Cable internet speed

[Fitzy]

We recently moved and our local cable company hooked up cable internet rated at 5mb. Using the test on their website I'm hitting 4.5-5.4mb. However real worl performance is no where near this. The downloads I've done as tests give me 800-1200kb, which is far less than what I will be paying for.

Using speed tests outside of the company gives me around the same result as downloads 800-1200 kb Is this normal? I'm wondering why I'm paying for 5mb when the connection can't even break 1.5mb. They have varying rates, would it make sense to drop to 1.5mb?

I plan to call tech support just as soon as I regain my voice (damn cold). Maybe I'm being too cynical, but my guess is they will have me run the speed test from their website and claim I'm getting what I'm paying for. This really seems wrong to me, what good does it do to get 5mb to their server and generally less than 1mb everywhere else?

I've tried plugging the modem directly into both computers instead of the router and I get the same result. So unless I'm missing something obvious, I don't believe the problem is on my end.

Thanks for any help.

[Rip]

Try testing here.

http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip/index.html

[Bandero]

Remember the Internet is a collection of networks. So while your cable company might be giving you ~5Mb/s downlink speeds, it is extremely unlikely that any site you go to outside of their network will actually give you 5Mb/s of their outgoing bandwidth (bandwidth is still not free you know ).

So the only real advantage to having a 5Mb/s connection is the ability to have multiple relatively high bandwidth connections open at once without hitting your downlink cap.

For instance, you can be downloading 2 different large files from 2 different places at about 1Mb/s (unlikely, but possible), listening to an internet radio station at 128Kb/s, talking on your VOIP phone, and maybe watching a live video feed @ 300Kb/s or something. All without hitting your downlink cap.

But yeah, basically, higher bandwidth at this point is only worthwhile if you are doing a lot of relatively high bandwidth transactions at once. Otherwise, because the outgoing bandwidth at the vast majority of internet places is limited well below 5Mb/s, you are unlikely at this time to ever get the full use of it.

[Odin]

Also, any hops you might hit between your ISP and your target server aren't necessarily going to maintain that high rate of transfer either. That will bog you down even if your ISP and the target network are high-speed.

Sith

[Hamsterball_Z]

The best download speeds I get are at FileFront. Try grabbing a big demo or something from there and post your speed. From 6M/608 DSL I can hit about 640KB most of the time. A friend of mine is on Comast cable and I think he gets around 400KB.

[Fitzy]

Try testing here.

http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip/index.html

I got 524kbs down and 350kbs up at that site, round trip time was 105, and Max pause was 187.

I get about 100KBS downloading from Fileplanet.

I really wasn't expecting the full 5mb (would have been nice though! ), but I was hoping for enough to make the extra money worth it. We get two free months so I'll probably keep it at least that long and see if things improve.

I think I'll try downloading multiple files tomorrow and see if they all download at the same speed or if I get a slow down.

Thanks for your help.

[Jeff Jones]

I get about 100KBS downloading from Fileplanet.

100kb/sec is Fileplanet's own cap on the free servers. Use the pay servers, and you'll likely max your bandwidth. I have 5mbs down and I get 600+kb/sec on Fileplanet's pay server.

It sounds like what you're running into is limitations of the servers you're downloading from. Start getting on some pay servers, and you'll see your speed rise to the limit of your ISP.

[Daehawk]

I dont use Vileplanet but on most other servers I dload at around 350k

[Rip]

Try testing here.

http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip/index.html

I got 524kbs down and 350kbs up at that site, round trip time was 105, and Max pause was 187.

I get about 100KBS downloading from Fileplanet.

I really wasn't expecting the full 5mb (would have been nice though! ), but I was hoping for enough to make the extra money worth it. We get two free months so I'll probably keep it at least that long and see if things improve.

I think I'll try downloading multiple files tomorrow and see if they all download at the same speed or if I get a slow down.

Thanks for your help.

Sounds like they are grossly oversubscibed further up the pipe from you. This is much more common than most people realize.

[Rip]

I did a little testing towards your IP address and it looks like your local ISPs connection to AT&T is frequently very slow to respond. They are either grossly oversold or there is an issue at that gateway.

They also appear to have a Nortel Shasta firewall in the path and it could be misconfiguration or policy issues with it.

[Odin]

They also appear to have a Nortel Shasta firewall

Those are nothing but trouble. I much prefer the Fanta model myself

Sith

[Fitzy]

I get about 100KBS downloading from Fileplanet.

100kb/sec is Fileplanet's own cap on the free servers. Use the pay servers, and you'll likely max your bandwidth. I have 5mbs down and I get 600+kb/sec on Fileplanet's pay server.

It sounds like what you're running into is limitations of the servers you're downloading from. Start getting on some pay servers, and you'll see your speed rise to the limit of your ISP.

I actually meant Fileshack, but maybe they are the same way with free servers?

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll call them Monday, assuming I can speak again, and see what Astound says. If nothing else I'll wait out our 2 free months and then drop to 1.5mb or if things get worse switch to Charter.