IT Professionals

ISP Connectivity Woes

Posted by on Aug 28, 2007 | 3 Comments

Today, Shane asks:

I am paying for what is supposedly a 2MB connection but the service that I am receiving is rather poor.

For example: I can’t stream on uStream.

I made a video, no more than 1 1/2 minutes long using iMovie 08, and used the export option to upload to YouTube. When it came to the uploading status, I was getting estimated time = 94 minutes.

I’ve called my ISP on several occasions; I get talked through the usual string of troubleshooting tasks (I go along with it to prove them wrong). They always come to the conclusion that the problem is with my computer.

While I’m not a genius, I like to think that I have sort of knowledge in the field. I work as a junior systems administrator at the moment and have asked for advice from colleagues but no one can come up with an answer.

I have not opened any ports that I don’t need. The wireless on my router is switched off. My computer is the only computer connected to the router/modem. I have no torrents (or similar) running. I took an Internet speed test a few minutes ago and this is what I got.

This is the package that I am paying for. It says 2MB downstream and 256k upstream (This is standard where I come from) – while I understand that these standards can’t be kept 100% of the time, I can’t see why my speeds should be so slow all the time.

My computer is an iMac C2D 17″ 1.83Ghz. I have run a hardware test and everything is working perfectly. I’ve checked my cables, and they are all perfect (high quality, too). There are no processes running on my computer that shouldn’t be there).

I would appreciate any suggestions that you may have on the matter. I’m sure you can understand how frustrating it is!

To me, it sounds like there is a routing issue happening with your ISP someplace. Then again, it might worth it to try a LiveCD of LinuxMint, as it has Flash and Java by default for bandwidth testing at SpeadTest.net. See if it is something going on with your PC, such as a program unknown to you running and eating bandwidth. Likely again to be a routing issue with the ISP, but it is worth testing regardless. Another thing to watch for is the comments area here, to see if one of the Lockergnome readers have some thoughts that I might not have considered.

Do you have an IT-related question? Perhaps you are just burnt out on writing on the walls with crayons? Whatever the comments may be, drop me a line, and you too can “Just Ask Matt!”

[tags]bandwidth,router,Windows[/tags]

  • Randy

    There are tools to check the speed or latency of the connection from you to the outside URL you are trying to get to. In the WindowsXP area, we use tracert, in Unix/Mac/Linux I believe it is traceroute – a neat little program that uses ICMP packets to measure the speed to each of the points along your route, and tries to resolve the points to names, also telling you the latency to each point. Your image shows latency of >999 – that is NASTY high, and tells me something is mis-configured. The problem may be the configuration on your end, or may be in the route outside. If it shows a great increase in latency between 2 hops, and they are under your ISP control, you can tell that to the tech, or try to escalate it up. If it is local to you, your network may be mis-configured, with something like a bad network card or driver, or bad settings for packet size.
    Good luck

  • John McClanaghan

    The article doesn’t say whether it is cable or DSL or what, but has he checked the drop to the house itself? 9 out of 10 times my internet problems have actually been my ISPs problems.

  • Bruce Schau

    Hi,
    I encountered a similar problem with DSL.
    The person lives in an apartment building that is located about 6km from the Bell office.
    The problem seems to be the distance from the centre, however it may also be a problem with the wiring in the building and apartment.
    Bruce