wenfinger

This is an interesting point . . . Yet I wonder if it falls under the category of "accepted vernacular", even in the IT field. Similar to a medical writer arguing with a bench scientist over the use of criteria/data vs criterion/datum in publication. While technically accurate to use the Greek-based criterion/datum for a singular point, it has become common-place and, dare I say, accepted to say data (or even agenda. Do we stop to think about that?) Just my $0.02 HT to CA3LE for professionalism and willingness to be fluid and adaptable with making TMN better.

Oops, failed to mention that I tried to change modems . . . and they won't provision any modems not bought FROM them. And they only offer the one crappy RCA. They also don't charge for modem rentals, so . . . I supposed that's their right, but dammit people . . .let me try to get faster results!! lol

Hi gang . . . long-time no write . . . So my interwebz still sucks teh ballz. And lately, I've been unable to get to TMN from Chrome (dubya tee eff). So here I am on Safari. And I've discovered something a month or so back: my tests to the Central (default) server here were slow. West Coast/Seattle? friggin clocking me in at 12!! SO: what the hell does THAT mean?! East Coast results were mixed, but not as low as Central, and not as high as West. And again, I wanna be able to provide you guys and my poor tech with the right info to see what's going on with my service. dn0 wanted me to run some tracerts . . . still the best step for now? And admins, can we make this it's own thread? "Crappy Alaska Internet" or something? the cute, intelligent, girl at the GCI office today told me that they are limited on bandwidth since "we only have ~200,000 customers here." FWIW

Thanks, dn0! According to GCI, my node is only 36% utilized, but could there be crap holding it up before it even hits the node?

So . . . try my modem and go from there? (glad you could see that, not sure if it posted the image right)

Oops, forgot to mention he said splitters seemed fine, and I have the diagnostics from the modem itself after he gave me a new one for SNG . . .<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/46597645@N08/6479957019/" title="Screen shot 2011-12-07 at 4.35.12 PM by Will Phalange, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6479957019_c64eb74b2b.jpg" width="500" height="377" alt="Screen shot 2011-12-07 at 4.35.12 PM"></a>

So, the tech just left. Absolutely nothing done. He said the drop was good, signal was fine . . . diagnostic on the modem seemed fine. And we talked about TMN. He wanted me to test on there instead of the speedtest site. I appreciated that The only issue was that I was even slower!! 4.5Mbps . . . **I just came back to this and realized I never hit "send" and that was 24 hrs ago. To finish this, I have been running an auto test and just don't get the disparity between speedtest and here. Oddly, I tried the wireless connection from the main house (supposedly not the same as mine since I'm in the rental unit) and it seems as though GCI bumped up the speeds to the whole house. Before, when I did speedtest, the wireless was 1.5 and it was confirmed here (almost all of the lowest scores I have were from the wireless test). When the tech left, though, speedtest showed that miraculous 10Mbps but I only pulled 1.5 (or less) here!. Whiskey. Tango. FOXTROT. Any ideas on how to approach this next? I found my modem, it's a Linksys CM100, new, never used. Worth a shot?

Good call on the direct line. Not sure about how it comes into my studio, but there may be a splitter or two from the run into the main house. I have a new cable modem at home i purchased a few months ago and never connected. I think it's NetGear, let me verify before I figure out how bad it is lol

Thought about that . . . I know the RCA modem they gave me could be the issue, but figure it can't be THAT bad as to bottleneck my access . . . and would like to try to optimize things first before buying one

TriRan, nope, GCI is cable . . . someone is coming out today, hope they know what they're doing . . .

Thanks CA3LE . . . I think about 40 of those tests for GCI are from me since I moved in, on wireless and then on my craptastic RCA DCM425 modem starting on 23 Nov (new service). I'm in Eagle River, Alaska (outside Anchorage). Just moved here from amazing speeds and no data cap in LA so it's taking a bit of getting used to. While I'm no network or IT profauxional, I know about connection issues and the basics regarding distance and hops, nodes, bumps on the head, what-have-yous that can interfere with speeds and ping. I called today and asked them for SNG if they could identify issues with my line and was told "lots of noise and errors from the modem" and to reset. Of course, they direct me to a speedtest.net variant (shocker) and "can only guarantee speeds from [their] server. With those other sites (btw, one of which I named "speedtest" and the "tech" had no clue) you could be testing in...in..China or somewhere". To which I replied that the internet is server-based world-wide and NO ONE sends all date through one little magical port, especially in Alaska. He was belligerently telling me that the speeds on his test site are accurate (and yes, speedtest shows me at 10.09) and that I MUST have a virus. I laughed. He said that was all there was. Bad modem or virus. I told him I disagreed and that a routine approach would be to check the line itself for leaks, interference, etc. Eventually I hung up and tried again. The second fellow was more helpful. Ran a line test, told me I was having a loss at receiving "but still within limits" and that the modem was making noise. I reset, playing the good little consumer, and didn't have a difference. Well, I gained 2Mbps then, but it dropped off. This gent tells me I'm only on a 36% load for this node (which even I understood to be be very good) and asked why my speeds were such crap. Again, I mentioned this site, speedtest, etc, and he again hopped in quickly with the forced "YOUMUSTUSEOURSITE!!" nonsense. I told both guys that regardless what their pretty little flash-based "test" was showing, I had horrible performance and wasn't paying for that. A tech is coming out tomorrow. What should I mention to him? And the only other option here is MTA, which is dsl. Their highest speed is 10Mbps. GCI touts 22/2 as the highest provided speed. Thanks again!! Outstanding product and I've stuck by it for 3-4 yrs (only a member since 2009 tho). Just hard to get those knuckleheads to listen...

Hi gang, if I need to repost as a new thread, I will . . .but looking for increased speeds/what's wrong with my connx since I routinely avg 5.5Mbs and pay for 10 Also running a Mac and not sure which optimizer, if any, is necessary before I start hounding the cable co. Thanks in advance!