Unusual Speed Problem

[loonytoon]

I'm having a very odd problem.

I can download multiple files at the same time, lets say 10, with the speed reaching around 18-19 Meg but none of them will download any faster than 700kb/s, even if it's just 1 file at a time. Not to mention that 700kb/s is the fastest I've got so far. Browsing is also a pain because of this slowdown.

I've done my virus and spyware scans, restarted the modem etc but nothing seems to make this work right.

I've run a couple of speed tests with the results below:


BBMax

Date of Speed Test: 2008-07-30 20:56:06

Download Speed: 1334 kbps (166.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 661 kbps (82.6 KB/sec transfer rate)


Speed Test

Test 1: 1024K took 8125 ms = 126 KB/sec, approx 1038 Kbps, 1.01 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 9672 ms = 105.9 KB/sec, approx 873 Kbps, 0.85 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 6438 ms = 159.1 KB/sec, approx 1311 Kbps, 1.28 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 15469 ms = 132.4 KB/sec, approx 1091 Kbps, 1.07 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1078 Kbps, 1.05 Mbps


Waited 15 mins and tried again...


Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:11:48 UTC

Test 1: 1024K took 5719 ms = 179.1 KB/sec, approx 1476 Kbps, 1.44 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 4765 ms = 214.9 KB/sec, approx 1771 Kbps, 1.73 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 5922 ms = 172.9 KB/sec, approx 1425 Kbps, 1.39 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 20516 ms = 99.8 KB/sec, approx 822 Kbps, 0.8 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1374 Kbps, 1.34 Mbps



Any ideas about what's going on?

[chickendippers]

Where are you downloading from? Most servers aren't optimised to provide a full 20Mb download speed.

The fact that you can achieve 20Mb in total by downloading multiple files simultaneously indicates there is nothing wrong with your connection.

[loonytoon]

It doesn't matter where I download from, be it from Virgin Media, Microsoft or elsewhere. Just last week it was working fine at 1.8 - 2.2Mb/s but now it has dropped to what you see in the results above. Streaming videos is next to impossible, browsing is a pain but still multiple downloads work out fine.

Like I said, it's an unusual speed problem.

[shooda]

Im on 20mb and i have the exact same problem. Concurrency will give me full speed but that aint worth crap when your trying to watch something stream.

So i dont agree that the connection is working properly at all, it looks like throttiling or shaping or management, whatever you want to call it.....



what a godawful product/service.... really :(

[Techiedog]

Not sure if this is along the same lines but as of about 5 weeks ago my level of service has taken a nose dive. My symptoms: Web browsing, email, IM, Skype etc all work fine but the moment I try and download something like a podcast or software patch the connection keeps dropping. I've been through the useless tech support who had me go throrgh the various switch off cycles and then told me everything was OK and that I didn't have a problem!!!!

Any hoo - looks very much like traffic management or throttling to me, which is very annoying as I'm on a higher bandwidth package and I'm not really a high data consumer - the only time I do more than email, IM, web or skype is when Itunes tries to grab my weekly podcasts or I need to download a software update.

Been with NTL since 2000 and hence virgin since the re-brand and have never had any cause for complaint. The service now sucks big time and I really can't see how to get it sorted if the tech support people refuse to accept I have an issue.
Time to move to ADSL I thinks.

[ruddock08]

hi, i hasd this problem, do a google search for tcp optimizer and then crnak it up to 20000 kbps, worked for me! :D

[whydoIneedatech]

You could try this below if you are on XP.

TCP Optimiser is actually on the Virginmedia website click on this link and read about it.

http://help2.virginmedia.com/help/ge...anced_optimise

Then the link to the Speedguide site

www.speedguide.net.

Or the link direct to the Optimiser.

http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You could try this below if you are on Vista

http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=2574

[Techiedog]

@whydoIneedatech and ruddock08 - Thanks for the tips.

I'm actually on a mac here so I'll ask The Google about an OSX equivalent to TCP Optimiser.

BTW- the virgin media help page quoted won't load for me!

[sstainer]

@whydoIneedatech and ruddock08 - Thanks for the tips.

I'm actually on a mac here so I'll ask The Google about an OSX equivalent to TCP Optimiser.

BTW- the virgin media help page quoted won't load for me!

try here
http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?category=89&qid=129

[loonytoon]

I've run TCP Optimizer before and I ran it again after it was suggested in here. The browsing problem still exists, streaming videos are loading at 56KB/s according to a bandwith monitor I've been using for a few days to see how slow it's going. Sites load even slower than that, I try to use picture heavy pages to check the loading time to get a good reading.

In fact I took a screenshot of a YouTube video with the bandwith monitor overlayed to show the speed. It played from the start so the play meter shows how much has loading in almost 45 seconds.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/08/22.png

Now for a proper download:

This is when I have numerous downloads running at the same time :-

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/08/23.png

and when I pause all but one of them :-

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/08/24.png

[Techiedog]

Tried all the tweaks but absolutely no change in behavior.

I have no problems over any other network.

I need to find who to speak to at VM 'cos I keep ending up with tech support who tell me there is nothing wrong!!!

This is getting really ridiculous. Not only am I not a high bandwidth user but the behavior isn't limited to peak times.

I am now having to use my 3G dongle to get my podcasts!

[loonytoon]

I contacted Virgin once again about my problem and they told me that everything was working as normal. However, this hasn't been the only time I contacted them about speed troubles and had them check my modem... this time was different as the guy on the phone said that my modem (ntl:home 200) doesn't support full 20meg and that he had ordered a new Ambit 256 for me to sort out the problem.

I recorded the power levels to tell them about it as I thought there was a problem there but he said they were fine. I've posted them below to see if people agree.


Ambit ntl:home 200

Downstream Receive Power Level : -5.7 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 30.5 dB
Upstream Transmit Power Level : 61.0 dBmV (I read that this was high or maximum)
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream Frequency : 29200000 Hz

[chickendippers]

Have you tried contacting the virginmedia.support.broadband newsgroup? I've had nothing but exceptional service from them.

http://www.virginmedia.com/customers/newsgroups/

[whydoIneedatech]

I contacted Virgin once again about my problem and they told me that everything was working as normal. However, this hasn't been the only time I contacted them about speed troubles and had them check my modem... this time was different as the guy on the phone said that my modem (ntl:home 200) doesn't support full 20meg and that he had ordered a new Ambit 256 for me to sort out the problem.

I recorded the power levels to tell them about it as I thought there was a problem there but he said they were fine. I've posted them below to see if people agree.


Ambit ntl:home 200

Downstream Receive Power Level : -5.7 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 30.5 dB
Upstream Transmit Power Level : 61.0 dBmV (I read that this was high or maximum)
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream Frequency : 29200000 Hz
I rather doubt replacing the modem will lower that Upstream from that high figure and you probably will still have the same issue.

[xspeedyx]

shouldnt you have the power levels lowered well the upstream as that is a little from what I have seen

[loonytoon]

That's why I was wondering about the Upstream levels. I told the guy on the phone that I thought the Upstream power level was high and causing a problem. His answer was "The levels are fine, the higher the better", although I still had my suspicions about it. I repeated the same thing about the Upstream levels potentially being the problem but he was insistant that everything was working as it should.

I again ran a speedtest a couple of mins ago to show the problem is still as bad as it was:

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:40:12 UTC

Test 1: 1024K took 7828 ms = 130.8 KB/sec, approx 1078 Kbps, 1.05 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 5172 ms = 198 KB/sec, approx 1632 Kbps, 1.59 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 5359 ms = 191.1 KB/sec, approx 1575 Kbps, 1.54 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 11828 ms = 173.1 KB/sec, approx 1426 Kbps, 1.39 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1428 Kbps, 1.39 Mbps


BBMax

Download Speed: 1674 kbps (209.3 KB/sec )
Upload Speed: 689 kbps (86.1 KB/sec )

[loonytoon]

New modem, better speeds

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:30:47 UTC

Test 1: 1024K took 407 ms = 2516 KB/sec, approx 20732 Kbps, 20.25 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 656 ms = 1561 KB/sec, approx 12863 Kbps, 12.56 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 734 ms = 1395.1 KB/sec, approx 11496 Kbps, 11.23 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 1047 ms = 1956.1 KB/sec, approx 16118 Kbps, 15.74 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 15302 Kbps, 14.95 Mbps



While not exactly 20 meg it's better than what I was getting. Also I'm downloading at a constant rate of 2.3MB/s so that's as good a speed test as I will get. I guess it's safe to say, problem sorted.

[Techiedog]

So, after repeated calls to customer service and Tech support, finally I landed on a guy who listened to my symptoms, checked his DB and had the answer in 10 seconds flat.

"You've been upgraded to 10MB service but your modem (old Terayon) can't cope with that data rate - I'll order you a new one"

The new modem arrived 2 days later - I just plugged it in, called 151 with the MAC address to get it activated and Ta-da ... everything is working great.

Scanning through some of the other threads on this forum I see some common themes, I never spotted my issue as a modem problem because the symptoms I experience weren't the same as other people had documented.

So my advice if you have some weired connectivity issues is check your modem is up to spec. Apparently all 'large' broadband package subscribers are being upgraded to 10mb on a rolling program which started in June (when my problems first started). I don't know whether its because I've had the modem so long (since 2000) that meant it wasn't up to the speeds, putting me in a minority, or whether there are many more people out there with the wrong modem for their new speeds. I suspect some people might not even notice if they just do a bit of Web and email.

[whydoIneedatech]

So, after repeated calls to customer service and Tech support, finally I landed on a guy who listened to my symptoms, checked his DB and had the answer in 10 seconds flat.

"You've been upgraded to 10MB service but your modem (old Terayon) can't cope with that data rate - I'll order you a new one"

The new modem arrived 2 days later - I just plugged it in, called 151 with the MAC address to get it activated and Ta-da ... everything is working great.

Scanning through some of the other threads on this forum I see some common themes, I never spotted my issue as a modem problem because the symptoms I experience weren't the same as other people had documented.

So my advice if you have some weired connectivity issues is check your modem is up to spec. Apparently all 'large' broadband package subscribers are being upgraded to 10mb on a rolling program which started in June (when my problems first started). I don't know whether its because I've had the modem so long (since 2000) that meant it wasn't up to the speeds, putting me in a minority, or whether there are many more people out there with the wrong modem for their new speeds. I suspect some people might not even notice if they just do a bit of Web and email.

I am amazed it took so long to spot what modem you have as it is the first thing we look at


https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2009/05/55.jpg
Terayon Terajet TJ210
From approx October 2001 Customers started to receive the Terayon TJ210. It is Docsis only (so will not work reliably if at all, on the parts of the network that use Eurodocsis). The TJ210 was Ethernet and USB and remained in use until April 2002.

Does not support 10 or 20Mbps Tiers of Service

There are also reports that the TJ210 does not work well in the newer 256QAM environment under circusmstances like heavy download.


Image used from http://www.chetnet.co.uk/

[Techiedog]

Yeah, like I said, they guy who finally sorted it worked it out immediately. I think most of the problem was that no one listened to the symptoms before launching into the reboot cycles and also not knowing the difference between the Internet and the Web - if Web pages were loading the everything was OK apparently. One tech support guy told me that I had a blockage which he just "sent some signals" to clear, another told me that I had to take my router into a different room because it was "causing interference" despite the fact that my Mac was plugged directly into the modem and the router was unplugged from the mains.

[Ed2020]

I had a similar problem a while ago (although not to that extent). I assumed it was something to do with my VM connection. Speeds for individual files were always either much lower than they should be or fluctuated constantly.

A couple of months I installed Linux (previously WinXP) - everything else with my setup is the same. Speeds from VM servers are now a rock steady 2.4MB-2.5MB *every time*. I believe it is because Linux's TCP/IP stack is implemented much better.

EDIT - Whoopsy. I seem to have missed that there is a second page to this thread and that the problem is solved. Oh well, it may still be useful information to somebody! :)

Ed.

[whydoIneedatech]

Yeah, like I said, they guy who finally sorted it worked it out immediately. I think most of the problem was that no one listened to the symptoms before launching into the reboot cycles and also not knowing the difference between the Internet and the Web - if Web pages were loading the everything was OK apparently. One tech support guy told me that I had a blockage which he just "sent some signals" to clear, another told me that I had to take my router into a different room because it was "causing interference" despite the fact that my Mac was plugged directly into the modem and the router was unplugged from the mains.

They are truly annoying, the "Logical Reboot" brigade because most callers assume we will go through that reboot cycle as if we are on autopilot.

IF I ask you to reboot I explain why first, or if I can see the modem with my online tools then I will reboot it if required and tell you that I am doing so.

The is so much garbage that some agents ask people to do it almost comes into the realms of urban legend.