ISP Speed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joton
  • Start date Start date
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Joton

Are the free speed test of any value? Several tests have been run and they
indicate my speed is less than 10% of what it should be. A recent full virus
scan indicates I an virus free. Also, can not delete any mistakes I make in
typing this text. Sorry for the mistakes.
 
Joton said:
Are the free speed test of any value? Several tests have been run and
they indicate my speed is less than 10% of what it should be. A recent
full virus scan indicates I an virus free. Also, can not delete any
mistakes I make in typing this text. Sorry for the mistakes.
Click to expand...


Remember that the speed given by your ISP is usually measured in Mbps
(megaBITS/second). You didn't bother to mention WHICH speed tests you
tried. Maybe they returned MBps (megaBYTES/second), so obviously they
would look to be one-eighth what you expected.
 
If you are on DSL verify all phones on the DSL line have a filter or the
speed test will be dragging an anchor.
 
Joton said:
Are the free speed test of any value?
Click to expand...

Which specific tests? These are usually fairly reliable:

ADSLguide: Broadband Speed Test
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp

dslreports.com - Speed test
http://www.dslreports.com/stest?loc=2

Bandwidth Speed Test
http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/

Several tests have been run and they
indicate my speed is less than 10% of what it should be.
Click to expand...


Then you should be asking your ISP why you're getting such poor
performance.

A recent full virus
scan indicates I an virus free.
Click to expand...


The presence or absence of viruses on your hard drive would have no
affect upon a simple bandwidth test. Some other sorts of malware might
consume some of your bandwidth, but not a virus.

Also, can not delete any mistakes I make in
typing this text. Sorry for the mistakes.
Click to expand...

Huh?

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Joton said:
Are the free speed test of any value? Several tests have been run and they
indicate my speed is less than 10% of what it should be. A recent full
virus scan indicates I an virus free. Also, can not delete any mistakes I
make in typing this text. Sorry for the mistakes.
Click to expand...

They can be of great value if you know what it is that they tell you use
them correctly. Context counts for a lot.

I often use the speed tests at dslreports, and most recently have used those
to test a suspect DSL modem and a replacement. With the suspect modem, the
speed was very low, but it instantly rose dramatically with the replacement
modem. We used that information to get the ISP to provide a new modem at
no charge.

If you run these tests on a network where other systems exist and are very
active (such as downloading music and movies) your results will not be
realistic or representative. You need to know and be able to control what
else is happening on the network, or understand what its implications are.


HTH
-pk
 
Yes, they definitely are, especially with numbers like you report, but ...
there's the b vs. B situation already mentioned in another post, which can
be misleading. More than one test should be made though because various
backbones may report back various speeds but they shouldn't be consistantly
as low as you indicate.
Which specific tests? These are usually fairly reliable:

ADSLguide: Broadband Speed Test
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp

dslreports.com - Speed test
http://www.dslreports.com/stest?loc=2

Bandwidth Speed Test
http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/




Then you should be asking your ISP why you're getting such poor
performance.




The presence or absence of viruses on your hard drive would have no
affect upon a simple bandwidth test. Some other sorts of malware
might consume some of your bandwidth, but not a virus.
Click to expand...

Umm, for the most part that's true, but ... there are other malwares that
could get in the way. Even corrupted Norton files, other scanners, etc.,
that are monitoring can cause problems, especially if the machine had been
zombied or some such thing.
A sure sign of a zombied machine is long, constant modem activity when
there shouldn't be any.

I'm not saying this IS the cause, only that it should be accounted for by
using UPDATED antivirus and running at least three UPDATED malware
destroyers. I use MS's Malicious Removal tool, Adaware, Spybot, and
WinPatrol, plus the ZoneAlarm free firewall. I'm also inside a hardware
firewall in the form of a NAT router but that can be irrelevant once an
infection has been put in place. It does however allow for the possibility
of spotting things in its logs should the situation get dicey.

I think the very first thing to do is to disconnect all other phone
equipment in the house except the modem and see if that makes any
difference.

Also, a check of Event Viewer for error message might uncover something
interesting. Start, Programs, Admin Tools, Event Viewer, OR, choose Admin
Tools from Control Panel and go to Event Viewer from there.

Then again, it could be the phone lines themselves, too far away from the
CO, or noisy lines, or as somoene mentioned, a missing filter on one of the
phones IFF it's DSL, ADSL, etc.. Was the speed EVER fast? You gave very
little info to go on, but then you didn't ask for most of this advice either
<g>. It's all good advice though from the other responses I did read.

Unfortunately, your typing problem may indicate a more basic system problem.
Have you tried a REstart to see if it helps anything with the typing? It
may be necessary to go after that problem before worrying about 'net speed.
It sounds like corruption or malware to me, all things considered that you
wrote.

HTH
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