Speed test site

This site is pretty handy because it readily shows you the throughput speeds from different servers across the country.

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

From north Florida, I'm getting these results with my Comcast connection:

Atlanta 5882kbps down, 735kbps up
Seattle 1374kbps down, 726kbps up
Dallas 3094kbps down, 732kbps up
Washington DC 3434 kbps down, 734kpbs up

Well, this is interesting......

A few days ago, I contacted Comcast about changing my serving. I had an OLD account called the "Commercial Pro" account that most people there had never even heard of before. Some to find out that I could get a residential PLUS account that was faster and cheaper than this old account I had. So that was a no-brainer....

I also replaced the cable modem itself, since it was kind of old, and I thought maybe the protocols had changed enough that the old modem might be slowing me down. Got the Motorola SURFboard SB5120 AND a signal booster.

But after a couple of days, I really didn't see any difference in speed whatsoever. Still getting slightly under 6000 kpbs on downloads.

Now on my new system, things were even worse. I was using a wireless-G network, and I guessed that maybe the wireless card in my new system wasn't working right with my router. So I ran an ethernet cable to it, and then tried again. WOW! THAT made a difference! Now it was SUBSTANTIALLY faster than my OLD system. So, on a hunch, I put an ethernet cable between the router and my old system as well. Yep! That did it. Evidently my Linksys wireless-G network had become a bottleneck in my system.

Here's the results I am NOW getting with the speedtest site:

Atlanta:
Download Speed: 19202 kbps (2400.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 737 kbps (92.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

So if you are getting some slow speeds on your own system, you may need to make some changes on YOUR end rather than blaming the internet itself or the target server you are trying to reach.

Things are REALLY snappy now browsing on the net........

On that same topic, once you have your hardware streamlined, this tool will optimize your internet speed.

TCP Optimizer

It tweaks your registry values, etc. to get the best possible performance. I don't understand exactly how it works, but I do know it works. The difference was noticeable (at least on my DSL connection) No spyware or garbage included.

I wouldn't normally run something like this on my system, for security reasons, but a computer pro I know recommended it, and I haven't been sorry.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Evidently my Linksys wireless-G network had become a bottleneck in my system.

They almost always are. Hardwired to a router at 100 Mbps is a lot faster than using a wireless G which maxes out at 54 but you're probably never actually getting that speed.

I'm on a Verizon FIOS (fiberoptic) connection with a wired connection to my router. My speeds from Virginia Beach:

Atlanta: 25167 Kbps Download, 3542 Kbps Upload

Washington DC: 25267 Kbps Download, 3961 Kbps Upload

New York City: 25072 Kbps Download, 3917 Kbps Upload

The numbers using laptops in the house with a wireless connection have always been significantly less.

Originally Posted by Jim O

They almost always are. Hardwired to a router at 100 Mbps is a lot faster than using a wireless G which maxes out at 54 but you're probably never actually getting that speed.

I'm on a Verizon FIOS (fiberoptic) connection with a wired connection to my router. My speeds from Virginia Beach:

Atlanta: 25167 Kbps Download, 3542 Kbps Upload

Washington DC: 25267 Kbps Download, 3961 Kbps Upload

New York City: 25072 Kbps Download, 3917 Kbps Upload

The numbers using laptops in the house with a wireless connection have always been significantly less.

Can't beat those kinds of speeds!

Incidentally, 7146 down/1764 up on my laptop with a Linksys Wireless G router (being used as an access point). 11590 down/1862 up on my wired PC. Its amazing that less than 15 years ago it was AOL on a slow dial-up. I was installing DSL in people's houses 10 years ago and as I recall it was probably sold as 10 times the speed of dial-up, which at that time was 56k. People were thrilled! Of course the Internet was still in its infancy and you didn't need the type of bandwidth required today to view all the bandwidth intensive sites that dominate the web.

Originally Posted by Jim O

They almost always are. Hardwired to a router at 100 Mbps is a lot faster than using a wireless G which maxes out at 54 but you're probably never actually getting that speed.

I'm on a Verizon FIOS (fiberoptic) connection with a wired connection to my router. My speeds from Virginia Beach:

Atlanta: 25167 Kbps Download, 3542 Kbps Upload

Washington DC: 25267 Kbps Download, 3961 Kbps Upload

New York City: 25072 Kbps Download, 3917 Kbps Upload

The numbers using laptops in the house with a wireless connection have always been significantly less.

Dayummm!! Who do I have to kill to get those kinds of speeds?

I just bought a new gigabit ethernet router with 802.11N (draft) wireless. So if the router itself is now a bottleneck, that should alleviate that problem.

Heck I can remember the old days connecting to THE SOURCE, in Virginia through my 300 baud modem. Used to actually be able to read the words painted across the screen in real time. Than 1200 baud became popular and programmers has to start paging the display so people could read it.

It'll be interesting to see what is in store for us 10 to 20 years from now. Of course, I'll be too old and senile to notice.......

That's the advantage of bringing fiberoptic all the way to your house. We were one of the first areas where it was offered and I ordered it as soon as it became available. The tech told me I was the first to get it in the area that had just "gone live".

The disadvantage was that in order to make it available they had to lay fiberoptic cable parallel to the copper cable well in advance. That was a few months before it actually became available. In the process the cut the cable running along the back of my property and couldn't figure out where since they were tunnelling the fiberoptic, not trenching it. My phone service was out for a couple of days because of that. The contractor doing that job was Ivy H Smith and they were recently cited for using illegal aliens. It wouldn't surprise me as none of these guys seemed to speak a word of English but were happy to talk to me in Spanish. See http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp...nav=menu45_2_8.

Just prior to the installation day they ran a fiberoptic line from the junction box in the main cable to the side of my house. Then the tech came and actually put in the box and pulled Cat 5 from it to the inside of the house, made a call and it was live. No modem is needed. It connects directly to the Router/Access Point.

Well, since I live in the middle of the boonies, it's highly unlikely I'll ever see fiber optic cable around here anytime soon. I was actually shocked that I could get Comcast. I had to use satellite internet for a while, and that was a REAL joke. And not the funny kind. How would you like to lose the internet connection whenever heavy clouds moved in? Lag time on pings was horrendously slow. For small files, dial up was actually MUCH faster.

I talked to the phone company about DSL and they basically laughed at me. I was about three times too far away from the nearest location for a hookup.

Oh well, yeah, fiber optic would be nice but I've got no doubts at all I won't see it here anytime in the forseeable future.