and the other was a site issue that they had fixed in about an hour.

Also one other thing no one has mentioned. Some time ago my speed slowed way down and after I ran a speed check I called a friend of mine who is their top DSL tech now and told him about it. He said I will call you back in about 10 minutes and he did and told me to run the speed test again. It was back to normal. They had changed the circuit packs in the offices and had left all of the newer ones set to the default setting which is the lowest speed. I run speed tests on my computers about once a week and if they come out with any large variance, then I will check.

Ron

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by Tommy

David,
As you said your service seemed faster just after you started using your new computer, I'll add one more point. I have a friend who periodically complains about his computer getting very slow and sluggish when checking email and surfing the net. When I visit him, I'll turn on his computer and walk away for twenty minutes. When we return and have him try it out, it always runs faster. His problem is that he never turns on his computer except for a few minutes at a time when he wants to use it. As a result, there is a backlog of virus scans being run and automated upgrades being downloaded from the net as he is trying to use the computer. All he has to do to speed things up is give the computer time to do its internal housekeeping.

Never thought of that,but it makes sense..........I'll certainly try the turn it and leave it alone method and see if it helps......

I'm thinking it's more in the line and number of users, sometimes,it's as fast as ever, other times,it's very slow.......

I have had AT&T Internet service ever since they offered it around here and I have never had but two instances of not being able to log on. One was a storm that knocked down some lines and the other was a site issue that they had fixed in about an hour.

not so here, it will "go down" 3 to 5 times a day, day in,day out...

David