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MTD · 03-11-2006, 07:07

I am based in Cambridge, and for the past couple of weeks or so my 4 mbps broadband connection with NTL is very up and down. Basically performance keeps stalling. When it flies, eg on a good moment, with www.speedtest.net I seem to be getting around the 4 mbps rate, but on some measurements with speedtest.net you can see it stalling and the averaged speed comes out considerably lower.

Running Robin Walker's quick test shows this effect:

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 05:28:44 GMT
1st 128K took 265 ms = 494611 Bytes/sec = approx 4115 kbits/sec
2nd 128K took 271 ms = 483661 Bytes/sec = approx 4024 kbits/sec
3rd 128K took 265 ms = 494611 Bytes/sec = approx 4115 kbits/sec
4th 128K took 3723 ms = 35206 Bytes/sec = approx 293 kbits/sec

The 4th test is incredibly slow, as you can see. This sort of inconsistency is reproducible.

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp clocks my connection speed as

Downstream 1,159.2 Kbps ( = 1.1 Mbps )
Upstream 230.2 Kbps ( = 0.2 Mbps )

This goes up and down with different runs, but in the past has been consistently high.

From a user's perspective, it means that loading web pages can end up being incredibly sluggish and unusable for some pages. Moreover, downloading system updates stalls and doesn't work.

I don't think I am asking for help specifically, but to know whether this is something that is becoming common around NTL, whether it is specific to me, and if I phone NTL what exactly to ask or expect from them (I note that many people claim that calling NTL doesn't help).

Other details about me in case they are needed: I use a Mac OS X 10.4.8 (have tried various things to check that it isn't the computer at fault), I can't run all the tests people recomment because they are windows-only, I am not sufficient an expert to do a lot here beyond run the tests above. I have a Terayon cable modem connecting via my ethernet port (not usb). I run these tests at 5 am in the morning when I expect low levels of competition from others in the street, but the problems persist throughout the day.

03-11-2006, 07:07	#1
MTD Inactive Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 11	Perfomance very up and down in Cambridge I am based in Cambridge, and for the past couple of weeks or so my 4 mbps broadband connection with NTL is very up and down. Basically performance keeps stalling. When it flies, eg on a good moment, with www.speedtest.net I seem to be getting around the 4 mbps rate, but on some measurements with speedtest.net you can see it stalling and the averaged speed comes out considerably lower. Running Robin Walker's quick test shows this effect: Fri, 03 Nov 2006 05:28:44 GMT 1st 128K took 265 ms = 494611 Bytes/sec = approx 4115 kbits/sec 2nd 128K took 271 ms = 483661 Bytes/sec = approx 4024 kbits/sec 3rd 128K took 265 ms = 494611 Bytes/sec = approx 4115 kbits/sec 4th 128K took 3723 ms = 35206 Bytes/sec = approx 293 kbits/sec The 4th test is incredibly slow, as you can see. This sort of inconsistency is reproducible. http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp clocks my connection speed as Downstream 1,159.2 Kbps ( = 1.1 Mbps ) Upstream 230.2 Kbps ( = 0.2 Mbps ) This goes up and down with different runs, but in the past has been consistently high. From a user's perspective, it means that loading web pages can end up being incredibly sluggish and unusable for some pages. Moreover, downloading system updates stalls and doesn't work. I don't think I am asking for help specifically, but to know whether this is something that is becoming common around NTL, whether it is specific to me, and if I phone NTL what exactly to ask or expect from them (I note that many people claim that calling NTL doesn't help). Other details about me in case they are needed: I use a Mac OS X 10.4.8 (have tried various things to check that it isn't the computer at fault), I can't run all the tests people recomment because they are windows-only, I am not sufficient an expert to do a lot here beyond run the tests above. I have a Terayon cable modem connecting via my ethernet port (not usb). I run these tests at 5 am in the morning when I expect low levels of competition from others in the street, but the problems persist throughout the day.