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How do I see my ACTUAL connection speed
Jasper - 9/12/05 at 04:51 PM

I have a 2Meg line, but recently the connection seems very slow, to the point that Radio 6 stops playing and is always buffering. So is there a simple little bit of software than I can have running that will actually tell me what's going on with my connection speed?


iank - 9/12/05 at 04:57 PM

Try here:
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp


Jasper - 9/12/05 at 05:03 PM

Cheers for that - seems to be fine on the test, so why does it seem so slow?


Genesis - 9/12/05 at 05:11 PM

Possible trojans, backdoor miners, data seakers, spyware etc etc...

maybe just a slow server though.... probably the former though


jimgiblett - 9/12/05 at 05:22 PM

I had similar. I regularly run Spybot S&D, Adaware and Cleanup40 and it goes alot better now.

Cheers

Jim


Jasper - 9/12/05 at 06:52 PM

Yup - I usually run those every month, but haven't done it for a while so I'll run em all again - cheers chaps


SixedUp - 9/12/05 at 06:55 PM

Trojans, spyware etc etc could do this, but its actually not very likely ... they try to stay hidden and make as little impact as possible.

The most likely problems for slow network performance on ADSL (admittedly, only in my experience) are:

1. Slow server. Ie, the people you are getting the content from don't have enough bandwidth (remember, its expensive!), or are currently being overloaded with requests, and can't send the data to you fast enough to keep up with your high speed connection. Everyone suffers from this.

2. Contention on the backhaul from the exchange. Remember, you share your 2Mbps connection (to your ISP) with either 20 or 50 other people. In practice, its less than this, but as you can imagine, at "popular" times, when everyone is using the network at once, your performance will suffer. If you're really unlucky, you'll be sharing with file-swappers who are *ALWAYS* using the system to the max, which will definately impact your performance. Fortunately, most ISPs are getting wise to this, and putting all the file-sharers onto the same bits of wire so they fight amongst themselves, and "normal" usage people aren't impacted. Generally more of a problem with the cheaper end of the ADSL market.

3. Insufficient bandwidth between the ISP and the internet Backbone suppliers. Again, generally more of a problem with the cheaper ADSL providers.

If you really want to know what speed your line is connected at, your modem or router should be able to tell you (trust me, it definately knows!) if you can only work out how to ask it. Unfortunately they are all different ... you'll need to read the manuals for your hardware to find out how to get this information.

Hope that helps
Cheers
Richard


zzrpowerd-locost - 10/12/05 at 06:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Genesis
Possible trojans, backdoor miners, data seakers, spyware etc etc...

maybe just a slow server though.... probably the former though


Backdoor miners...aint that slang for something else..

Sorry, just in one of those moods!