Getting faster

[StuartR]

...http://xkcd.com/806/.." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Thanks for sharing the cartoon, I enjoyed that.

[Bigaldoc]

... it's time for some renegotiation of the contract, I think, or just say enough, and find another ISP.

Unfortunately, where I am there aren't many choices. Our cable provider is a local (city government) monopoly, or there's DSL via phone lines (yuck) or finally, satellite dish which I tried once and was too "weather dependent."

[Argus]

Al,
I have sympathy for that, moving to another ISP, and I should have said “if possible”. We have similar situations here, in different parts of the country, and I believe that's the case with most countries.

I had a look at one of the FAQs for "Troubleshooting Slow Speed Issues" that I think you were referring to; to mention disk fragmentation (oy!), heat, amount of RAM etc. in cases like this is insulting And if they mention software to "tweak your machine for broadband" (TCP optimizers etc.), then one knows that they are living in the past.

[Argus]

The download speeds shown by SpeedTest.net always make me laugh ...

I think that SpeedTest IS a bit wonky, at times, or Ken was right and we have a distortion of space-time in this region of the known universe; perhaps the other end of the wormhole is close to you, John.

1021.png

Does anyone know if they have started strange tests with that LHC?

[stuck]

Does anyone know if they have started strange tests with that LHC?

Bowlie might know, CERN is in his neck of the woods. Alternatively, try this forum:
http://www.lhcportal.com/Portal/index.htm

Ken

[Bigaldoc]

Here's hoping I get more willingness to help from MY ISP than Stuart did. I sent a message to Insight a short time ago with a CAREFULLY worded explanation of all the maintenance tasks I do on my system, and the following graphic to illustrate the repeatability of my "morning vs. afternoon" contention. We'll see what we shall see but I'm not too optimistic that they'll accept any responsibility and I'll end up on a round robin email with them.

[Leif]

Here's hoping I get more willingness to help from MY ISP....

I should image it's all down to what the contract says. Does it promise a minimum speed? Or just offer an 'up to xxxMB' speed? And do you know what your contention ratio is? - that could have a big bearing if a lot of others are switching on in the morning and downloading emails, updates, etc.

[Bigaldoc]

Well, I coulda sworn I answered this last post from Leif while I was at my son's home babysitting but I musta forgot to hit the submit button. I answered a PM while I was there also and it's OK. Oh well, chalk it up to CRS...

Leif, thanks for chipping in. Yes, Insight does say "up to 20 Mb/s" but I don't think that'll be a problem with them when we're talking 5 or less Mb/s in ONLY the morning hours. It's 1800 hours local now and I just got 19 Mb/s so it definitely is a morning problem.

I don't have the foggiest how one checks "contention" BUT surprisingly I had a call while at my son's and the ISP is sending a techie in the morning to check things out on my installation. I already have the router out so it's either contention, a weak signal or mebbe a failing modem. Hopefully I'll see in the morning.

[Bigaldoc]

Really strange! Friday morning, coming up on 9 am local, and I'm expecting the ISP's techie sometime this morning. I'd wager that he or his "office" will never admit to already "flushing the pipe" or whatever on their servers! BUT, this morning the problem, longstanding for several weeks now, is mysteriously GONE! I got up early as I usually do and started running speed tests every 30 minutes or so. Every one of 'em has been right in the vicinity of 20 Mb/s.

They'll never believe I didn't make this up - the "slow in the morning" problem has been there for some time now. Of course it remains to be seen whether today's performance will hold up tomorrow and beyond.