Speed problems in Luton

Gizzy · 08-05-2006, 12:30

I had the NTL 10Mb installed in April this year and everything was fantastic with average download speeds of 7Mbps. I do quite a bit of online gaming and all was well until the beginning of May, now it is impossible to play.

My connection stays on and and signal levels are fine. I have noticed that visiting websites has slowed down considerably, especially ones that may not be cached. I have changed to other proxies which is fine for web browsing but useless for online gaming. Battlefield 2 won't even find any servers.

I know it's not my hardware as my ADSL is still active until the end of the month, seriously thinking of cancelling if this continues.

Anyone having the same problem in the Luton area?

Gizzy · 08-05-2006, 17:30

As an update I spoke to NTL Technical and they told me to switch to the Cardiff proxy as that is a fast one. So I changed my internet settings for IE and FireFox and the browsing is quicker. Then I had to set the proxy settings for Getright so it would download properly!! Then I have to change the settings for the email client. I still can't get the online games working correctly as I have no idea how to make them use a proxy server ... NTL's answer ... it's not our problem you have to contact the games manufacturer to figure it out! How can it not be NTL's problem, they provide me with the connection to the internet which, at it's default settings, won't work ... that is there problem.

This is a joke NTL, how are people who are unfamiliar with proxy servers and browser / internet settings going to get this working? And why was it working perfectly for a month and then suddenly it won't work? Why are the proxy servers in Luton so bad all of a sudden?

Gizzy · 08-05-2006, 22:09

Another update ....

There is a problem with the Luton proxy server even if NTL have as of yet not admitted it.

I spoke to a very well informed technical support person and described exactly what I was doing to test the connection.

If I change the proxy to Swansea then the connection if fine. However this only works for ports relating to http, ftp and smtp. All other ports exhibit very poor speeds and up to 50% packet loss. Since it is online gaming I can't force the game to use a proxy server. The game is Legend of Mir. The final nail in the test coffin was an attempt to download the game client from the ftp server. With the proxy set to Swansea I get 9Mbs download, set to Luton 1.3kbs.

Hopefully this will escalate to a point that someone will check the proxy server in Luton ... we wait and see.

Gizzy · 09-05-2006, 09:10

Can anyone please test the following:

My default proxy is lutn-cache-2.server.ntli.net

If I try to download the following game client using this cache I get really slow download speeds, is this just me?

Address for client is: ftp://ftp.lom3europe.com/mir_install.zip

If I change to another then the downloads are fine. This is having an adverse effect on online gaming but NTL say that it should only make a difference to ports for browsing, ftp and mail.

The game uses port 7203 if that helps.

As another test if you change to lutn-cache-1.server.ntli.net the connection rockets along. Can I get NTL to change the default proxy server for my connection?

Druchii · 09-05-2006, 09:22

Not tested through a proxy but i can confrim that FTP site is working perfectly well, throwing the file to me at 465kbps on a 4Mb line. I'm afraid it looks to be a proxy issue, or at least a problem with NTL.

AbyssUnderground · 09-05-2006, 09:35

Maxes out my 2Mbps connection for that FTP link.

Gizzy · 09-05-2006, 09:37

Would it be possible for someone to test using the Luton proxy server shown above. I'm going grey trying to get NTL to resolve this.

Thanks in advance

AbyssUnderground · 09-05-2006, 10:03

Im using your default proxy and its maxing out the download. Pages seem sluggish though but they do load quite quickly.

249KB/s from the link.

Gizzy · 09-05-2006, 18:16

Thanks for checking, now I'm totally confused. If I change the proxy to lutn-cache-2.server.ntli.net I get this:

And if I use lutn-cache-1.server.ntli.net I get this:

Totally confused and frustrated. The two ways I relax, Legend of Mir and Battlefield 2 are unplayable ... one reason I changed to 10Mb NTL ... ah well maybe time for another change.

Chrysalis · 09-05-2006, 22:58

ftp doesnt use http proxy servers.

here after letting speed settle down in IE download speed is 60-310 fluctuating.

Gizzy · 10-05-2006, 21:46

What I actually did with the ftp download was set Firefox to use the proxy server for ftp protocol downloads.

I did this as I suspect that ftp requests would be router through a different server. In my case the default proxy server is server 2 and everything on that server is slow.

I'm guessin that, if a proxy server is specified for ftp in firefox then it bypasses the server causing the problem and actually gets the http proxy server to download the file and pass it to me using ftp protocol.

Its not a good solution as I can't force games to use this proxy and it would make secure requests insecure (I think). I've tested setting https to use the proxy and again this sorts out speed problems on https protocol.

Deep breath ... There are a few other people in my immediate area that are having connection problems and all are default to server 2. I asked them to change proxy and the same result.

Anyone know if my assumptions are correct? I'm nearly 100% sure there is a problem with anyone connected by default to server 2 in Luton.

My call to NTL has been double escalated now ... so here hoping!!

68th · 11-05-2006, 19:37

AH THANK GOD!!!!!!

Someone else is getting the same crap as me. I'm in Luton and I game, but lately it has been completely pointless. It so wierd...'some' downloads I get what I should for a 2mb connection (about 245kb a sec) but most sites and downloads I'm getting less than dial up speeds. Your link for example, 1.28kb a sec. I had TWO engineers around my house on wednesday trying to find out what the problem is...they were here for over an hour, gave me a new modem and were playing around with the settings but theyre best guess was that there was a problem with the hub, that feeds my area. So, a repair team was sent to it earlier today to fix it, but I'm still getting the same crap. Could you guide me through what you did to get web browsing back to normal speeds please?

Also, my connection keeps locking out. Even though all the lights stay on on the modem, I have to unplug it and turn it back on again to get connected. This happened with my old modem as well as my new one. Any thoughts on why?

Gizzy · 11-05-2006, 20:16

I'm in Turnpike Drive, is it a local problem? Saw two vans going round yesterday

To get the browsing back to normal speed in FireFox:

1. Open Tools>Options

2. Click the General tab on the options page.

3. Click Connection Settings...

4. Click the radio button for manual proxy settings

5. In HTTP proxy put: lutn-cache-3.server.ntli.net

6. Enter 8080 in the Port part

7. Make sure Use proxy servers for all protocols in unchecked

If you have any local IP addresses you access,such as routers etc, then enter these in the local addresses section.

There are 12 proxy servers in Luton and you can switch by changing the number in the HTTP proxy above.

If you still have problems then try one of the ones available on this list:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/forum/article.php?a=10

Apparently Swansea and Cardiff are fast.

You still wont be able to get to secure HTTPS sites or any gaming.

If you need more help then please PM me and I'll get back to you.

68th · 11-05-2006, 20:21

I'm gonna get on that- I use microsoft explorer...do you know how I do it in that?

I'm in bramingham...off kirby drive...thats all i'm giving out on the net LOL!

Gizzy · 11-05-2006, 20:29

Yeah it will be on the same hub. I know of three other people with the same problem.

For IE try this:

1. Tools>Internet Options...

2. Click on Connections Tab

3. Click on LAN settings

4. Tick Automatically Detect Settings

5. Tick Use a proxy server for your LAN

6. Tick Bypass proxy for local addresses

7. Click Advanced...

8. Put lutn-cache-1.server.ntli.net into HTTP section

9. Put 8080 in to port

10. Make sure Use proxy for all protocols is un ticked

11. Click OK then OK then OK

12. Test out by clicking Speed Test at the top of the forum

13. You should get better speeds.

Again you can change the proxy number to get the best speed. Your default will be 2, same as me, which has the problem.

Hope this helps.

Update: server 2 and three have problems now