Yo-yo net connection

[Lailarenna]

We've been having trouble with the connection speed on this pc since we got it (it's fairly old, at least as far as pc's go, and belonged to someone else before my grandfather got ahold of it), but lately the speed's been up and down like crazy. Before I reformatted the pc (with help, ty Ban), the connections was always, and I do mean always, running around 1 KB/s or slower, which, even for dialup, is appalling. Afterwards it's seemed to be up and down, going from full speed (4-6 KB/s) right back down to the 1KB mark. I'm getting really frustrated, and I'm honestly not sure what's causing this. I've used other pc's that use the same ISP as I do, and they've all had normal speeds, so I doubt that's the problem. So, I'm guessing it's either the modem (US Robotics V.92 56K), the pc itself, or a problem with the phone lines (even tried removing the phone splitter, didn't help). I'm truly at a loss here.

 

[scarecrow]

Ask your phone company to check the signal quality. Exhessive noise on non-100% digital connections can slow the connections to a crawl.

 

[Coaster]

@ Lailarenna,

Suggest trying this software utility called TCP Optimizer, which is available from Speed Guide Net.

The TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. Just download and run, there is no installation required. The program makes it easy to find the best MTU and RWIN values, test latency and tweak all the important related registry parameters. The Optimizer can be helpful with tuning any Internet connection type, from dialup to Gigabit+

http://www.speedguide.net/files/TCPOptimizer.exe

When I was using a dial up phone modem I used the TCP Optimizer and I notice an improvement in connection speed.

Best Regards,
Coaster

 

[Lister]

i used to use program called netboost it changed some of the windows settings for you

no idea of link for it and really cba looking sorry

 

[LTR12101B]

Does it always connect at a good speed?
If the line is the problem, I'd expect to see at least some low V92 rates, and maybe even a slice of 33.6 k or lower fallbacks.

It helps if you do get the line speed shown, and not the useless "Connected at 115.2k".

When I used to be on dialup, I counted 48k or better as good, 45.3k as a bit weak, and 44k or less as very poor.

Is that an external serial modem, or an internal?

PS. Having bid a sad farewell to my ISA internal LASAT Safire (Rockwell 56ACF full hardware, and a great modem), my next modem was a "no-name" PCI, using the Cirrus/Ambient/Intel "HaM" chipset - WOW! - this was as good or better than the full hardware, despite being a "controllerless" (the chipset handles the signal and the system CPU handles protocol)

 

[Lailarenna]

Does it always connect at a good speed?

No, mostly it's down at 1KB/s or less, it's only recently that I've gotten a few days here and there when the speed would be 4-6KB/s. I'll try to get ahold of the phone company on Tuesday, see if that's the problem.

 

[VIPER_1069]

@ Lailarenna,

Suggest trying this software utility called TCP Optimizer, which is available from Speed Guide Net.

TBest Regards,
Coaster

FROM experience these NEVER seem to work they are sposed to optimise but i lost bytes doing this when i was on dialup


call your telephone provider ask them to turn up the GAIN on the line and if that does not help call them again and tell them when using it for VOICE calls that the line is terrible and crackly and you get interference all the time when talking to someone even close by...... they will soon send someone out to check the sockets etc and replace any parts needed

they did that with mine we have over ground cables on poles and they replaced them back to the pole and speeds were great 4-5k most of the time

i would also try a different modem just in case if you can borrow one

if not already use an internal modem instead of an external and theres no loss in cables to get data from the modem into the computer serial (external) modems tend to be quite poor for dialup usage

 

[LTR12101B]

No, mostly it's down at 1KB/s or less, it's only recently that I've gotten a few days here and there when the speed would be 4-6KB/s. I'll try to get ahold of the phone company on Tuesday, see if that's the problem.

I meant the "Connected at" popup when it connects...
If the speed is bad there, then the line is bad, and no amount of tweaking will fix it.
If it's good there, then it could be falling back (bad line), or the trouble could be elsewhere.

As for tweaking, there are limits to what it can do - most importantly, removing a mis-tweak if you upgrade to broadband.

Main tweak elements that I always used:
1. MTU optimized - the way things are now, 1500 is usually best on anything that has no forced lower limit.
2. RWIN tweak - though on dialup, I tended to run this quite low - 5840, at 4x the 1460 MSS (using MTU=1500) was enough for 1 second of transit delay.
3. Timestamping - I was always convinced it was smoother with, though it does increase the header size.

And for modems which were serial port, or emulated one, I always worked it at 115200, or 230400 if possible, and with the modem set to use compression.

The power of tweaking is limited, and the power of "speed boosters" like Onspeed are very dependent on conditions, and also on a lack of prior tweaking.

As I understand it, there are really only 3 strings to Onspeed's bow...
1. Cache - though your ISP may also be using a proxy cache, and all current browsers have a local cache.
2. Compression - on compressible material, it may perform better than the modem compression (especially if they turn off modem compression for the comparison!)
3. Image decimation - compressing images more - may give considerable assistance on image heavy pages, though with some loss of quality.
That's not to say Onspeed can't work, but until it's been tested against the best of the freeware tweakers, I'm not convinced it has much real edge

Other "accelerators" preload links on the page - great if you DO follow them, but if everyone used them but didn't follow links, it's a lot of wasted traffic!

 

[Coaster]

@ VIPER_1069,

Each to their own.

I can personally verify if your MTU and RWIN registry values are set to the default Window settings using a software utility similar to TCP Optimizer that sets these MTU and RWIN registry settings to the optimal settings will improve your Dial Up modem performance. Setting your MTU and RWIN registry values to optimal settings does not cause lost Bytes. After setting your MTU and RWIN registry values to the optimal settings Speed Guide Nut provides a TCP/IP analyzer that you can use to test your Dial Up connection and ensure that you will not experience any lost Bytes. Using the Speed Guide Nut TCP/IP analyzer provides an graphical depiction showing the improvement gained by changing your MTU and RWIN registry values to the optimal settings.

http://www.speedguide.net

It should be noted that setting MTU and RWIN registry settings to the optimal settings will not correct telephone line mechanical deficiencies or dial up modem mechanical deficiencies.

Best Regards,
bjkg