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HELP! Serious cable modem problems


SGTGriff

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I live near Charleston SC, I recently aquired cable modem service through a local cable internet provider (Home Telephone). Since I am not a super serious internet user I got thier 256kbit upload/ 1mbit download service, as patheic as this sounds I thought if I got approx. 70% of advertised it would suit my needs. I ran quite a few tests from various sites on peak and off peak hours, and here is an example of one of my better results.....

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

Connection is:: 354 Kbps about 0.4 Mbps (tested with 386 KB)

Download Speed is:: 43 KB/sec

Tested From:: http://www.testmy.net/

Bottom Line:: 6 times faster than 56K you can download 1MB in 23.81 second(s)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/cgi-bin/get.cgi?Test_ID=VPPONL8DW

I have seen speeds as slow as 186 kbits/sec, which equals to approx. 23.3 kbytes/sec transfer speed. This is pretty pathetic.....

I done a few calculations and I thought this is what I should getting....

1000kbits/sec divided by eight should equal to approx. 125 kbytes/sec transfer speed. With an overhead of 13% deducted, It should leave me at 108.8 kbytes/sec transfer speed.

Heres the messed up part. If I use better result, I am getting 39.5% of my advertised speed. And my lower end result, 21.4% of advertised. This really sucks. Since I am stuck with this provider (only one in area), is there anything I can do? What do you think is the problem here? Am I screwed?

My internet settings are as follows...

Receive Window (RWIN): 256960

Window Scaling: 0N

Path MTU Discovery: OFF

RFC1323 Window Scaling: ON

RFC1323 Time Stamping: ON

Selective Acks: ON

MSS requested: 1460

TTL: unknown

TTL remaining: 118

My computer is a home built computer with...

Gigabyte 8INXP Mobo

P4 2.53Ghz CPU

1M Corsair DDR333 (2 sticks)

ATI Radeon 9700 PRO

120Gb Maxtor ATA133

Lite-on 52/?/52 CDR

Sony DVD-ROM

Network Anywhere 10/100 LAN Card

Toshiba DAZ8821F Cable Modem

I have tried playing with my RWIN size--- no luck. Two days before I got the cable modem I reformatted my HD and installed a fresh copy of XP along with Defender Pro 5-in-1 (recommended by Computer shopper). After I got the modem I immediately downloaded all of the latest drivers for my equipment. Im at a loss here. What do I need to do? Is there anything I can recommend for my providers techs to do?

Thanks for all your help, and for reading my long post.

Griff

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hey Griff and welcome to the forum!

Sounds like you are screwed.........

What you can do is do a tracert to www.testmy.net

start-run- type cmd and hit enter, type tracert www.testmy.net and hit enter again.

Post your result here.

Also run this tweaktester and post result URL here so we can see it.

http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks

ps. disable firewall during test so it can check ping stabillity.

VanBuren :)

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That's quite high for such as relative slow connection. using a Half or a fourth of your current RWIN will problably up your speed, especially if your isp doesn't provide a very stable connection.

Good computer, it won't slow your internet down, except for the network card perhaps. I have never heard of that brand.

That's your firewall? ZoneAlarm is a great choice as well.

Your problem might be spyware, stealing your bandwidth. Run a test with Spysweeper, spybot and/or ad-aware and then check your speed here again.

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Thanks for the replys guys....

Vanburen- I tried to do the tracert www.testmy.net but was unsuccessful because for some reason I kept timing out. I had my firewall disabled. But I did do the tweak test and my results are as follows.

http://ttester.broadbandreports.com/tweak/block:4a520b?service=cable&speed=1000&os=winXP&via=normal

RTB - Defender 5-1 is 5 different programs (anti-virus,anti-spam, anti-popup, firewall, and some utilities). I bought it at... here it goes.. Walmart. It seems to work great tho. Ill try to download spybot tonite.... It will probably take me forever, but Im getting used to it now.... :lol:

Swimmer- I do not have a router between myself and the modem.

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heyas Griff

Your TCP settings dosent seem very good for your connection.

uninstall every broadband tweaker you have, and install this one

http://www.dslnuts.com/software.shtml Cablenut 4.08

After install open adjuster and click delete cablenut tweaks, so all fields is emty and click save to registry.

In top left corner u see file, click open and browse to ccs folder, dubbleclick on cable normal 2x for win XP, and now click save to registry.

Reboot your pc and make another speed and tweaktest, post result again.

Its hard to tell the problems right away, a tracert is the best, i cant figure out why you arent pingable when your firewall is off. Have you disabled XP built in firewall?

VanBuren :)

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Speed Test results:

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

Connection is:: 290 Kbps about 0.3 Mbps (tested with 386 KB)

Download Speed is:: 35 KB/sec

Tested From:: http://www.testmy.net/

Bottom Line:: 5 times faster than 56K you can download 1MB in 29.26 second(s)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/cgi-bin/get.cgi?Test_ID=XAQJ9J54W

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I double checked my winXP firewall was disabled. I turned off the Defender Firewall, Popup blocker, and antivirus. Tried a tracert to www.testmy.net no luck. Just for kicks, I tried tracert to www.lightfighter.com and other sites I visit, same thing. WTH? I dont know whats up with that. Also tried ping -t to same sites... all timed out. The only thing I can do tracert to successfully is my providers website www.hometelco.com my results are as follows (I dont know how to cut and paste from the command prompt window so I will try to improvise).....

1 29ms 7ms 10ms 10.2.0.1

2 * * * request timed out

3 26ms 8ms 14ms www.hometelco.com [204.116.72.138]

Trace Complete

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Do you use a proxy server? I've had problems with one before, sometimes it was really slow, and I basically had no internet. Weird.

It's been disabled for months now, and I don't miss it one bit.

For easy copying do this:

tracert testmy.net>tracert.txt

It won't show results, but directly parse them in that file.

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Tweak Test results:

http://ttester.broadbandreports.com/tweak/block:43ea137?service=cable&speed=1000&os=winXP&via=normal

RTB: I downloaded spybot s&d. I done a scan. all is well..

Correction to previous post: my LAN card is a Network Everywhere (Lincsys NC100) 10/100 bps.

That one looks better, less packetloss

You can try this tweak guide i made once to get a optimal RWIN, the problem is tto find out your ping to your isp.........

http://www.testmy.net/forumz/viewtopic.php?t=99

But something between 10 and 30 ms can be normal for cable.

if you use 20 ms in that RWIN calculator and MSS 1460 and Bandwith 1 Mbps you will get a RWIN value 18980

Try that, and post speed and tweak score again.

somehow you got some packetloss, smaller RWIN will help ya.

to change RWIN do like this

Open adjuster find TcpWindowSize change it from 49640 to 18980 and click save to registry.

Now reboot your pc, also try unplugging your cablemodem for a few seconds and plug it in before you start up your pc again.

Good luck

VanBuren :)

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I done three runs. Two were pretty crappy 24KB 23KB and this one was a little less crappy.

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

Connection is:: 310 Kbps about 0.3 Mbps (tested with 386 KB)

Download Speed is:: 38 KB/sec

Tested From:: http://www.testmy.net/

Bottom Line:: 6 times faster than 56K you can download 1MB in 26.95 second(s)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/cgi-bin/get.cgi?Test_ID=YSH71A3MQ

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Figured out how to copy/paste from the cmd prompt:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

© Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:Documents and SettingsRoy>tracert www.testmy.net

Tracing route to www.testmy.net [67.19.36.6]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.

2 * * * Request timed out.

3 * * * Request timed out.

4 * * ^C

C:Documents and SettingsRoy>

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Figured out how to copy/paste from the cmd prompt:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

© Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:Documents and SettingsRoy>tracert www.testmy.net

Tracing route to www.testmy.net [67.19.36.6]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.

2 * * * Request timed out.

3 * * * Request timed out.

4 * * ^C

C:Documents and SettingsRoy>

Dern over 30 hops to testmy.net

Where do you live?

I suggest you increase your DefaultTTL value in adjuster, set it to 128 and hit save to registry.

Reboot and try making a tracert again, also make a new tweak test and post result here.

ps: Dont forget to disable firewall during test

VanBuren :)

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I like near Charleston South Carolina:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

© Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:Documents and SettingsRoy>tracert www.testmy.net

Tracing route to www.testmy.net [67.19.36.6]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.

2 * * * Request timed out.

3 * * * Request timed out.

4 * * * Request timed out.

5 * * * Request timed out.

6 * * * Request timed out.

7 * * * Request timed out.

8 * * * Request timed out.

9 * * * Request timed out.

10 * * * Request timed out.

11 * * * Request timed out.

12 * * * Request timed out.

13 * * * Request timed out.

14 * * * Request timed out.

15 * * * Request timed out.

16 * * * Request timed out.

17 * * * Request timed out.

18 * * * Request timed out.

19 * * * Request timed out.

20 * * * Request timed out.

21 * * * Request timed out.

22 * * * Request timed out.

23 * * * Request timed out.

24 * * * Request timed out.

25 * * * Request timed out.

26 * * * Request timed out.

27 * * * Request timed out.

28 * * * Request timed out.

29 * * * Request timed out.

30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

C:Documents and SettingsRoy>

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Did your cable modem come with a USB connection option or just cat5? Mine came with both and I found out that if I used the USB connection I had more consistent, and higher speeds on a regular basis. Just a thought.

Oh yes I just noticed something else that I know for a fact is giving you the request timed out error...when you go in the DOS you have to cd first thing to get to a plain on C prompt. It does this in XP when you have multiple accounts that you can log in to. Then after you get the plain C prompt type in tracert testmy.net>tracert.txt That should help ya some.

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Hi SGTGriff

try installing Speedupmypc.

It will optimize your internal windows settings, as they are not optimized from install.

I have winxp pro, McAfee AV & Zone Alarm pro firewall.

My Computer is only 500mz, 10gb, 320meg Ram, and I live In Halifax Nova Scotia and my speeds greatly increased.

Here is my latest test:

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

Connection is:: 3766 Kbps about 3.8 Mbps (tested with 1496 KB)

Download Speed is:: 460 KB/sec

Tested From:: http://www.testmy.net/

Bottom Line:: 67 times faster than 56K you can download 1MB in 2.23 second(s)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/cgi-bin/get.cgi?Test_ID=0F3YSO66D

Give it a try, and good luck to you :)

Rogn38

:wink:

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I contacted my ISP and gave them a good ear ful. My speeds have more than doubled. Even though it still isnt near what they advertised. I will try hooking the cablemodem using the USB option and see what it does.

Swimmer. I am still timing out. I will keep calling the ISP and see if we can resolve this issue.

I appreciate all the help guys. You all are great and very informative unlike many forums out there, keep up the great work.

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