Serious performance problems - please help !

[Soundlab]

All,

VirginMedia are driving me nuts over this and are being extremely unhelpful !

I am currently getting download speeds a little above a 56k modem !! I've tried doing performance tests and downloads using various sites (actually testing setting off file downloads from VirginMedia, Microsoft, etc as well as sites like internetfrog - which do a performance test based on a 1mb file download). My intenet speed is absolutely shocking. Youtube buffers on every video - including a 39 second clip my friend sent me of her giving a dance class - which was 39 seconds long, buffered every 2 seconds and I gave up 15 seconds in as it was unwatchable.

My connection is supposed to be 4mb (upgrades to 10mb haven't happened here yet). I've had this performance issue for well over 4 months now.

I've phoned Broadband support maybe 10 times...each time is the same - take the router out of the link and run direct to the modem. This makes no difference. Let the person on the phone access the modem - "hmmmm, no idea what's wrong sir - we'll get a network technician out". Network technician comes out - "there's nothing I can do from here, your signal strength is text book....it's at their end". I get promised that someone will come out with a laptop to check things over...never get that call.

This is just going round in circles. Guy last night promised he could solve it - by "moving my modem from one server to another as maybe the server is too full" - surprise surprise it makes no difference. So, guess what, a technician is coming out Saturday.

This is 'driving me round the bend'. I've had an appalling connection for months now and not one person at V.M. will take ownership of the issue and get it sorted for me.

Is there ANYONE out there (I know there are some V.M. techies that frequent this forum) who can help me sort this issue out ?

I know it's not my router - as I replaced this recently. I know my signal strength is very good. I know it's not the PC - as the PS3 has exactly the same performance issues when browsing the net.

Thanks in advance !

Daz

[Soundlab]

Is there no-one able to offer any input / advice ?

My 4mb download speed is currently performing on par with ISDN 128 !

Infact having just done another check, my download speed is a WHOPPING 173kbps and my upload speed is 323kbps !

[r00t]

Direct connection, same issue?
Modem stats, please post these. Remove your mac and ip from your post.
ping www.bbc.co.uk
ping 192.168.100.1
tracert www.bbc.co.uk

[Soundlab]

Direct connection gives exactly the same performance.

I bought a replacement router about 2 months ago (PC is hardwired but wanted the wireless option for the iPod Touch).

Makes no difference whether the router is in the loop or not.

Modem stats ? I'm assuming you mean the model ? It's an NTL 250 model no. E08C007.

Pinging www.bbc.co.uk gave me:

Reply from 212.58.251.195: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=120
Reply from 212.58.251.195: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=120
Reply from 212.58.251.195: bytes=32 time=29ms TTL=120
Reply from 212.58.251.195: bytes=32 time=125ms TTL=120

Pinging 192.168.100.1 gave me:

Reply from 192.168.100.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.100.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.100.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.100.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

tracert www.bbc.co.uk gave me:

Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.251.195]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 30 ms 89 ms 57 ms 10.91.224.1
2 13 ms 17 ms 15 ms brtn-t2cam1-b-ge-wan34-107.inet.ntl.com [80.3.66.161]
3 11 ms 37 ms 20 ms brig-t3core-1b-ge-010-0.inet.ntl.com [195.182.174.33]
4 64 ms 53 ms 22 ms 212.43.162.225
5 53 ms 49 ms 22 ms tele-ic-2-as0-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.184.6]
6 54 ms 27 ms 33 ms ntl-ge2-8.prt0.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.217]
7 25 ms 38 ms 79 ms 212.58.238.129
8 32 ms 89 ms 71 ms 212.58.239.58
9 128 ms 87 ms 51 ms www-vip.telhc.bbc.co.uk [212.58.251.195]
Trace complete.

[r00t]

Pings to bbc, some are a tad high.
Routing seems fine.
You can get modem stats/info by going to 192.168.100.1 user name and password are root.
The values needed are Downstream power & SNR and upstream power.

[Soundlab]

Downstream Receive Power Level : -6.6 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 34.1 dB

Upstream transmit Power Level : 52.0 dBmV

[cimt]

Originally Posted by Soundlab

<snip>

Was there any packet loss when you did them? It should of said at the bottom of the ping I think.

[Soundlab]

cimt - no packet loss at all.

[cimt]

It's a long shot, but have you tried TCP Optimizer?

[Soundlab]

Problem is, it's not just my PC that's slow, the PS3 browsing the web is just as bad. Youtube clips can take forever to load up. So i'm not sure it's my pc set-up.

---------- Post added at 19:16 ---------- Previous post was at 17:29 ----------

Does this info mean anything to anyone ? I got it from SpeedGuide.net TCP/IP Analyzer

« SpeedGuide.net TCP Analyzer Results »
Tested on: 06.11.2008 14:14

TCP options string: 02040218010303000101080a000000000000000001010402
MSS: 536
MTU: 576
TCP Window: 5360 (multiple of MSS)
RWIN Scaling: 0
Unscaled RWIN : 5360
Reccomended RWINs: 65392, 130784, 261568, 523136
BDP limit (200ms): 214kbps (27KBytes/s)
BDP limit (500ms): 86kbps (11KBytes/s)
MTU Discovery: ON
TTL: 115
Timestamps: ON
SACKs: ON
IP ToS: 00000000 (0)

[CrowmanUK]

You could always try filling in the online form at the ISPA, they'll get in touch with virgin a bit higher up than you can get and fingers crossed something will get done

http://www.ispa.org.uk/

[Soundlab]

Could someone else try the SpeedGuide.net TCP Analyzer and let me know what their figures are ?

Originally Posted by Soundlab

Could someone else try the SpeedGuide.net TCP Analyzer and let me know what their figures are ?

here is mine

« SpeedGuide.net TCP Analyzer Results »
Tested on: 06.12.2008 09:40
IP address: 82.29.xx.x

TCP options string: 020405b40103030201010402
MSS: 1460
MTU: 1500
TCP Window: 65700 (multiple of MSS)
RWIN Scaling: 2
Unscaled RWIN : 16425
Reccomended RWINs: 64240, 128480, 256960, 513920
BDP limit (200ms): 2628kbps (329KBytes/s)
BDP limit (500ms): 1051kbps (131KBytes/s)
MTU Discovery: ON
TTL: 47
Timestamps: OFF
SACKs: ON
IP ToS: 00000000 (0)


The main difference being the MTU setting, which afaik should be 1500 for a broadband connection

[r00t]

Aye, homealone is right. Default discovery for MTU is 1500...

[Soundlab]

Thanks guys.

Right, I've run TCP Optimzer, setting my broadband speed to 4mb and then selected optimal settings. This changed my MTU to 1500 and a couple of others changes. Speedguide is now giving me this:

« SpeedGuide.net TCP Analyzer Results »
Tested on: 06.12.2008 11:54
IP address: 81.99.xxx.xxx

TCP options string: 020405b40103030201010402
MSS: 1460
MTU: 1500
TCP Window: 256960 (multiple of MSS)
RWIN Scaling: 2
Unscaled RWIN : 64240
Reccomended RWINs: 64240, 128480, 256960, 513920
BDP limit (200ms): 10278kbps (1285KBytes/s)
BDP limit (500ms): 4111kbps (514KBytes/s)
MTU Discovery: ON
TTL: 51
Timestamps: OFF
SACKs: ON
IP ToS: 00000000 (0)


This seems a better set-up to me.

It's now telling me that MTU is "MTU is fully optimized for broadband". Which is a good sign !!

bandwidth * delay product (Note this is not a speed test):

Your TCP Window limits you to: 10278 kbps (1285 KBytes/s) @ 200ms
Your TCP Window limits you to: 4111 kbps (514 KBytes/s) @ 500ms

Does this part seem about right too ?

One of the speedtest sites I was using (internet frog) is now telling me I'm not longer running at ISDN-128, I'm running at 2.1mb .... so we're getting there ! Just got 2 more mb to find !

---------- Post added at 17:14 ---------- Previous post was at 16:55 ----------

Just tried doing a download from http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/blu...alflife2/demo/

and i'm getting just around 500KB/Sec ... which I know is about 4mb. It was pretty stable too. Think we may have cracked it !