Pimp My Net! (Please)

[Protonium]

Hey hey! I've noticed my net running terribly lately and when my friend directed me to this site, lo and behold, I'm running at 30% of the average rogers cable user (afternoon/evening) and almost 50% in the mornings/early afternoon =/. The speed tests below were done in the morning. Here's hoping someone will be nice enough to help me! I've followed VanBuren's awesome steps (thanks!) below:

1. What OS are you running?

Windows XP SP2 (all latest updates) with p2p fix.

2. Who your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is, and what the advertised speed for download/upload is.

Rogers Hi-Speed Internet Express "Modem set-up of up to 3.0 Mbps download and 384 Kbps upload." The Rogers modem I have is the Terayon (if that makes any difference) it's the green almost wavy looking modem that stands upright (vertically).

3. What tweaking programs you already have installed, and run this test.

CableNut.

---Test results--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TCP options string = 020405b401010402

MTU = 1500

MTU is fully optimized for broadband.

MSS = 1460

Maximum useful data in each packet = 1460, which equals MSS.

Default TCP Receive Window (RWIN) = 17520

RWIN Scaling (RFC1323) = 0 bits

Unscaled TCP Receive Window = 17520

RWIN is a multiple of MSS

Other RWIN values that might work well with your current MTU/MSS:

513920 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of

256960 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 4)

128480 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 2)

64240 (MSS x 44)

bandwidth * delay product (Note this is not a speed test):

Your TCP Window limits you to: 700.8 Kbps (87.6 KBytes/s) @ 200ms

Your TCP Window limits you to: 280.32 Kbps (35.04 KBytes/s) @ 500ms

Consider increasing your RWIN value to optimize TCP/IP for broadband.

MTU Discovery (RFC1191) = ON

Time to live left = 121 hops

TTL value is ok.

Timestamps (RFC1323) = OFF

Selective Acknowledgements (RFC2018) = ON

IP type of service field (RFC1349) = 00000000 (0)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. What speed do you have against https://testmy.net and http://nitro.ucsc.edu/ also download this Tracert and Ping program

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Connection is:: 1815 Kbps about 1.82 Mbps (tested with 1013 kB)

Download Speed is:: 222 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net  (main)

Test Time:: 2006/03/29 - 7:09pm

Bottom Line:: 32X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 4.61 sec

Tested from a 1013 kB file and took 4.574 seconds to complete

Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)

Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 57.38 % of your hosts average (rogers.com)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-Y1PS6435U 

------  Web100 Detailed Analysis  ------

Cable modem/DSL/T1 link found.

Link set to Full Duplex mode

No network congestion discovered.

Good network cable(s) found

Normal duplex operation found.

Web100 reports the Round trip time = 124.51 msec; the Packet size = 1460 Bytes; and

There were 3 packets retransmitted, 10 duplicate acks received, and 10 SACK blocks received

The connection was idle 0 seconds (0%) of the time

This connection is receiver limited 77.12% of the time.

  Increasing the the client's receive buffer (17.0 KB) will improve performance

This connection is network limited 22.86% of the time.

Web100 reports TCP negotiated the optional Performance Settings to:

RFC 2018 Selective Acknowledgment: ON

RFC 896 Nagle Algorithm: ON

RFC 3168 Explicit Congestion Notification: OFF

RFC 1323 Time Stamping: OFF

RFC 1323 Window Scaling: OFF

Packet size is preserved End-to-End

Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End

Client IP addresses are preserved End-to-End

5. Under your LAN connection - properties, uninstall all protocols there that you do not need.

Also have QoS Packet Scheduler and Network Monitor Driver, not sure to uninstall or not.

6. Open Internet Explorer - LAN settings button, make sure nothing there is checked.

Nothing checked.

7. Never Connect to your modem via USB ! Always connect to your modem via ethernet (NIC) and make sure you have the latest drivers for your NIC. Set your NIC duplex mode to 10mb half duplex for Cable, for DSL it depends on the ISP service unless you are using a router, if so then set it to 100mb full duplex for both Cable & DSL. If you are using a router make sure you have the latest firmware.

Connected with ethernet, latest card drivers installed. Not sure how to set "NIC duplex mode to 10mb half duplex for Cable". I'm usually using a switch 3205NS Nway Switch, no other connected computers are on now though as to not screw up the speed tests.

8. Power cycle your modem, unplug it for at least 30 seconds.

Done, ran tests with results posted after this step.

9. Download, update, and do a scan with SpyBot and Ad Aware to remove any spyware

Done and done.

10. ZoneAlarm firewall has known problems with dropping speed, I suggest to uninstall it and compare speed

Don't have ZoneAlarm.

11. Install Outpost Firewall or Sygate Firewall

No money, lol. Have some NVIDIA Firewall/Network Access Manager which I don't use though.

12. Scan for viruses with your antivirus app, if you do not have one get one, AVG and Avast! are great

Norton AntiVirus 2005 fully updated, scanned, clean.

13. Make sure you have ALL of the latest Windows Updates

Done.

14. Download and run CCleaner

Done and done, all crap removed.

15. Go to VanBuren testmy.net Cablenut settings and install Cablenut 4.08 and Vanburens cablenut settings version 7

I downloaded and installed CableNut and downloaded Vanburen's cablenut settings version 7, however I'm unsure as to which setting to load into CableNut and to refrain from screwing things up have decided to hold out on this. If someone could also help me at this step it would be appreciated!

16. If you choose to build your own tweakfile with j79zlr's webpage, I suggest to leave SynAttackProtect to 0, and use a latency value between 150 and 300 ms. If your calculated TcpWindowSize is above 65535 and your webrowsing seem sluggish, i suggest to test with a TcpWindowSize and GlobalMaxTcpWindowsize that is 44 x ( your MSS value ) and change Tcp13230pts to 0.

Unsure about this step, should I do it now? Or after someone helps me work miracles on my net? =D

And there you have it! If someone can come to the rescue, I'd greatly appreciate it! Eagerly awaiting a response =).

Edit: Forgot to bold question #15

[Swimmer]

hahaha.. 10pts for the title.. yeah some one should be able to help ya.. 

BTW welcome to the site.

[brock01]

best looking fill out on the sticky yet, and ya sweet title

[Protonium]

Lol, thanks! Would be cool to get to know everyone eventually .

[biker9075]

Its a miracle, someone that actually posted enouph information to help diagnose the problem, 10 pts for you and another 10 pts for the title , sorry though I am unable to help with your problem, but I am sure the pros will.

[VanBuren]

I downloaded and installed CableNut and downloaded Vanburen's cablenut settings version 7, however I'm unsure as to which setting to load into CableNut and to refrain from screwing things up have decided to hold out on this. If someone could also help me at this step it would be appreciated!

welcome to the forum Protonium, great post very detailed 

try this, open Vanburen's cablenut settings version 7.zip and unzip it

browse to

VanBurens_cablenut_settings_version_7_ALL_WIN_OS_AND_SATCABLE_DSL_FIBER_DIAL-UPWinXP_2K_CABLE_DSLMSS1460

dubbleclick on the file Cable & DSL 4000 384.ccs

now click save to registry and reboot your PC

VanBuren

[Protonium]

Woohoo, thanks for the quick response! Luckily your sticky had a lot of bases covered =D.

I did just as you said, and ran the Download speed test again and this time got:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Connection is:: 1207 Kbps about 1.21 Mbps (tested with 748 kB)

Download Speed is:: 147 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net  (main)

Test Time:: 2006/03/29 - 10:13pm

Bottom Line:: 21X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 6.97 sec

Tested from a 748 kB file and took 5.078 seconds to complete

Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)

Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 38.14 % of your hosts average (rogers.com)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-E06PXNV95

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disappointed, I thought of running it again (twice) and it seems to have stabilized at:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Connection is:: 1953 Kbps about 1.95 Mbps (tested with 1013 kB)

Download Speed is:: 238 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net  (main)

Test Time:: 2006/03/29 - 10:16pm

Bottom Line:: 34X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 4.3 sec

Tested from a 1013 kB file and took 4.25 seconds to complete

Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)

Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 61.71 % of your hosts average (rogers.com)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-03NZL96RU

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Connection is:: 1951 Kbps about 1.95 Mbps (tested with 1496 kB)

Download Speed is:: 238 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net  (main)

Test Time:: 2006/03/29 - 10:17pm

Bottom Line:: 34X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 4.3 sec

Tested from a 1496 kB file and took 6.281 seconds to complete

Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)

Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 61.64 % of your hosts average (rogers.com)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-LB9EH8QVX

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's definitely better than what I was getting earlier but I was wondering if there's anything else that can be done? I'm no ISP expert, but I recall reading how the Rogers service is shared between neighbourhoods/sectors/whatever and the more people that have it the slower it goes at peak hours. Is that poppycock? lol Should I retake the test tomorrow morning/afternoon? (sorry for eating the bandwidth lol).

Thanks again for the help thus far =).

[FallowEarth]

Welcome, Protonium!

Often, some software that is running on your PC can reduce your test results considerably.  Try either cleaning up your startup items (start>>run>>msconfig>>startup tab), or shutting down running processes from the task manager.  Firewalls and real-time antivirus protection most commonly do this.  Toolbars or browser extensions can do this too.

Where are you located?  You can try testing from a mirror closer to you if need be: http://www.testmy.net/mirrors.php

After you have tried VanBuren's steps above, try another speedtest, and if it is still slow, post a traceroute to testmy.net (start>>run>>cmd>>tracert testmy.net).  Cable is a shared connection, but usually you can notice if it is a network issue from latency in the trace.

[tommie gorman]

Also remember that the cablenut has not set in fully. Let it go a couple of days, and try it again.

[VanBuren]

try this http://www.testmy.net/tools/test/d_load.php?ni=1&tt=1&s=2992&st=st&ta=&top=&nobar=1

VanBuren

[Blunted 2]

i noticed that with my really slow pc that test helps it alot with no load bar. 

[FallowEarth]

i noticed that with my really slow pc that test helps it alot with no load bar. 

I notice that too on my laptop (P 733 Cel)

What speeds do you get without the loader bar?

[Protonium]

Sorry, I went to sleep after my last post . So first with FallowEarth, I cleaned up the startup as best I could (most of them were Microsoft related and decided to leave the ones that sounded important), and my running processes although are around 40 consist of system/local service, ATI, Logitech, Java, and MSN and such. Only toolbar I have is the Google toolbar =).

I'm in Toronto, Ontario, I tried the NY mirror there but got a speed 36% of the average lol.

I tried the nobar speed test and got:

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Connection is:: 1267 Kbps about 1.27 Mbps (tested with 2992 kB)

Download Speed is:: 155 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net  (main)

Test Time:: 2006/03/30 - 4:35pm

Bottom Line:: 22X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 6.61 sec

Tested from a 2992 kB file and took 19.344 seconds to complete

Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)

Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 39.97 % of your hosts average (rogers.com)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-6DYCS19J8

I have an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (1.8 GHZ), and 1 gig of RAM, hope the bar's not affecting my speed lol. Oh and for good measure here's the tracert if someone can make sense of it .

Tracing route to testmy.net [67.18.179.85]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    66 ms    23 ms    23 ms 

  2    23 ms    23 ms    23 ms  10.1.67.129

  3    27 ms    23 ms    24 ms  gw01.ym.phub.net.cable.rogers.com [66.185.93.17]

  4    24 ms    23 ms    24 ms  gw02.bloor.phub.net.cable.rogers.com [66.185.80.

222]

  5    29 ms    29 ms    24 ms  gw02.wlfdle.phub.net.cable.rogers.com [66.185.80

.45]

  6    62 ms    41 ms    42 ms  igw01.vaash.phub.net.cable.rogers.com [66.185.80

.190]

  7    49 ms    48 ms    48 ms  216.200.56.1.has.no.reverse [216.200.56.1]

  8    48 ms    47 ms    46 ms  so-4-0-0.mpr1.iad2.us.above.net [64.125.30.118]

  9    48 ms    76 ms    49 ms  so-4-0-0.mpr2.iad1.us.above.net [64.125.29.133]

10    45 ms    47 ms    47 ms  so-6-0-0.cr2.dca2.us.above.net [64.125.27.210]

11    78 ms    78 ms    77 ms  so-2-2-0.cr2.dfw2.us.above.net [64.125.29.9]

12    78 ms    77 ms    78 ms  216.200.6.237.theplanet.com [216.200.6.237]

13    76 ms    78 ms    76 ms  vl31.dsr02.dllstx3.theplanet.com [70.85.127.30]

14    78 ms    78 ms    77 ms  vl41.dsr01.dllstx4.theplanet.com [70.85.127.83]

15  110 ms    78 ms  108 ms  gi1-0-2.car17.dllstx4.theplanet.com [67.18.116.8

5]

16    78 ms    78 ms    78 ms  85.67-18-179.reverse.theplanet.com [67.18.179.85

]

Trace complete.

Thanks for the help so far, and maybe things'll pick up over the next day or so. I would call Rogers but as usual I must be receiving T3 speeds the way they carry on  .

[FallowEarth]

Regarding the traceroute:  I'm assuming the first hop (with IP omitted), is your router.  The times on 1st 2 are actually too high, which usually indicates a hardware issue.  Are you using a wireless connection to the router?  Have you tried bypassing the router?  Trying different cables?  Specifying NIC duplex?

[Protonium]

Lol the first hop had a similar IP minus the last 3 digits so I thought I'd take it out =). I don't have a wireless connection, I'm actually using a switch (nway?). Not sure how to bypass, but speaking of which I'll disconnect my router and see if my results improve, my current setup is Internet modem to NIC1, NIC2 to Switch, Switch to another PC and laptop. I've been using the same cable for 8 years lmao, I can buy a new one and test it out, and not sure what an NIC duplex is/does.

[FallowEarth]

Are you bridging your NICs?  Is the traceroute shown above performed on the PC acting as the gateway?  If so, you may need to replace a cable or NIC, or perhaps specify the duplex.

Duplexing indicates the media type communication of the NIC.  Most NIC's are full-duplex capable, which means that they can communicate on the upstream and downstream simultaneously.  However, most cable modems communicate at half-duplex, meaning they can only communicate on the downstream or upstream at a time, not both simultaneously.  Most cable modems also communicate at the speed of 10 Mbps (10base).  So if you are connecting your PC directly to the cable modem, try setting the duplex mode to 10base/half-duplex.  You can access these settings by going to the advanced tab of the properties of your NIC (from device manager).

Also, you should know that a router would enable you to connect all of your PCs to the Internet, without requiring a switch or NIC bridging/ICS.  You may want to look into that.  Often, your ISP will lease you a router, like they lease your cable modem to you.  This usually means that they will also support any technical issues with the router.