Swap the Modem?
March 27, 2006 11:58 PM Subscribe
Modem problem. Three computers, all firwalled, virus protected and clean have been separtely attached to the modem with different cables - they all exhibit the same behaviour
. . .so clearly it seem that the modem or the signal comming into it is corrupted. Typically, the computers behave normally in the internet, but the as my connections to new pages soon get bogged down. A Modem speed test reports that while I have a download rate of 5000+ Kbs,my upload readings are as slow as 8Kbs. Cable Guy is coming tommorro so I want to have a basic ideas of how web pages load and how a faulty upload can impair the speed of a commection, Can someone provide me with a simple explanation?
. . .so clearly it seem that the modem or the signal comming into it is corrupted. Typically, the computers behave normally in the internet, but the as my connections to new pages soon get bogged down. A Modem speed test reports that while I have a download rate of 5000+ Kbs,my upload readings are as slow as 8Kbs. Cable Guy is coming tommorro so I want to have a basic ideas of how web pages load and how a faulty upload can impair the speed of a commection, Can someone provide me with a simple explanation?
I assume you are talking about a cable modem here? I wouldn't rely too heavily on an online speed test, especially for upload readings they are often faulty.
"but the as my connections to new pages soon get bogged down."
?!?
For simple internet browsing, upload speed is hardly used at all. It simply sends a request message for the next page or uploads your username and password, very light work type of stuff that is unlikely to have any effect on your browsing. If you were seeing problems playing 3-D games or in P2P applications that might be a different story. You are using firefox, etc... right? Get CCleaner and clean out all your caches and stuff. Are these new computers with enought memory?
If all those are covered, just wait for the cable guy and have him put another modem in there.
posted by sophist at 12:21 AM on March 28, 2006
"but the as my connections to new pages soon get bogged down."
?!?
For simple internet browsing, upload speed is hardly used at all. It simply sends a request message for the next page or uploads your username and password, very light work type of stuff that is unlikely to have any effect on your browsing. If you were seeing problems playing 3-D games or in P2P applications that might be a different story. You are using firefox, etc... right? Get CCleaner and clean out all your caches and stuff. Are these new computers with enought memory?
If all those are covered, just wait for the cable guy and have him put another modem in there.
posted by sophist at 12:21 AM on March 28, 2006
And yeah, don't let those bastards leave until you are satisfied the problem is fixed.
posted by sophist at 12:22 AM on March 28, 2006
posted by sophist at 12:22 AM on March 28, 2006
And to answer your question, a remote web server sends you packets of data, which you must acknowledge that you have received. Crappy upload speeds can affect your ability to acknowledge the receipt, and basically sucks.
You might want to check out the Tools page on Broadband/DSL Reports... I know that it's mostly North American-centric, but there's a lot of useful information.
posted by Jim T at 12:23 AM on March 28, 2006
You might want to check out the Tools page on Broadband/DSL Reports... I know that it's mostly North American-centric, but there's a lot of useful information.
posted by Jim T at 12:23 AM on March 28, 2006
Best answer: Are those seriously in bits? you're not getting 5 megabytes a second, are you? If so your upstream is slow enough that probably something IS wrong, and that's probably causing your surfing problems.
The way browsing works, is you click a link or type a URL, and your browser connects to ask.metafilter.com and says "GET /mefi/35197" and some other (small and textual) header stuff. The server then spits out a bunch of HTML (which may contain additional links to images or CSS or javascript or whatever that then need to be downloaded in the exact same way the HTML was).
So over 99% of the data IS going downstream, but none of it is going to start showing up until a packet or two has made it up to the server telling it what you want. So if your upstream is very slow, the whole round trip will be very slow.
You can use the program "ping" to test how long minimal packets take to go to a server and come back. This ("latency") doesn't necessarily correspond to how fast you can cram data in either direction ("bandwidth").
To do this: from windows run "cmd" from the Run... menu. From osx run terminal.
Type, at the prompt: "ping ask.metafilter.com" and it will send some packets (ctrl-c to quit, and see a summary) and tell you how long it takes them to come back. Anything longer than 100ms is slow, and if a significant number don't come back at all, that's a problem. Try a few different hosts (google.com, yahoo.com, etc) if you see anything weird from the first one.
This is mostly so you have a sense of what's going on - the Cable person should be the one diagnosing and fixing this.
posted by aubilenon at 1:16 AM on March 28, 2006
The way browsing works, is you click a link or type a URL, and your browser connects to ask.metafilter.com and says "GET /mefi/35197" and some other (small and textual) header stuff. The server then spits out a bunch of HTML (which may contain additional links to images or CSS or javascript or whatever that then need to be downloaded in the exact same way the HTML was).
So over 99% of the data IS going downstream, but none of it is going to start showing up until a packet or two has made it up to the server telling it what you want. So if your upstream is very slow, the whole round trip will be very slow.
You can use the program "ping" to test how long minimal packets take to go to a server and come back. This ("latency") doesn't necessarily correspond to how fast you can cram data in either direction ("bandwidth").
To do this: from windows run "cmd" from the Run... menu. From osx run terminal.
Type, at the prompt: "ping ask.metafilter.com" and it will send some packets (ctrl-c to quit, and see a summary) and tell you how long it takes them to come back. Anything longer than 100ms is slow, and if a significant number don't come back at all, that's a problem. Try a few different hosts (google.com, yahoo.com, etc) if you see anything weird from the first one.
This is mostly so you have a sense of what's going on - the Cable person should be the one diagnosing and fixing this.
posted by aubilenon at 1:16 AM on March 28, 2006
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Actually, in all seriousness, tell the tech that you're experiencing problems surfing the 'net, and let them look into it. Odds are, they will understand the gist of your problem, and be able to fix it by replacing the coaxial cable, removing splitters or line filters, swapping out the modem, or performing a ritualistic ceremony consisting of chanting and dancing naked around a fire in front of your cable drop.
Whatever you do, make sure you check and verify that you are satisfied with the work performed before the cable tech leaves. If they say that nothing is wrong, call bullshit on them. If that person is unable to fix it, find out when someone else will be out to make any necessary repairs, and then call your cable company and ask for a discount to offset the crappy service.
I'm guessing that you're in the U.K. from "behaviour", so it's possible that things might work a little bit different on your side of the pond.
posted by Jim T at 12:17 AM on March 28, 2006