DSL and fluctuating speeds

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-11-28 04:06pm

So, I'm trying to download files from a server that should be relatively stable in terms of speed, but my DSL connection constantly fluctuates when doing so, despite the fact that it shouldn't.

Is there any way of getting the DSL modem to maintain a certain stable speed (more than 20KB/s down) in a way that won't void my warranty, or am I pretty much fubared in terms of being able to do this?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2005-11-28 04:54pm

The problem probably isn't your DSL modem but probably your ISP instead.

Netko · Post by **Netko** » 2005-11-28 05:10pm

Whats your dsl officialy rated at? Its very rare that you get actual full speed as advertised but you should get at least 2/3 advertised speed.

What model is your modem?

Also check out a couple of tests here (note that I haven't used that site in a while, it seems some of the tools are now under some sort of membership, free or not I dont know, but it seems that the basic speed testing tool is still free however if your speed is fluctuating you should probably also check out the line packet loss tool as packet loss seems as the logical choice IF both the server and your line are otherwise capable of maintaining speed, especialy with the fluctuations).

Unless you know for certain that it should support better speed, its always possible that the problem is at the server side.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-11-28 05:18pm

mmar wrote:Whats your dsl officialy rated at? Its very rare that you get actual full speed as advertised but you should get at least 2/3 advertised speed.

What model is your modem?

Also check out a couple of tests here (note that I haven't used that site in a while, it seems some of the tools are now under some sort of membership, free or not I dont know, but it seems that the basic speed testing tool is still free however if your speed is fluctuating you should probably also check out the line packet loss tool as packet loss seems as the logical choice IF both the server and your line are otherwise capable of maintaining speed, especialy with the fluctuations).

Unless you know for certain that it should support better speed, its always possible that the problem is at the server side.

It should have a five megabit line. The modem in question is a Qwest Actiontec. While the connection itself isn't the greatest, on speeder servers I can regularly get 30-60 KB/s down. Nowhere near as fast as my old cable line, but it's speedy enough that I shouldn't be seeing annoying fluctuations like that.

Netko · Post by **Netko** » 2005-11-28 05:27pm

Something is seriusly wrong if it is supposed to be a 5 megabit line. 30-60 KB/s is half megabit speed.

I have a 1 megabit line and I'm usualy getting 80-100 KB/s speeds (theoreticly I should be getting 124KB/s max while you should be getting 640KB/s - of course in practice it will be lower but I would expect servers which arent bandwidth limited to be serving you files at low hundreds KB/s at least)

I'm not familiar with your modem unfortunatly.

Try the speed test at the link above and report back please.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-11-28 05:44pm

Do you have DSL filters on everything plugged into the phone line except the modem?

My guess is you may have to call tech support and have them look at your connection to see if there's excessive noise on the line or something else wrong with it at their end.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-11-28 05:56pm

mmar wrote:Something is seriusly wrong if it is supposed to be a 5 megabit line. 30-60 KB/s is half megabit speed.

I have a 1 megabit line and I'm usualy getting 80-100 KB/s speeds (theoreticly I should be getting 124KB/s max while you should be getting 640KB/s - of course in practice it will be lower but I would expect servers which arent bandwidth limited to be serving you files at low hundreds KB/s at least)

I'm not familiar with your modem unfortunatly.

Try the speed test at the link above and report back please.

The results:

2005-11-28 17:54:22 EST: 396 / 378
Your download speed : 396 kbps or 49.5 KB/sec.
Your upload speed : 378 kbps or 47.3 KB/sec.

Admittedly my comp is a bit of an older model, so I'm not quite sure how much that'll affect it.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-11-28 06:36pm

Not nearly enough to account for such low speeds.

Netko · Post by **Netko** » 2005-11-28 06:45pm

Agree with Uranium on calling tech support, especialy with the test results as they are. Thats what they are payed for. Also, in my expirience when you have problems with broadband connections there is usualy problems both at your end and at your ISPs end so getting a technican in there who can call them directly and ask them to change settings on their end is usualy preffered to manualy trying to fix it and then calling up their customer techsupport line and having to explain to the trained monkey manning it that you aren't compleatly retarded and that you already went thru his little checklist thing.

Note that you will probably have to go thru that phase the first time you call, be sure to be assertive but polite and show the exact amount of knowledge you have - there are a lot of really incomprehensible ignorant people out there and the tech support guys tailor their aproach for that group by default and are usualy relived if you show that you dont need as much handholding but also that you let them do their jobs and aren't pigheaded.

Anyway, call techsupport! :p

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2005-11-28 08:47pm

Have you had DSL installed before? If you have really old phone lines, it could account for your slow speeds - this was the case at my old apartment complex.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-11-28 09:02pm

Exonerate wrote:Have you had DSL installed before? If you have really old phone lines, it could account for your slow speeds - this was the case at my old apartment complex.

The phone lines around here are pretty old (and the house itself was originally built in 1901). As it is, I had to have a tech guy come out to repair the phones so I could get service working in the first place.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2005-11-28 09:51pm

General Zod wrote:The phone lines around here are pretty old (and the house itself was originally built in 1901). As it is, I had to have a tech guy come out to repair the phones so I could get service working in the first place.

That'd cause problems. You might want to see if you can get the telco to run a new line straight from the outside box for your DSL line.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2005-11-29 12:05am

General Zod wrote:
Exonerate wrote:Have you had DSL installed before? If you have really old phone lines, it could account for your slow speeds - this was the case at my old apartment complex.
The phone lines around here are pretty old (and the house itself was originally built in 1901). As it is, I had to have a tech guy come out to repair the phones so I could get service working in the first place.

That'd probably be it, then. If the phone infrastructure in your area is old and poorly maintained, then you're going to get shit for speed on your DSL line. Especially if you happen to be far away from the nearest DSL routing point.