DSL speed test

[stimpson]

I live in the Little Rock Ar. area. Just got DSL turned on today. (1.5 meg) Used the speed test from speakeasy.com to check my speed. Used the Dallas server and it never got over 120kbps. I live approx 2.5 miles from the remote C/O. It's a brand new unit just installed in my area to allow DSL in my neck of the woods. Just wondering what speeds I should be seeing and are there any good optimizing tools or programs to boost the DSL speed?

 

[Paradox-SJ]

I would wait a few days to see if it improves ( a week) if it doesnt get on the phone with tech supp and see what they see the problem is.

 

[stimpson]

Never had DSL before, so not sure what to expect. I was told to leave the modem on for at least 10 days after activation. Is it possable that the speeds will increase?

 

[damaged]

I think you may be a little confused, perhaps this will clear it up, a 1.5mb [as in megaBIT] pipe will generally read in at 150KB/s (incl. overhead) [as in kiloBYTE] (do the math, 8bits in a byte, 150,000bits*8=1.2million bytes, or 1.2mb/s or ~120KB/s)), chances are the speed test app is adjusting for overhead which is why you won't see 150KB/s from the test.

Also FYI, The speed test servers can contribute to skewing of the numbers (although I do not think that is the case here), since they [test servers] are usually under heavy load (not to mention routing, QoS/ToS issues, and pppoe/a protocol header overhead, if applicable, distance to CO, etc.), try downloading the file below, its the linux kernel and is housed on a very sexy pipe, just use your browsers speed display.

Really, 120KB/s is fine from the isps standpoint (and should be from yours), as that is well within the 80% standard industry tolerance, i.e. you are not getting ripped off.


http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.20.tar.gz

 

[stimpson]

I think you may be a little confused, perhaps this will clear it up, a 1.5mb [as in megaBIT] pipe will generally read in at 150KB/s (incl. overhead) [as in kiloBYTE] (do the math, 8bits in a byte, 150,000bits*8=1.2million bytes, or 1.2mb/s or 120KB/s)), however, the speed test servers can contribute to skewing of the numbers, since they [test servers] are usually under heavy load (not to mention routing, QoS/ToS issues, and pppoe/a protocol header overhead, if applicable, distance to CO, etc.), try downloading the file below, its the linux kernel and is housed on a very sexy pipe, just use your browsers speed display, really, 120KB/s is fine from the isps standpoint (and should be from yours), as that is well within the 80% standard industry tolerance, i.e. you are not getting ripped off.


http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.20.tar.gz

A co-worker has the 1.5 meg service and speed pointer reached, and even went past the 1.5meg range when he tested his at speakeasy. What exactly does this file do for me when I download it? Thanks.

 

[damaged]

A co-worker has the 1.5 meg service and speed pointer reached, and even went past the 1.5meg range when he tested his at speakeasy. What exactly does this file do for me when I download it? Thanks.

It is just a file to measure your speed, you don't need to run it, or open it, you don't even have to let it finish, just something to d/l from a fast server so you can glance at your speed your browser displays, nothing more.

As for your friend, 1.5 megaBIT speed translates to 120KBYTES/s, you have the same speeds.

Remember, mb = megaBITS there are 8 bits in a byte, 120KB is kilobytes, or 120,000BYTES, so yes he got 1.5mb which is 120KB (big KB), (little mb means megabits, whereas MB would be megabytes, and NO adsl service gives you 1.5MB/s, which would be 8 times what you're paying for, or roughly the same download speed ability as 8 T1s).

 

[charper1]

I live in the Little Rock Ar. area. Just got DSL turned on today. (1.5 meg) Used the speed test from speakeasy.com to check my speed. Used the Dallas server and it never got over 120kbps. I live approx 2.5 miles from the remote C/O. It's a brand new unit just installed in my area to allow DSL in my neck of the woods. Just wondering what speeds I should be seeing and are there any good optimizing tools or programs to boost the DSL speed?

Can you copy and paste your Speakeasy result like I did here? I would like to see exactly what you are seeing. I have a 6mb down connection and consistently test out around 5100 kbps (or 642 KB/sec transfer rate) as listed in their test. I am a long way from the Dallas server which I used.

 

[stimpson]

OK. Now I understand about the mb/MB. Sorry for being so slow at this. At any rate. Mine compared to his on the speed meter is not even half of what he registers.

 

[berck]

First of all 1.5Mb translates into a maximum data rate of 183kB/s. Telcos use M and k to be base 10 (1000000 and 1000), where the computers translate it to be factors of 2, so M and k are 1048576 (2^20) and 1024 (2^10). Hence 1.5Mb / 8 tranlates to 187500 B/s. Dividing that number by 1024 gets 183kB/s

Now DSL speeds are all about the distance to the CO. Its possible that your friend is closer, or that you just need more time for the modem and the CO to improve the link, or that your friend is in an area were there is less demand for speed.

Personally, I've rarely seen DSL service hit their maximum limits. I've had DSL at work and home. These are typical numbers I've seen for the various services.

Rate Actual
6M 4M to 5M
3M 1M to 2M
1.5M 800k to 1.2M

The uplink speeds are different. They always seem to hit the max as far as I can tell.

I would suggest trying different speed tests around the net. PCPitstop.com has one, and the one I like the best is at dslreports.com (under tools)

 

[stimpson]

Can you copy and paste your Speakeasy result like I did here? I would like to see exactly what you are seeing. I have a 6mb down connection and consistently test out around 5100 kbps (or 642 KB/sec transfer rate) as listed in their test. I am a long way from the Dallas server which I used.

I'm at work right now. Probably won't be home untill 1 or 2 am central. I'll run the speed test again and post the results when I get home. Don't wait up for me.

 

[stimpson]

First of all 1.5Mb translates into a maximum data rate of 183kB/s. Telcos use M and k to be base 10 (1000000 and 1000), where the computers translate it to be factors of 2, so M and k are 1048576 (2^20) and 1024 (2^10). Hence 1.5Mb / 8 tranlates to 187500 B/s. Dividing that number by 1024 gets 183kB/s

Now DSL speeds are all about the distance to the CO. Its possible that your friend is closer, or that you just need more time for the modem and the CO to improve the link, or that your friend is in an area were there is less demand for speed.

Personally, I've rarely seen DSL service hit their maximum limits. I've had DSL at work and home. These are typical numbers I've seen for the various services.

Rate Actual
6M 4M to 5M
3M 1M to 2M
1.5M 800k to 1.2M

The uplink speeds are different. They always seem to hit the max as far as I can tell.

I would suggest trying different speed tests around the net. PCPitstop.com has one, and the one I like the best is at dslreports.com (under tools)

When you say the modem and C/O to improve the link, is that something that happens over time on it's own?

 

[charper1]

I am west coast so no biggie

 

[stimpson]

dameged,

Where do I view this, or do you mean the transfer rate?

It is just a file to measure your speed, you don't need to run it, or open it, you don't even have to let it finish, just something to d/l from a fast server so you can glance at your speed your browser displays, nothing more.

 

[stimpson]

I am west coast so no biggie

Cool I'll get that out soon. I really appreciate the help fellas.

 

[rad]

You didn't say who your telco it, IIRC it's SBC/AT&T. Their standard procedure is on self install's is to sync your line at low speeds then an automated system will slowly raise the sync rate until it starts to see errors, then locks you in at the last good sync rate. That's why it's important to leave your modem on and connected to the line for 10 days else the system thinks there was a error and locks you at the lower speed.

If you still are seeing slow speeds after the 10 days I'd recommend going to http://www.dslreports.com/forum/sbcdirect which has SBC/AT&T techs that can verify manually what the best speed is for your line.

 

[berck]

rad explained it.

 

[stimpson]

OK. So I am so very stupid. First of all I didn't explain everything very well. Second I didn't follow the set up instructions very well either. I was in such a hurry to get it up and running I skipped the step about adding the filters on ALL devices hooked to a phone jack. I didn't put filters on my two Dish receivers. Did that and WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Works great. Very fast. I thank all that have contributed to helping me out. I hope I didn't wast anyones time. Thanks again folks.

 

[DirtyTurbin]

stimpson pm your home phone number and I will look in the redback and make sure you are set up correctly. If your not comfortable with then goto dslreports.com and register there and post your problem they will help ya. Thanks

 

[stimpson]

stimpson pm your home phone number and I will look in the redback and make sure you are set up correctly. If your not comfortable with then goto dslreports.com and register there and post your problem they will help ya. Thanks

Everything is working great now that I hooked the filters to the dish receivers. but i'll pm my number if you want to look at it anyway.

 

[DirtyTurbin]

Everything looks good to me let me know if you have any other problems..