p0ltergeist

Yeah,me 2 Actually, it works ok for browsing, e-mail, and the occasional download... but that's about it. Can almost play games on it if they ever pull their heads out and get us back around 600-700ms latency. Beats the heck out of dial-up for browsing and downloading. It seemed better than Directway when I got it, but not sure after this latency issue.

49.95 installed 49.95 a month. Wildblue Satellite through NRTC. Not even LOS Motorola Canopy available here, so have to use satellite.

Get the name and model number as shown here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=bph07555&product=12455&lc=en&dest_page=product&cc=us Enter that name and number here: http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html?pageDisplay=drivers

I guess I missed where you posted your second speeds results after performing the recommended PC hygiene. Have you eliminated any unnecessary hardware from the connection, such as a wireless router and tested again? If so, then the next step of troubleshooting would be to review your ISP's recommended OS settings for TCP/IP, and then any browser settings (Proxy configuration). If that is correct, you start looking at Drivers and OS. If you don't feel up to troubleshooting those, than try a second computer if possible. If it happens on two computers, then you'll need to contact your ISP.

Bittorrent clients are no way to measure speed by any stretch. Test your speeds on this site for a more accurate measure of internet speeds. Bittorrent uses UPD only, and there are many complex issues associated with it. I recommend you try micro torrent's website, or any other bittorrent related site for advice on it.

DOCSIS is affected by both CNR (carrier to noise ratio) and SNR. SNR is relative to anything that can lose signal to noise (in other words, any signal carried through any medium on ANY scale). For example, if you run any kind of cable (for example coaxial) next to a power line there would be signal noise caused by inductive interference (electricity going through a cable causes a magnetic field OUTSIDE the cable (think electro-magnet). Other things that would introduce noise in the signal are 90+ degree bends in coaxial cable, bad connectors (or improperly crimped), bad cable, bad switches, long distances between the signal point of origin and the end point, etc, etc. For example, if you used a utility such as DocsDiag to diagnose your modem, the output would be something like this: DocsDiag v020414 Copyright 2001-2 Robin Walker [email protected] General Instrument SB3100 Cable Modem: Hardware version: 1; OS: VxWorks 5.3.1; Software version: 3.2.9p Downstream channel ID = 3 Downstream channel frequency = 403000000 Hz Downstream received signal power = 0.0 dBmV (or not supported) Upstream channel ID = 2 Upstream channel frequency = 35984000 Hz QoS max upstream bandwidth = 128000 bps QoS max downstream bandwidth = 600000 bps SigQu: Signal to Noise Ratio = 33.8 dB Cable modem status = Registration complete Upstream transmit signal power = 54.0 dBmV Date and Time = 2002-04-14,21:18:12.00+00:00 Configuration filename = mota4100-silver.cm (see http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/docsdiag/)

Tried finding DOCSIS specs, but couldn't find them. Found these from dslreports.com, and they're pretty reliable: Downstream power level (Receive): -15dbmV to +15dbmV A value of -15 or worse indicates a poor downstream signal path. A tech would aim for a value close to the optimal 0 dBmV, but a good cable modem should be capable of working within the broader range of -15 to +15 dBmV, provided the downstream Signal to Noise Ratio remains good enough. Upstream (Transmit): +8dbmV to +58dbmV. A value within the range +25 to +55 dBmV is within spec with 40's the most common. The lower this figure is, the better the upstream path to the UBR. If the cable modem is going offline, and the upstream signal strength is at +58dBmV, then a poor upstream path is probably the problem. Carrier/Noise Ratio: 30dB to 36dB . The downstream Signal to Noise Ratio must be 23.5 dB or higher, and should ideally be 30 dB or higher. The lower ratio the more noise and the poorer the performance. The Cable Modem will have to keep requesting retransmissions of packets with uncorrectable errors.

Hard to say, especially not knowing what the weather is like in your area. Many satellite systems boost their power to try to prevent loss of signal due to rain fade. It would be more helpful to know the signal to noise ratio, if you are able to see those values. P0ltergeist Whoops, missed the cable part... (so that's why it's Dbmv and not Dbmw, lol... getting late) in that case, not sure about power levels and whether they are boosted in the presence of noise. I still say signal / noise is much more relevant than power, if you have access to those values.

Cleaning temporary (and not-so temporary) files, scanning for any nasty viruses or malware, and defragging are all great advice. I have one more suggestion, which is to eliminate any unnecessary programs running in the background, potentially using cpu and or bandwidth resources. (what used to be called tsr's (Terminate and Stay Ready)). Many of these are visible in the system tray (area next to your clock). The easiest way to get rid of these is by cleaning up your startup folder (Start-> Programs-> Startup. You can right click items here and delete them ) if there is something loading during startup that is not in that folder, there is an old MS command called msconfig that you can run from Start -> Run and typing the command. From there, click on the 'startup' folder, and uncheck anything undesirable and/or unneeded. When you close it, it will tell you to restart. You might have a popup window when you log on. This is typical. Just click ok. You can also make the popup window not come up anymore by checking the box there. P0ltergeist