TECHIES WANTED: Upload/download speed issues

Flippy_D · Sat 06/08/2005 21:06:13

I'm on AOL (don't recoil, I don't use anything but the connection/modem after finding a handy little way of circumnavigating the software), and purportedly equipped with a 2.2 mb/s line:

But I was just on testmy.net, and I got some rather distressing results:

IE upload:

QuoteYour connection is: 164 Kbps (about 0.2 Mbps)
You uploaded at: 20 kB/s
Warning: Running at only 63.32 % of your hosts average.

Although Firefox was kinder:

QuoteYour connection is: 242 Kbps (about 0.2 Mbps)
You uploaded at: 30 kB/s
90% + Okay : running at 93.44 % of your hosts average.

Then I ran download.

IE quoth:

QuoteYour connection is: 963 Kbps (about 1 Mbps)
You downloaded at: 118 kB/s
Running at only 38.41 % of your hosts average.

Firefox said:

QuoteYour connection is: 959 Kbps (about 1 Mbps)
You downloaded at: 117 kB/s
running at only 38.27 % of your hosts average

All tests were carried out with a 579kb large file.

My problem seems clear: my connection speeds are severely hampered by... something. I have no idea what. I have swept for spyware using the latest Adaware and Spybot builds, before you say that.

I'm at a loss! Help!

Privateer Puddin' · Sat 06/08/2005 21:21:29

your connection speeds are hampered by AOL? could it be AOL just being AOL? We had anytime AOL 56k for a while back in the day (because it was cheap) and it was a lot slower than it should have been.. is there a good AOL connection? Â¬Â¬

scotch · Sat 06/08/2005 21:52:20

Your upload speed looks fine, 30KiB/s (32 under perfect conditions) is the max for a normal ADSL connection in the UK, they always leave uploads at 256kbps because they are stingy and it helps hamper p2p piracy.
The download is half of what you should get of course... are you sure this is on all sites? You might get better transfers from elsewhere... though this site does seem to be fine with sending 1MiB/s+

Flippy_D · Sat 06/08/2005 21:59:28

Puddin': The percentage was the percentage that of should be getting from my specific host.

Scotch: This test was on mytest. I will look for others and post back.

In the meantime, anyone else with ideas is welcome.

LGM · Sun 07/08/2005 00:57:01

I second the "It's just AOL" motion.

Other than that, are you using filters for your phones? If not, that could be bad. Do you have some sort of cable service, aswell? I don't know if the UK has a PayPerView service.. But sometimes the phone line could be hooked up to your cable box and that causes some slowdowns.

Flippy_D · Sun 07/08/2005 01:30:09

No cable box.

Would these filters slow or increase the connection? I have one of these...

Is that it? I think that's a filter.

LGM · Sun 07/08/2005 01:59:35

Yes. You need one of those on every phone line. It actually helps your connection rather than hindering it.

Flippy_D · Sun 07/08/2005 02:02:03

Ah. Well, I do have one. Which leaves me more confused than I was before ^^;

LGM · Sun 07/08/2005 02:42:47

Notice I said every phone. If you only have one phone, okay. But EVERYTHING that uses a phone jack besides your modem needs a filter.

Flippy_D · Sun 07/08/2005 02:45:51

But we have a seperate phone line for the net, does that make any difference? And would it make that much difference?

LGM · Sun 07/08/2005 04:34:15

Dunno, man. Did you ever stop to think that your secret porn server may be the culprit?

Flippy_D · Sun 07/08/2005 04:35:44

That's a secret?

(So, er, anyone else got any ideas?)

Barbarian · Sun 07/08/2005 05:56:32

http://www.speedguide.net/

Lots of info, tweaks and downloadable stuff there to help you get the most out of your connection. Of course it's always wise to backup the registry and/or make a System Restore checkpoint bafore making any changes to your OS or registry settings.

Pumaman · Sun 07/08/2005 13:02:38

Your upload speed looks fine.

As for your download speed, are you sure AOL aren't capping it to 1 Mb? It might be worth contacting them to make sure that your connection is set to 2 Mb at their end.

Matt Goble · Sun 07/08/2005 17:29:43

Pipex do this now as well.

By all accounts, BT only supply 2Mbps lines and it is up to the ISP to throttle the line according to what you've paid for. When I visit ADSLguide, I'm told that my connection is 1Mbps (Which is what I pay for), but Windows tells me I've connected at 2.2Mbps.

Great thing was, for the first couple of days I did have the whole 2.2Mbps connection before pipex throttled it back, so I left the pc downloading until the cow's came home