Halcyon_Kent
10-04-2008, 13:43
Hi, I'm hoping somebody will be able to help me to improve my BB connection speed...
First, the background:
I have VM Large BB subscription in Aylesford, Kent, ME20 area, an old (maybe 7 years or more?) Motorola Surfboard SB4200 modem, and Netgear Wireless router.
The wireless stuff was brought direct from NG during an online Telewest promotion several years ago - I forget exactly when.
Two laptop PCs (one with a Netgear PC Card, running Win 95, one with built in Dell WiFi and XP (ex-Vista) are used wirelessly, although the desktop PC (XP) is normally used with a hard-wired connection, to which I can also add a 54mbps wireless to the PC, via a Netgear USB dongle.
The PCs are not networked as such - they just share the Internet connection. I use AVG 8.0 Internet Security on the desktop (I did use Norton until a few months ago), and the free AVG version on the laptops.
Using the 100 mbps link, I rarely seem to get more than 2.5% of the capacity - even when the laptops are not being used. Theyalso suffer periods of poor connection speed, even though only 5-7 meters, through a floor and in one case, a wall.
I also get regular episodes of the PC locking up when browsing, and almost continuous unable to connect to server errors. I have cleaned out much rubbish from the PC, which has improved the situation, but it is still painfully slow at times.
Next, my questions:
I get email logs from the modem showing domains visited, and can view the configuration on both modem and router, through my browser(s), but can I get similar but more detailed data transfer statistics out of the modem/router or network? (possibly split by PC)? This might help to determine the circumstances under which the bottleneck occurs.
There is one problem I do know of - the modem cannot resolve the time of day, even when reset.
What can I do to determine where the bottleneck is - within my PC, the modem, the router or possibly the VM end, and how to sort it?
I believe I am due to be upgraded to 10Mb by VM at some stage, but it may not make any difference to my surfing experience if this issue is not resolved.
Many thanks in anticipation!
Regards,
Martyn
First, the background:
I have VM Large BB subscription in Aylesford, Kent, ME20 area, an old (maybe 7 years or more?) Motorola Surfboard SB4200 modem, and Netgear Wireless router.
The wireless stuff was brought direct from NG during an online Telewest promotion several years ago - I forget exactly when.
Two laptop PCs (one with a Netgear PC Card, running Win 95, one with built in Dell WiFi and XP (ex-Vista) are used wirelessly, although the desktop PC (XP) is normally used with a hard-wired connection, to which I can also add a 54mbps wireless to the PC, via a Netgear USB dongle.
The PCs are not networked as such - they just share the Internet connection. I use AVG 8.0 Internet Security on the desktop (I did use Norton until a few months ago), and the free AVG version on the laptops.
Using the 100 mbps link, I rarely seem to get more than 2.5% of the capacity - even when the laptops are not being used. Theyalso suffer periods of poor connection speed, even though only 5-7 meters, through a floor and in one case, a wall.
I also get regular episodes of the PC locking up when browsing, and almost continuous unable to connect to server errors. I have cleaned out much rubbish from the PC, which has improved the situation, but it is still painfully slow at times.
Next, my questions:
I get email logs from the modem showing domains visited, and can view the configuration on both modem and router, through my browser(s), but can I get similar but more detailed data transfer statistics out of the modem/router or network? (possibly split by PC)? This might help to determine the circumstances under which the bottleneck occurs.
There is one problem I do know of - the modem cannot resolve the time of day, even when reset.
What can I do to determine where the bottleneck is - within my PC, the modem, the router or possibly the VM end, and how to sort it?
I believe I am due to be upgraded to 10Mb by VM at some stage, but it may not make any difference to my surfing experience if this issue is not resolved.
Many thanks in anticipation!
Regards,
Martyn