Computer question for the more savvy types

[fecmech]

A few days back I clicked on a video and got quite a bit of buffering. Checked my download speed with Speedtest .net, Cnet, and Time Warners test page. My downloads were running 1.5-2.0 mps. I'm on basic cable which is supposed to be 3.0 so I called Time Warner. After some discussion they upgraded me to standard cable (10MBS) and things got no better so they sent out the repair guy. He spent a couple hours, cleaned some connections and changed out the modem. Before he left on a couple of occasions testing we saw 6.0 and 7.0 mbs download speeds while testing so he called it good and left. Clicked on another vid yesterday, got buffering so I started checking speeds again. I'm running (on 3 different test sites)2.8-3.5 when I check. Before I go back on TW can my computer be the problem here?? I'm running XP Home ed. SP3. Pentium 4 2.4 g processor and 1.2 GB ram. Can someone give me some help here? This seems to have shown up recently. Thanks Nick

[SciFiJim]

The buffering that you are encountering isn't coming from your computer.

While you don't have a high end system for "now-a-days", it will get the job done. With a cable connection to the internet, you are sharing the pipeline with all of your neighbors.

The choke point would be a junction box somewhere in the neighborhood. Your connection speed will vary during the day depending on how many people are trying to use the internet.

If some kid somewhere nearby is playing an online game with intensive graphics or downloading a movie, it could put a serious damper on you connection speed.

You will generally get your best speeds at about 4AM and your slowest speeds during the prime time hours.

[popper]

Yup, movies and games. Satellite is a much more economical method for movies, but the cable/fiber guys want to make $$. There is a big push to get terabyte fiber installed, but the cost will be astronomical. Europe partially changed over ~ 10 yrs ago, but they didn't have much installed base to begin with.

[fecmech]

Thank you for gentlemen for the input. After the holiday weekend I will contact TW and see if anything can be done.

[mold maker]

Your cable co will always give you the same ole song and dance. The tech guy they send will sometimes know less than you and be a wire hanger only.
I'm having the same problem, and I'm paying for "up to 12M" service. There are at least half a doz young folks recently on the same cable distribution line, and thats when the service went down hill. Any time before 6 AM I have great speeds. When the unemployed wake up and start to play, it goes south fast.
If you can imagine being on a community well and having a 2" pipe serving the community, there were only a few houses to start with. The pump only ran occasionally and the pipe delivered the full pressure to everyone. Next imagine there are 50 more homes built. The pump can keep up, but the 2" pipe can no longer deliver full pressure to the end. Now imagine another 50 homes added and most of those last hundred are families with children. Now the pump runs all day and the end pressure is down to a trickle.
At night the pump again runs only part time and the pressure is great.
That's exactly whats happening to your download speeds. Too many on line with high demand, and your toward the end of the line sharing only whats left.

[wcp4570]

Wow, what I wouldn't give for speeds like that. A commercial T1 speed is around 1.5Mbps. For the past 20 years I've lived in the country (5 miles from the closest town of 3500 population) and only recently was able to get a 1.0Mbps connection and now think I'm in high cotton. I guess it's the price I pay for being away from crowds and traffic, at least I have a shooting range in my back yard.

I agree with SciFiJim about your computer, it sounds like it may be 6 to 8 year old technology. Internet technologies today are more demanding on a computers ability to process the large amount of data geared toward the newest computer technologies, processors and memory requirements. Spyware and viruses are another thing that can do some crazy things to computers ability to connect to the internet. If you don't have a good virus protection program, you should get one and make sure it stays updated, and even that does not prevent you from getting infected 100%.

Without actually setting down at the computer and diagnosing the problem, it's almost impossible to tell what is wrong with your system. I wish you the best of luck resolving your computer problem.

wcp

[mold maker]

Yep WPC, about 6 months ago I got one of those quad core, multi giga whisker, terror bite W& Pro PCS It replaced a 7 year old dino that was so slow I took naps waiting on it.
Guess what, it's already showing its age.
Tecnology is outrunning production and the newest greatest, is obsolete before they can produce em.

[fecmech]

Being at the "end of the pipe" fits us to a "T". We live in the country between Buffalo and Rochester. We are just past the end of cable from Buffao and are at the end from Rochester. Same thing applied when I attempted to get DSL a few years ago. Our phone line was more than 1500 ft (I think that's the magic number) from a relay point (We're 1800') so DSL was out at the time. There is no building going on in our area so there will be no fiber optic cable laid so no FIOS in our future. It's not that big of a problem really just when I want to watch a video. When the promotional period runs out on this 10mb deal I'll just drop back to the Basic as they are both the same most of the time I'm using it. Thanks again for all the input.

[wcp4570]

Mold Maker is 100% correct about computer systems. That makes me laugh. My second career was in Technology. I was in charge of PC service & repair and was responsible for all upgrades, new system purchases and installs for a 5A school district before retiring in December 2010. You can never stay at the leading edge in this area unless you purchase a new system at least every year. Yes videos are the biggest demand on your system and internet bandwidth. I am like you and use older systems because I don't want to dump money into new systems all the time. I have 3 computers and all are 4 to 5 years old and do just fine for general web browsing and forum viewing, that is just about all I ever do anyway. My wife thinks I'm addicted to Cast Boolits forum anyway. This site is my most frequented site. I have about 6 forums that I visit almost every day. I usually don't have much to contribute but do like following discussions on casting and shooting.

wcp

[archmaker]

I always check my speed out using several different browsers, and also I check using different systems. Ran into a problem where are speed was down in the 1meg for down, and we should be running closer to 8meg down.

Had some problems with the cache in the router, did a reboot, and cleared out some cookies and the like in my cache on my systems and it speed up.

I would guess that it is not the ISP problem if you see the same problem right after you watch a vid.

[MtGun44]

You SHARE the total bandwidth (amount of data that can flow in the cable) and if your
neighbor is downloading a video, and several other people are downloading something
big at the same time, you get to share.

Facts of life on a cable.

Bill

[FLINTNFIRE]

Also depends on what site what time of day as the servers also can be choked up, great speeds from one site dog on another , cable shares but then so does dsl , choke point right back to where they all share at the phone junction , satellite internet not any better , cell connection same story , you can have the fastest system most ram biggest processor and graphics card , still get bogged down at servers , sites and all the processes your system is running , throw in all the spyware and malware and your shields looking at it and that slows things , and no matter what they claim your download speeds to be they simply overstate more then they tell the truth , still better then dial up.

[bowfin]

One might also look at what is running on their own computer at the time. A lot of free internet programs and toolbars (as well as redirects and hijackers) take first dibs on bandwidth.

I always tell anyone who will listen: "You wouldn't pick up candy you found lying in the street and eat it, why do you think free stuff found on the internet is any healthier for your computer?"

[Jailer]

Yep WPC, about 6 months ago I got one of those quad core, multi giga whisker, terror bite W& Pro PCS It replaced a 7 year old dino that was so slow I took naps waiting on it.
Guess what, it's already showing its age.
Tecnology is outrunning production and the newest greatest, is obsolete before they can produce em.


Mold Maker is 100% correct about computer systems. That makes me laugh. My second career was in Technology. I was in charge of PC service & repair and was responsible for all upgrades, new system purchases and installs for a 5A school district before retiring in December 2010. You can never stay at the leading edge in this area unless you purchase a new system at least every year. Yes videos are the biggest demand on your system and internet bandwidth. I am like you and use older systems because I don't want to dump money into new systems all the time. I have 3 computers and all are 4 to 5 years old and do just fine for general web browsing and forum viewing, that is just about all I ever do anyway. My wife thinks I'm addicted to Cast Boolits forum anyway. This site is my most frequented site. I have about 6 forums that I visit almost every day. I usually don't have much to contribute but do like following discussions on casting and shooting.

wcp

This is one of the reasons I overclock. My current system has been running overlocked and water cooled for over 4 years now and is still a fair bit faster than any of the default offerings out there. I only do a system overhaul when there is a significant performance jump in doing so while overclocked.

fecmech, do you have a router? I was recently having some issues with my connection that a firmware update to my router resolved.

[fecmech]

fecmech, do you have a router? I was recently having some issues with my connection that a firmware update to my router resolved.
No I don't, plugged in to the modem directly.

[FLINTNFIRE]

As to picking up the candy answer , there are a lot of free programs offered that are better then paid ones , do your research , and I have used some select ones over the years to fix and clean systems and to protect my own and others ,and I watch what I install and run , do not just click when installing anything as all companys like to tack add ons as there is money in it , also have seen paid for programs load the very problems they were supposed to cure . as for toolbars , I have never found one i needed or wanted and yes they do cause a lot of issues , multitude of reasons and sometimes more then one at the same time can all cause the slowdown , wish you luck ..

[bowfin]

As to picking up the candy answer , there are a lot of free programs offered that are better then paid ones , do your research

If they did their research, they wouldn't have gotten the "candy in the street" speech from me in the first place. Hearing that analogy is the price they pay for having me fix their computer, rather than go to the computer shop and have someone else do the same thing for $80.

However, I stand by the analogy: If you don't know from where the candy or software comes, then you are certainly running a risk. For every free program such as Combofix or Spybot, there are dozens that do more harm than good. So if you don't know, don't click. That's the best piece of advice I can offer after doing nine years of being a paid IT guy.

[popper]

Lots of freeware is good stuff, but be careful of the site you download from. Often, they are the culprits. Then there was that one that said your computer was infected, you have to click to do anything. The malware then redirects everything to a null or do nothing node. Fix list is like 3 pages long.