Very Slow download speed in Stevenage [Archive]

dave.molloy

17-04-2007, 20:46

Is anyone else in the Stevenage Hertfordshire or surrounding area getting very slow downloading and web page access ?

Having noticed slow loading web pages this evening I ran a quick speed test and on my 10mb connection I got a 344Kb download speed, usually this time of night I get over 5000Kb (not anywhere need 10240Kb of course).

I thought I would ask first rather than phoning customer services and getting the usual "have you tried switching off and on you cable modem and PC" (which of course I have)

Thanks

JamboUK

17-04-2007, 21:03

Also really really slow in Stafford area. Appalling in fact.

ferretuk

17-04-2007, 21:29

I'm in Hitchin and speedtest.net is giving me about 350kp/s up and down but general browsing doesn't seem that sluggish. The speedtest on Thinkbroadband is giving 1Mb/s up and 470kb/s

I've just tried downloading a 60MB file from Microsoft.com and got a rate of 130KBs so that all seems OK...

Traceroutes to a few random sites shows that some of the routes at the edge of the NTL network are slowing traffic up, especially into Level 3

hairy_mick

17-04-2007, 22:00

Hi i am in teesside really bad at the moment

jpa

17-04-2007, 22:13

I am also on 10mb (supposedly) and getting this as a test i did a couple of minutes ago https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/128.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

it has been bad for the last few afternoons and especially nights. I get the same low speeds on my laptop as well !!! But come the morning it will be back upto 10mb again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who said that Virgin media are not doing shaping ???

Hom3r

17-04-2007, 22:17

I've also had a fast upload than a download.

and speedtest has given very low speeds, it proberly being hit with a lot of traffic

ferretuk

17-04-2007, 22:18

Who said that Virgin media are not doing shaping ???

And so starts the paranoia - That didn't take long did it!

dev

17-04-2007, 22:28

Who said that Virgin media are not doing shaping ???

because 1 speed test site runs slow, its your isp not the speed test site that is slow?

Pikem4n

17-04-2007, 22:28

Hello folks

I've also got a 10meg connection, and since the weekend my connection seems to be very very slow with pages taking ages to load up and i play alot of fps and the lag in game has been very dire indeed, these are my results ( the lowest ever!)

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/127.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

karmaimages

17-04-2007, 22:50

I'm in arlesey and speed is ok, got loads of downstream network traffic tho :S

caroline

17-04-2007, 22:55

Hi

mine kept disconnecting earlier but seems ok now letchworth , small world A lol.

homealone

17-04-2007, 22:56

Hi :welcome: karmaimages

I used to live at RAF Henlow, which has nothing to do with the thread, but you will know what I mean :) thanks for the feedback

moogles

17-04-2007, 23:09

getting slow speeds here too.
Download: 353 kbps
Upload: 362 kbps

Source: http://myspeed.visualware.com/
Real Accurate for me. I usually get 3.94 Mbps Download 385 kbps Upload. Upload is ok but download is crap. NTL 4MB btw. London area.

jpa

17-04-2007, 23:31

Its gone up now
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/126.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

as its 11.30pm and people have come off the internet

moogles

17-04-2007, 23:42

still slow for me, gonna disconnect the modem and ntl modem and turn it back on after 10 mins to see.

karmaimages

17-04-2007, 23:55

Hi :welcome: karmaimages

I used to live at RAF Henlow, which has nothing to do with the thread, but you will know what I mean :) thanks for the feedback

Thanks :)

It is a small world indeed lol i'm sure if you shop in letchworth i've prob served you at one point depending on the shops you visit :P

sstainer

18-04-2007, 00:01

in poole dorset on the 4meg BB tier i get 717kbps Down 376kbps Up However ushally get a 3334kbps the upload is about right speed

twinkle

18-04-2007, 00:06

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:01:13 UTC

1st 512K took 453 ms = 1130.2 KB/sec, approx 9313 Kbps, 9.09 Mbps
2nd 512K took 437 ms = 1171.6 KB/sec, approx 9654 Kbps, 9.43 Mbps
3rd 512K took 485 ms = 1055.7 KB/sec, approx 8699 Kbps, 8.5 Mbps
4th 512K took 547 ms = 936 KB/sec, approx 7713 Kbps, 7.53 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 8845 Kbps, 8.64 Mbps

after some shocking service for 4 days .got speeds of the first day the internet was invented.with a phone line .got an ntl /virgin letter must be 2 weeks ago .will be getting 20 meg etc.etc.blah. am paying 17 49 per month .should i complain .did dreamgirls retail in 47 mins .sometimes a bit speedier

karmaimages

18-04-2007, 00:16

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/125.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

twinkle

18-04-2007, 00:30

how do i copy the pic from speed test .never seem to capture it .i use this also .i always pick the uk .will try paris

sstainer

18-04-2007, 01:15

when i want to capture screen i press print screen key n paste the image into publisher or paint ? etc

moogles

18-04-2007, 06:13

still slow :(

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 05:10:08 UTC

1st 512K took 12953 ms = 39.5 KB/sec, approx 325 Kbps, 0.32 Mbps
2nd 512K took 12953 ms = 39.5 KB/sec, approx 325 Kbps, 0.32 Mbps
3rd 512K took 14390 ms = 35.6 KB/sec, approx 293 Kbps, 0.29 Mbps
4th 512K took 11657 ms = 43.9 KB/sec, approx 362 Kbps, 0.35 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 326 Kbps, 0.32 Mbps

jpa

18-04-2007, 09:34

Normally at this time in the morning i get the full 10mb that i should get , but not this morning

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/123.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

i will have to phone them up

---------- Post added at 09:34 ---------- Previous post was at 08:52 ----------

Before i rung broadband help , I thought i would disconnect the modem for about ten minutes and it is now acceptable

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/124.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

so if it goes down again later i will be straight onto virgin media.

kendo1

18-04-2007, 14:31

well you guys are lucky i think. my internet has been slow for couple of weeks now. supposed to be the 4mb service.take a look.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/122.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

moogles

18-04-2007, 14:45

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/120.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
Test 1

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/121.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
Test 2

Seems speed is back.

jorgehernan

18-04-2007, 15:22

Hi all, (especially to jpa as I also live in west wickham) first post so i thought i put my 2p worth for this one.
Speedtest.net has been awful for me lately, very slow speeds at all times of day so I used www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk and it was giving me test results of 9000kbps + to which of course my conclusion being speedtest sites are very unreliable.
If you want to max out your connections best to use a download manager for http downloads and usenet for everything else.

savvychels

18-04-2007, 15:27

I'm not putting much faith in Speedtest.net. It tells me completely different things from almost any other tester recently. When I use it I barely get 1mb (I have 10mb BB) most evenings from the London Server (100 miles away), but I get 7 from dublin! But if I use the speedtest on here most of the times it's running close to proper.

When I was on the phone with CS the other day about something else (bill query) they actually asked me about my BB and I mentioned the funny results they recommended this site and said it's pretty accurate http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/. It's shown no slow speeds since I've been using that.

So I've been comparing speedtest.net, the one on this site, and that, and the one on this site and the bbmax site tend to measure my connection at close to full speed, while most of the time speedtest.net gives me less than half.

---------- Post added at 15:27 ---------- Previous post was at 15:26 ----------

Snap! Hey jorgehernan we must have been posting at the same time to recommend the same site :D

jorgehernan

18-04-2007, 15:35

No probs savvy must be on same wavelengths!!!:D ;)

moogles

18-04-2007, 15:41

http://myspeed.visualware.com/uk/ is always accurate, and I always get the same results. It doesn't differ like speedtest or others. Since its java based I trust it more. bbmax one says the download speed you get when the file finishes, my speed is 3930kbps but a speed dip made it say 3457kbps so.. same for speedtest.

internetguy

18-04-2007, 16:26

Im in stevenage but on 2meg. Been downloading/uploading for a few days and no problems :)

savvychels

18-04-2007, 17:06

Mechanicus

18-04-2007, 17:31

Here in Letchworth, BB and TV went down for around an hour, and now I am only getting 2mb speeds. It has never been that low. In fact, even at busy times, it hasn't dropped below 8-9mb speeds!

Edit:: That MySpeed test shows it as 9.62mb, so I don't know why Giganews is showing it as between 1.7mb-6mb

jpa

18-04-2007, 17:59

This is mad !!!!!!!!!!! i now get 3 different readings from 3 different sites!!!

this is speedtest.net
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/119.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

then Broadband max gave a result of 6.7 mb download !!!
then MYspeedBandwith gave a reading of 9.45 mb download !!!
so who the hell do you believe ????

Mechanicus

18-04-2007, 18:04

Mine is getting worse on MySpeed. Started out a 9mb, now it's showing 3.86mb.

Speedtest.net
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/118.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

moogles

18-04-2007, 18:37

Mine is getting worse on MySpeed. Started out a 9mb, now it's showing 3.86mb.

Speedtest.net
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/118.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

dont worry my speeds are lowering from time to time too. if you have a router, try rebooting it and then testing the speed again. if its still low then its a ntl problem.

This is mad !!!!!!!!!!! i now get 3 different readings from 3 different sites!!!

this is speedtest.net
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/119.png (http://www.speedtest.net/)

then Broadband max gave a result of 6.7 mb download !!!
then MYspeedBandwith gave a reading of 9.45 mb download !!!
so who the hell do you believe ????

well it depends, i always use myspeed as it downloads from a uk server. other sites have different download locations so speed may differ. I always find I get fastest downloads from rapidshare. when testing on myspeed click on the near bottom where it says 1kb = 1000 bytes and it should change to computer kilobytes (the speed you see when you download a file). if the downloads are same as myspeed then its correct.

elminster

18-04-2007, 23:01

Also in Stevenage.

Also since weekend my 10MB service is rarely hitting 3MB. Been as low as 400K. Used around 6 different speed testers, including speedtest.net, and all say similar, normally they show around 7MB (on old 120 cable modem).

Thought perhaps since I changed to V+ this week they might have screwed my download speed (happened before) but modem still reports it is set to 10MB download.

Perhaps this is due to new hardware going in for this 20MB upgrade?

As an side upload speed has not been effected, indeed on one occasion I had fast upload than download.
Not the machine, tried Mac and XP both running on a local gigabit net, firewall showing no other traffic to or from my net to cable modem.

Guess going to have to phone tech support then. Anyone done that already? What was the reply?

Cheers

Edit: Here is the latest from speedtest.net
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/04/116.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

sstainer

18-04-2007, 23:29

yeah several tests from opening cmd in run & doing tests like netstat -a to tracert after that was told a techy would visit next monday am as getting various speeds during the day from 5254kbps at about 3.30pm to 2388kbps at 8pm now get 4256kbps one time the speed was at 1679kbps nothing like it is ment to be ?

just done this
Download speed was estimated at 4772.453724 kbps. [4.66 Mbps]

lambo7

22-04-2007, 20:26

I'm from stevenage too, last week I was always getting between 8-9.5mb...now, the last few days I've been getting between 0.3 and 3mb.
I have rang Virgin and they said their wasn't a problem in the area? I explained that my connection was slow also my mate who lives up the road has the same problem.....they didn't want to know....... :-(

Mechanicus

22-04-2007, 20:31