Simon:
I live in Poole too, specifically Upper Parkstone. We were long-time subscribers to ntl., and we experienced relatively few problems with them. We have been very dissapointed with the performance of our Virgin internet service, and especially so with thier customer support.
Anyhow:
CF:Hi bruce, seems you do have a few issues ehh
ok firstly what modem are you using ntl 200 , vm 255/256 ? etc
BG:NTL Home 200…we,ve had it for about 5 years
CF:goto
http://192.168.100.1/ root root if required
check signal levels namely these 3
Downstream Receive Power Level : -1.5 dBmV nearer it is to 0 the better
Downstream SNR : 33.7 dB around the same ideal
Upstream transmit Power Level : 48.5 dBmV below 50 best
BG:OK . This is all gobbledygook to me but here goes:
Downstream Receive Power Level: -8.4dBmv
Downstream SNR: 28.7 dB
Upstream TransmitPower Level: 48.0dBmV
Is this good?
CF:there my levels on 20mb 256 modem
BG: Not sure what you mean by this
CF:also try using the tcp optimizer see if it helps has for me personally
http://www.speedguide.net/files/TCPOptimizer.exe
see the documentation for how too use if needed
http://www.speedguide.net/tcpoptimizer.php
BG: I will look into tcp. Optimizer after I hear from you concerning the transmit/receive data…if you are kind enough to reply!
CF:finally try some speedtests
one is here at CF ^ above
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/speed.php
another is at
www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk [personal fav]
BG: I clocked in at 1080kpps download 187 kbps upload
All of the above tests were done on a six month old Toshiba laptop with a Vista OS. The computer was connected via ethernet directly to the modem, and none of the other computers in my house were powered.
Simon thanx very much for replying to my original post. I find this stuff very confusing, and dealing with the Virgin folk by telephone very frustrating.
Sincerely , Bruce Griffin/Dorset
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Simon stainer