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Offline Centurus

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DSL Question....
« on: July 18, 2006, 06:34:17 pm »
Ok, bear with me please, for this may sound stupid.

Currently, I'm paying for 768k DSL each month, and whenever I download anything, the download speed is always between 76kb/sec-80kb/sec.

I've been arguing with my DSL provider for 3 years now because to me that speed seems extremely slow for what I'm paying for, and also my DSL has been known to literally stop working for hours, and one time, 2 days, straight.

My question, the speed at which I am downloading at and the speed that I am paying for, does that sound right?  If so, please let me know.  If not, could someone please tell me what might be going on?  The phone company has checked the box and connections several times and they say everything is fine, and the DSL company finally sent someone out last week and he said that there's nothing wrong with the service, but he never bothered to check how my computer is handling the DSL connection, just used his laptop and a cell phone.

Thanks.
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Offline Bonk

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Re: DSL Question....
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2006, 06:46:02 pm »
OK, its all in the units, a lot of people don't get this, including plenty of experienced folk (that probably includes your ISP support staff by the sound of it).

Standard DSL/Cable download speeds are quoted in Kbps (Kilobits per second) or Mbps (Megabits per second)

There are eight bits per byte in network traffic nomenclature.

So 768Kbps corresponds to 96 KB/s (kilobytes per second)

Your browser (IE?) will report download speeds in KB/s not kbps.

So the 80 KB/s you are getting on your connection is pretty good. (83% of the max)

Try http://www.dslreports.com/stest for detailed tests of your upload and download speeds.

Regarding breaks in service altogether, the big factor for DSL is your distance from the telco's switch. (Most DSL providors will not tell you this, but careful observation of your locality might tell you). DSL can only sustain a reliable connection less then 2500m from the switch. The other factor is the make and quality of the DSL modem.

Cable is infinitely superior for high-speed internet service. Coaxial cable is a far superior signal conductor for data becaause of its inherent noise cancelling properties and resistance to inductive interference.

The industry leader in cable internet service provision:
http://www.eastlink.ca/internet/highspeed/index.asp
(Nova Scotia, Canada)
10Mbps (1250 KB/s) download speed for $55.95/Month!!! I have not seen anyone beat that for residential service. I used to use them when I lived there and the quality of service is second to none.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2006, 07:22:02 pm by Bonk »
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Offline FCM_SFHQ_XC

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Re: DSL Question....
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2006, 11:31:43 am »
96 KB/s ... should be higher then that. My Dad's DSL lite service I can DL things there at roughly 111 KB/s so...
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Offline Dash Jones

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Re: DSL Question....
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2006, 02:50:20 pm »
On DSL I've gotten up to 152 per second.  But I thought my cousin had 384 down here...apparantly not.  I'll have to probe/ask them what is their actual speed, if they know.
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Offline Bonk

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Re: DSL Question....
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2006, 12:08:15 pm »
768 Kbps = 96 KB/s - period.

Residential DSL connection speeds vary from provider to provider and also with the account type and modems and modem settings used to connect. They usually range from 256Kbps-1.5Mbps downstream speeds.

http://www.dslreports.com/psearch?d=Search+for+Plans+by+attributes

EDIT: download speeds will depend on where you are downloading files from of course. For example, the maximum speed you will be able to download a file from Dynaverse.net at will be 32KB/s , (32KB/s = 256Kbps) depending on how busy things are as I have throttled the server to only be able to send out at that speed, as our current upstream connection is 1024Kbps, and we are running a number of servers (Dynaverse, Teamspeak, other sites... etc) so I have limited Dynaverse.net to a maximum of 1/4 of our peak upstream bandwidth so as to allow the other servers, some of which are throttled as well, to still have some upstream bandwidth available.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2006, 12:31:04 pm by Bonk »
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Offline IAF Lyrkiller

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Re: DSL Question....
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2006, 11:58:00 pm »
Hey Bonk, is there anything I can do to reduce the TCP overhead?
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Offline Centurus

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Re: DSL Question....
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2006, 06:28:56 am »
Thanks for clearing that up.  My DSL provider never bothered to explain any of that.  I know that for the price I'm paying, I can upgrade to 1.5m a month for the same price.  Might do that.  But thanks for letting me know that 80kb/sec is actually pretty good for what I'm paying for.  Now to give my DSL provider some hell.

I know where the switch is for my ISP, roughly 10-15 minutes away by car, but apparently the cable leading from my telephone box outside is fiber optic.  The DSL tech that came out here said that's the worst to have for DSL with the distance between the switch and myself.

Thanks for the help.  :-D
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Offline Bonk

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Re: DSL Question....
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2006, 08:44:13 am »
Quote from: CayneG on July 20, 2006, 11:58:00 pm
Hey Bonk, is there anything I can do to reduce the TCP overhead?


Ditch the software firewalls... ;) Remove all but the necessary protocols for each adapter.

Or try running QNX(neutrino)... fastest TCP/IP stack I have seen.
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