getting 56k speed for 300k broadband

[tony]

For some reason broadband has died here, surfing normal web and running numion speedtest gives me 50k result but robin walker and dan elwell's speedtest give correct 280-300k result, appreciate any info to assist.

[th'engineer]

For some reason broadband has died here, surfing normal web and running numion speedtest gives me 50k result but robin walker and dan elwell's speedtest give correct 280-300k result, appreciate any info to assist.It can be that the numion servers are busy or the route to them is busy.

if dan elwoods says it is working would stick with that and not worry

[tony]

You misunderstand, access to ALL websites is slowwww, 56k ish, which is why i run the numion test, the problem is related to recent work done at cwmbwrla, as now i notice that a proxy is specified when using "what`s my proxy".
Funny how every time work is done to upgrade i end up with a downgrade.
Gonna try a different proxy to see if there`s a difference.

[Chris W]

do you have a link for the nominum speed test that you have run pls?

[tony]

http://www.numion.com/ for speedtest.

I have just set up cardiff proxy and all runs smoothly again so the problem is definitely the swansea proxy.

[ian@huth]

I find numion regularly gives results lower than most other speed tests

[tony]

I find numion gives real world surfing speeds as opposed to the actual speed of connection given by walker etc which bypass proxy settings.
Use walker/elwell for testing connection and numion for testing surfing speeds locally or worldwide, run numion for at least a minute to even out results.

[ian@huth]

Numion is supposed to give you your surfing speed but does not do this accurately as it bypasses caches which may supply the requested images more quickly than going to the actual site.

[tony]

Well in respect of my original post numion gave result of 50k ish whilst walker etc gave result of 300k ish, actual speed of surfing WAS 50k ish due to poxy swansea proxy that has recently been allocated to me, specifying cardiff proxy returns surf speeds to normal ish of 240-280k via numion test

[tony]

Just to illustrate the Swansea proxy speeds using numion.

cache 1 - 16,861 Bps 135 kbps
cache 2 - 19,600 Bps 157 kbps
cache 3 - 17,065 Bps 137 kbps
cache 4 - 11,093 Bps 89 kbps
cache 5 - 3,111 Bps 25 kbps, this is the allocated cache.
cache 6 - 7,472 Bps 60 kbps
cache 7 - 17,545 Bps 140 kbps
cache 8 - 18,975 Bps 152 kbps

using cardiff cache 1 - 29,109 Bps 233 kbps
Explains it well i think.

[th'engineer]

this looks like a job for Ignition to sort out:LOL:

[tony]

Tried tech support but after the obligatory wait got the usual story, connection ok so it must be your OS/settings/ie cache/ etc etc.
Don`t know why i bothered.

[Ignition]

cache 5 - 3,111 Bps 25 kbps, this is the allocated cache. << What allocated cache is that sir? Cache in use changes depending on IP address you are visiting.

I loathe Numion with an extreme passion. I also don't do fixing caches, sorry. However I find it highly unlikely that Swansea's 8 caches are all suffering a fault, either something else wrong or numion being a numpty.

You also forgot to mention WHICH test on Numion you were using.

On my 2Mbit ADSL doing the UK test, 41 frames, I score 26241 bytes per second (Bps), or 210 kilobits per second (kbps)

[tony]

when i select "what`s my proxy" i get the following answer:
You are using the `swan-cache5. server.ntli.net` proxy server.
I assumed that that meant that swan cache 5 is the cache that i was using, ie allocated.
Until recent upgrades at cwmbwrla whenever i checked `What`s my proxy` i got the answer that i apparently did not use a proxy and all worked ok.
I use the numion world test and uk test set to run for a minute in order to even out results, i ran the world test 8 times, resetting proxy each time to each of the 8 consecutive swan proxies and thus received the results posted.
I then ran the test again with same settings but with cardiff proxy specified and the result is obvious.
If i were to reset to no specified proxy i would be unable to use the internet due to the slowwwww speed, at present i am using cardiff proxy with no problems.
Therefore the only logical conclusion that i can make is the one stated in earlier post.
I cannot see any other explanation but am open to sensible suggestions.

[BBKing]

I assumed that that meant that swan cache 5 is the cache that i was using, ie allocated.

It's the proxy that, for your local area, serves the "what`s my proxy" website, if indeed that is a website. Other website will be served by other proxies, you aren't 'allocated' one per se.

[tony]

nthellworld.co.uk Tools menu Whats my proxy.

And yep i know that swan 5 cache is the proxy for the local area cause that is what i`ve been on about, its stuffed, and i know this because i can use cardiff proxy and surf ok but when i leave it on automatic specification of proxy ie: let ntl allocate the proxy, i cannot get faster than 26k.

[tony]

Slight improvement this am, swan proxy up tp 160k, cardiff proxy runs at 256, i know which one i'm gonna use.
Wonder what happened to alter this 'cause i ain't changed a thing this end.

[badnbusy]

The Numion speed test is very poor (the one where it downloads all them imaes anyway). It is not accurate. It shows my 1.5mb connection as something like 200k. I dont think so! Dont bother using it as a diagnostic tool.

Try www.dslzoneuk.net/speedtest.php - choose your connection speed (300k) and click Begin

[Ignition]

nthellworld.co.uk Tools menu Whats my proxy.

And yep i know that swan 5 cache is the proxy for the local area cause that is what i`ve been on about, its stuffed, and i know this because i can use cardiff proxy and surf ok but when i leave it on automatic specification of proxy ie: let ntl allocate the proxy, i cannot get faster than 26k.

Dude, cache 5 is just the proxy that serves nthellworld.co.uk's what's my proxy page, you're not bound to it at all, please check the other threads relating to proxies, especially the FAQ. Also worth mentioning is that the Numion test tests a number of proxies as various ones will be pulling down the images..

The Numion test is a bit questionable, you won't see anything like the full performance of your connection, and unless browsing is particularly poor for whatever reason I don't really see the point in selecting a cache because some random test reckons it's better.

However... the choice is yours. I tried those caches and all seemed fine for browsing, performance more than acceptable.

EDIT: Mods, any chance of that tool saying that people use the Swansea set of caches for example rather than naming a particular one?

EDIT2: The Numion test there isn't a test of raw download speed unlike the DSL Zone test (which isn't achieving full speed on my 2Mbit just FYI, is managing 1.6Mbit)

Suggest for a speed test the one at ADSLGuide. http://www.adslguide.org.uk

[tony]

I did not select cardiff cache because numion says the speed is better, it is simply because when not specifying cradiff as proxy i cannot get web pages loading and surfing is slowwwww, like 56k dial up slowww.
I use numion as a method of representing in numerical form the actual page loading speed via the various caches i have tried and on the whole i find it gives a fairly good representation of surf speed in relation to time of day/place, and when there is a problem with the connection i test via walker etc first and then use numion to see the difference.
If i use another speed test i will get results between 280-300k but as this represents speed of connection without passing through the proxy it does not represent the actual page loading speed and resultant problems i have.
Numion is not the problem here, but there appears to be some problem with the local proxy, whichever cache that maybe, i've tried em all.
As i said before specifying cardiff cache as my proxy works for now so i leave it at that, last time this occurred, which was the last time cwmbwrla was upgraded it was sorted after a month or so.

[badnbusy]

If i use another speed test i will get results between 280-300k but as this represents speed of connection without passing through the proxy

Not exactly. You are going through a proxy for ALL http (port 80) traffic (even the speed testers). Therefore if all the normal speedtests are showing good results 280-300k then it is more likely an issue with your PC. What about normal downloads? What speed do you get here: http://ocean.zen.co.uk/files/5MB.file
Have you tried another browser to make sure its not anything particular to the one u use?

[tony]

I realise that i am using proxy for all http and i accept that for downloads and ng access speed is ok. However i cannot understand why i can specify cardiff proxy and then get acceptable surfing speeds whilst on the other hand if i do not specify cardiff proxy and use whatever local swansea proxy has been allocated i cannot get pages to load and surfing is so slowwww, and why this has occurred recently as i have not changed any settings etc, i use firefox but get same results with ie. What possible problem with pc could cause cardiff proxy to work whilst local proxy fails.

[badnbusy]

So, it is just the local proxies that are slow? If you use any other proxy (eg Cardiff) browsing speeds are ok?

If so, theres not much else you can do apart from report this to ntl tech support. Tell them that when using an of your local proxies (Swansea) browsing is very poor but other proxies are fine.

[tony]

I tried support before coming here to post, all i got after the obligatory wait on phone listening to endless ntl garbage was that there must be a problem with my pc/browser cache/settings, blah blah blah. Which is the only answer I have ever obtained when i have resorted to calling support. Not that i am blaming support people in any way as i understand they have their script to work to.

[Chris W]

I tried support before coming here to post, all i got after the obligatory wait on phone listening to endless ntl garbage was that there must be a problem with my pc/browser cache/settings, blah blah blah. Which is the only answer I have ever obtained when i have resorted to calling support. Not that i am blaming support people in any way as i understand they have their script to work to.

tech support don't work from a script :rolleyes:

if it is a proxy problem, then it is a proxy problem... and yes i will look into it and collate any other issues that i find in the swansea area.

[Neil]

tech support don't work from a script :rolleyes:
Then why do we get so many people all saying that they have had the same comments from ntl Tech Support? (Virus/Spyware/Format/reinstall Windows) :dozey:

if it is a proxy problem, then it is a proxy problem... and yes i will look into it and collate any other issues that i find in the swansea area.

Ta MB, you're a star! :angel:

[Ignition]

Then why do we get so many people all saying that they have had the same comments from ntl Tech Support? (Virus/Spyware/Format/reinstall Windows) :dozey:

We all work from a 'script' in a way. Troubleshooting tends to involve going through a series of steps as these are the ones that work the most often, best practise :angel:

[ian@huth]

We all work from a 'script' in a way. Troubleshooting tends to involve going through a series of steps as these are the ones that work the most often, best practise :angel:

I would agree with that. Sometimes the more technically savvy have tried the first couple of things in the "script" before calling for support and don't actually follow the technicians advice having tried that before (ie. don't reboot when asked). The problem then can be that a further step which hasn't been tried relies on the previous steps having been done in the correct order and may not work if they haven't.

[tony]

Back to 240k this am so someone must have put the plug back in i hope it lasts, thanks to whoever that was, now if the news server 90% incompletion rate was fixed things would be rosy again.