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Slow speeds for tests, high for torrents??


Flav_cool

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Hi,

I'm in a very peculiar situation. I have Bell Sympatico High Speed Ultra which is supposed to be 5000Mbps. This should be 610 kB/s in download speed. I have no problem reaching a max of 500 kB/s downloading torrents, which I can live with.

However, any "bandwidth tests" including the one on this site are all much lower. The test on this site said ~160kB/s to ~190kB/s and the ones on dslreports.com are also inconsistent with anywhere from ~60kB/s to 200kB/s download speeds. What the hell is going on here?

I'm running windows xp pro sp2 with all updates, no spyware, no viruses etc. I'm using Mozilla Firefox, latest version, but same results in internet explorer. This happens on all my computers including my 2 desktops, and on my wireless laptop. I have a netgear wireless and wired router with latest firmware (I think...I should check on that)

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Flaviu

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Welcome to the forum, Flav_cool  :D

There's a lot of software that can affect your download.  Please shut down firewalls, antivirus, antispyware, browser extensions/toolbars, instant messangers, filesharing applications, and download monitors before testing.

Also, if you are in central Canada, try testing from my mirror (use the largest file): http://www.testmy.net/o-mirror-FallowEarth

If that doesn't do it, read through here: http://www.testmy.net/forum/t-2097

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Welcome to the forum, Flav_cool  :D

There's a lot of software that can affect your download.  Please shut down firewalls, antivirus, antispyware, browser extensions/toolbars, instant messangers, filesharing applications, and download monitors before testing.

Also, if you are in central Canada, try testing from my mirror (use the largest file): http://www.testmy.net/o-mirror-FallowEarth

If that doesn't do it, read through here: http://www.testmy.net/forum/t-2097

Ok I get 169kB/s with your mirror with the biggest file. I have read through the sticky...

I doubt it's things I'm running since (as I just recently edited my first post), this happens on all computers in the house. I tried without AVG antivirus running, and closed down all other applications as well and same thing happens :(

EDIT: OK SCRATCH THAT. I just tried on my sister's computer and it got 523kB/s!!! WTH. That's like the least updated computer in the house! Could I be getting slower speeds because I modified the "half-open TCP conncetions" allowed? This was limited to 10 after some windows update and a patch came up on the internet and I increased it to 50.

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Are you using the same browser extensions on all the PC's in the house, or the same firewall?  Can you provide a traceroute to testmy.net?

Make sure that your other downloads (ie. torrents) are not running when you are testing download speed. 

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Are you using the same browser extensions on all the PC's in the house, or the same firewall?  Can you provide a traceroute to testmy.net?

Make sure that your other downloads (ie. torrents) are not running when you are testing download speed. 

Sorry I keep editing my posts right before you post. Please look up. I'm using internet explorer to test in all cases and the firewall is the windows firewall. I don't think I applied the half-open tcp patch to my sister's computer.

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If you think that tinkering with a setting has slowed you down, you can always run a system restore.  Otherwise, I would suggest using cablenut, from the sticky.  Is your sister's PC consistenly that speed?  If so, it would follow that something running on your PC is slowing you down.  Try booting into safe mode with networking (repeatedly tap on F8 when PC reboots) and running a download test.

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If you think that tinkering with a setting has slowed you down, you can always run a system restore.  Otherwise, I would suggest using cablenut, from the sticky.  Is your sister's PC consistenly that speed?  If so, it would follow that something running on your PC is slowing you down.  Try booting into safe mode with networking (repeatedly tap on F8 when PC reboots) and running a download test.

I'll try the safemode test, one sec. What does cablenut do?

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Incredible! I still max out at ~1.5Mbps even in safe mode! My sister's is consistently giving +500kB/s (4.2Mbps I think)

I'll try reversing the half open tcp connections patch.

EDIT: Ok it turns out I never even had the patch installed on this laptop.

It turns out my other desktop is fast too!

Therefore the problem lies with this laptop...damn. It shouldn't matter that it's wireless should it? When transferring files over the network, it still does it at ~38% of 54mbps which people have said is OK before.

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I would make a direct connection to the modem to be sure.  Then follow everything in the sticky very closely.

INCREDIBLE! It's the wireless!!! A direct connection boosted me right up to the 4Mbps I was seeing on my other computers. What in the name of god could make a wireless connection go fast for over the network file transfers and torrents , but cap web downloads at 1.5Mbps???

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You can try reinstalling/updating the drivers for your wireless card.  Then maybe reconfigure your wireless network (encryption, filtering, etc.) from the admin site of your router.

Otherwise, check out some factors that affect wireless: http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/factors.php

DAMN. I reinstalled the drivers (it's a intel 2200bg card) from both intel and from dell (it's a dell laptop), but both result in the same 1.5Mbps cap for web browsing somehow. Torrents are still full speed as well as network transfers!

What should I do??

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Ok I think it might be my router (although I guess the settings of the laptop could work better or worse for different routers and could still be the problem)...because at school it maxes out at almost 3Mbps, and doesn't always hit the same 1.5Mbps I keep getting at home. I've tried playing with the settings I have in the router but none have made a difference.

UPDATE: UNBELIEVABLE! I used cablenut and PROBLEM SOLVED....I should've listened and tried that earlier instead of speculating messed up theories. lol.

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