10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

I've just changed from AOL 2MB to NTL 10MB as AOL can't/won't upgrade 8MB for me, so changed to NTL, which its always been but at that tiem NTL was capping and I refused to be capped so reluctantly went with AOL for their unlimited donwloads

Snag is now, downloading from the exact same newsgroups using the same software, etc, etc, as ever helpful AOL don't do NNTP newsroups I'm with a company in US that offer unlimited donwloads for a pittance per month

I was easily running at max 2MB, but with the 10MB it starts off fine but gradually over a couple of minutes drops and average about 3.0 to 3.5MB which isn't very good

Now, I've looked on thsi forum and somebodys suggested downloading the big demos off ftp.blueyonder.co.uk to get a proper speed rating instead of the speed test that all state I'm getting roughly 3.5MB speeds

I've just done that and my speed instantly averages at the suggested speeds for my line, basically running at max bandwidth, which is what I'm after for my downloads. Thats what I paid for

Obviously there is a problem somewhere


Would changing to NTL newsgroups bring my download speed back to what it should be, and if so is there a limit on NTL newsgroups downloads

Strange question it may be, but bear in mind I've been paying for newsgroup access for over 12 months thanks to AOL and their paranoid ways of controlling what users have the "right" to access


Thanks

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

:welcome: to the forum

what newsreader do you use? I use newsbin pro and set it to connect 9 times leaving 1 of giganews's 10 for header downloads which I rarely do.I have no problem getting 10 meg.Switching to ntls newsgroups would juts lose you most the content (highly restrictied binaries)

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

I use the very latest version of NewsLeecher and have been for a few years now, tried NewsBin, in fact tried a few before I settled with NewsLeecher

Strange thing is my mates now on AOL 8MB and he uses newsleecher a swell, but he says he's getting full speed on his BT DSL line

Also use ZA, some sites said get rid of it, but I've tried a couple of other firewalls yesterday, went back to ZA. Anyway downloading from ftp.blueyonder.co.uk today proved it ain't the firewall as it went to max bandwidth virtually straight away and stopped very close to the 10MB limit all the time

All I can think of is some restriction somewhere, but where. Checked all the settings in newsleecher, no bandwidth throttling is activated. So don't know. I didn't change any settings, except to the display side so that I can see what bandwidth I'm getting, and that shouldn't effect anything like the bandwidth


Just looked at the NTL newsgroups ... Very errrr sparse

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Which 'company in the US' ?

If its Newshosting then you probably need to change the port out to route through a different provider.

A lot of NTL's peering is crap, you need to find one of the few routes that will give you good speeds.

Might also be worth tweaking your TCP settings if you haven't done so already, the US might need that that you wouldn't have noticed with only a 2mb connection from AOL.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

the US is further away meaning higher latency.

higher latency means the same size rwin gives you lower speeds, their may be also other factors involved with the longer distance.

first I would tweak your connection by raising the rwin etc. need to reboot to apply changes.

then if no improvement or improvement not good enough try multithreading your downloads. Many here only get 10meg when doing silmultaneous downloads on their nntp clients.

given that downloading from america is not the ideal way of high speed downloading and ntl's .us peering is poor I would try a eu news provider.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

I use TweakNow PowerPack 2006 to tweak my settings to what they recomment for anything above 1.5MB lines my tcpwindowsize is 256960 and the large windowsupport is set, along with MTU AutoDiscovery is on with BlackHole Discovery is on

I tried CableNut with some settings I found for 10MB NTL recommended by others on this forum but if anything it made things slower

I'm currently with newsgroup-binaries, and pay $15 monthly for no restrictions at all for my downloads

Any suggestions on an EU newsgroup provider that offer unlimited download speeds with NO download limit, I don't mind paying for that, but not to much


Also how any advice on to set-up to use another port out to get access via another provider, if this might help as well


I've got 4 connections set on NewsLeecher, I'll try increasing it to the maximum 10, but anything more than 5 with AOL and it baulked connections constantly so leaving it at 4 ran fine, so I didn't know if that was the connection limit to the server or the limit with bandwidth I had

---------- Post added at 13:19 ---------- Previous post was at 13:17 ----------

Before I forget again, is there any website or free software that can trace the routes for me so I can see where the problems may be, and I'll compare them against the ftp.blueyonder.co.uk to see what the routes are

thanks

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Open a command prompt and type tracert then either IP address or domain name. That will show you the number of hops your connection is going through to get to the destiniation and if there are any spikes along the way.

I use 100proofnews for my newsgroup access, can't grumble with them at all.

They have an EU server which I always get full speeds off and 100gig a month limit for $12.95 - about 8 quid.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

I use Newshosting, and can sometimes get 10Mb but mostly get about 2-4Mb.

I think the main issue is contention for bandwidth outside NTLs network. I can usually get the full 10Mb from NTLs news servers.

My solution is to simple use both sets of news servers. That way I can max out most of the time, except when I am downloading only from Newshosting which fortunately isn't that often.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

stop using your paid news server and use news.ntlworld.com not had any problems with speed, also use newsbin pro

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Why? Get a better retention period than what ntl servers have.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

I used the paid news for a few reasons :

1) AOL don't support NNTL

2) The retention is at least 14 days for virtually everything, frequently at least 30 days

3) They have the newsgroups I'm looking for


I've looked at NTL newsgroups contents, if you're interested in the better alt.binaries ... errr what have NTL got. Not much


I've used NewsBin Pro, its all over the place, NewsLeecher is what I've settled with as everything is in front and is very good at what it does. Multi-threading, all parts of posts are auto-dowloaded, you don't have to track it down yourself, but I do admit if you want to upload to newsgroups you can't, thats why its called NewsLeecher

This is MY choice, no doubt everybody has their own choice, I have tried probably all the popular newsreaders, and stick with what I'm happy with

---------- Post added at 20:22 ---------- Previous post was at 20:19 ----------

oh yeah, and for $15 a month I get total unlimited downloads with no download limit at any time

If I download 20GB a day or 1GB a day, it makes no difference

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

I only pay 24 $ to giganews and they have 40 day retention 10 connections unlimited blar and I get 10 meg from the us server ;)

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

steptoe, how is your modem connected? If its by ethernet, you should get the 10mb no problems. But, if its wirelessly, that's another story.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

i would try configuring your client to use another port, I always use port 8000 for newsgroups as the default 119 seems very slow in comparison.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Try Power Usenet (www.powerusenet.com), they use Giganews servers and you get 50 days retention with 4 connections for $14.95 unlimited.

Trace to here to see your route: news.powerusenet.com

Auto routes to their Euro server for me.

(I haven't used them, but have heard very good things and as they use Giganews servers they should be fantastic for such a low price)

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

or more likely congested peering, 9 times out of 10 this will be blamed on external factors making ntl look innocent.

---------- Post added at 16:13 ---------- Previous post was at 16:12 ----------

if increasing rwin slows it down its likely you have some retransmits going on which is a sign of congestion :(

blackhole detection I am not sure is beneficial try disabling it.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Is there any way to tell?

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

doing a traceroute if the pings shoot up as it leaves ntl network thats a peering problem or if loss starts occuring there, but even if that doesnt happen it doesnt mean their peeringis fine.

what I have noticed that since I left ntl, my usa speeds have shot up even on a slower connection and my telia speeds have gone up since my old ntl connection had peering problems with telia and many parts of usa.

another problem with traceroutes is you only doing a trace out from the network when it could be taking a different path back in and so the inbound path might be congested but you cant diagnose it unless you can do a reverse trace.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

I have just come back to NTL from ADSL 8Mb. I was first with Zen, then Evolution, then Ace. All of them were a lot slower than NTL, contention on ADSL is terrible.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

like ntl bt can be a bit of a postcode lottery, your exchange was probably contended.

for me it was the opposite, I find my speed at 8pm no different to 8am.

ntl for me tho the contention was insane.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

On Newshosting using port 9000 and always get 10mb speed for $14.95 a month. I also use Newsleecher with 15 bots (1 server). It also gives you 45days retention.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Retention is double that!
More like 80 days.!
Its absolutely FAB, just a tad pricey at $24.99

I highly recommend Giganews and recommend you use the Europe server, as its a little faster, not that the US one is slow! ;)

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

I usually only get 300k from Newshosting. It's better away from peek times.

Is my area just congested? Will NTL ever do anything about it?

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

You will find that even if you try use the US servers now, you will be redirected to euro ones.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

maybe, but different parts of ntl's network go over different peers. So the guys getting nice speed might be using different transit to you.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

giganews do 70 days and why arent you using the european server? i can max out on 3 conenctions so 9 is complete overkill as you are putting more laod on the server with the conenctions, try running a lower amount to see if you can still max out your connection

and you dont need to reserve a connection in newsbin in v5 only older v4 you needed to do that

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Same here. Was using more connections before but after changing the port number from 119 to 9000 I get 10mbit speeds with 15 connections too.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

I get a 1.18 MB/s from Giganews with just 4 connections.

I would highly recommend Giganews to anyone if they can afford it, failing that go for Newshosting.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

As ive mentioned before Ive stuck with Giganews even though there are cheaper unlimited accounts available.Giganews has been rock steady for me for well over a year now

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

simple test for you guys to prove my point.

select a proxy in your area and do a traceroute on giganews site so it traces to your proxy server.

now do the same using proxies from different parts of the country and see if it uses different transit. Thats the explanation for some people getting great speeds and others rubbish.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Amsterdam Giganews goes straight from there servers to the ntl network, I don't know where you are looking? :D

1 216-196-110-1.ams.giganews.com (216.196.110.1) 2 ms 0 ms 0 ms
2 amst-ic-1.inet.ntl.com (195.69.144.40) 195 ms 194 ms 194 ms

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

jtwn how many routes did you check?

it doesnt go direct to every part of the ntl network.

I will give you a clue for a part of the midlands it uses telia.

that 194ms looks a tad congested :(

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Well I've tried a proxy from all the midlandish places and its the same for all of them, it wouldn't make any sense not to so you must be looking at traces to the US Giganews servers not the Euro ones - the ones that if you try and connect to you get diverted to the Euro ones anyway.

As for the pings, latency is pretty much irrelevant as usenet goes, if the speeds get through, who gives a toss what the ICMP priority is.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

thats the point the speeds arent going through hence people complaining.

If the ms figures drop after that 2nd hop then fair enough but you decided for whatever reason to only post 2 hops so I dont know that.

If all the routes are the same then thats a recent change on ntl's network since that didnt used to be the case one month ago.

Re: 10MB from newsgroups ... how ??
 

Giganews was awful through an NTL connection until pretty recently, Giganews support told me they had received many complaints and they had tried to contact NTL to sort it out, but they were ignored (what a surprise, still its good to see they ignore everyone equally)
I posted as such in an earlier thread about poor routing.

It does seem to have improved a lot here though, although of course your mileage may vary :)