Cable Modem Speed Varies Greatly

[austin316]

I have 10meg download speed with RCN Cable and I get that speed sometimes, but most of the time I get under 1meg. Is there some setting that can be causing this? Or could it be my router?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Pantlegz]

Mb and MB aren't the same, if you're d/ling 10MB/s thats insane. most likely you've got some sort of 'power boost' or basically you get a faster d/l for a little bit. Also you have to take into account that most d/l speeds are limited by the sources upload speed. and cable is not dedicated so the more people in the area using it the slower it is.. or so they say I have cable and never notice a difference maybe I'm lucky or there aren't enough users in my area to slow my connections noticeably.

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: Pantlegz1
Mb and MB aren't the same, if you're d/ling 10MB/s thats insane. most likely you've got some sort of 'power boost' or basically you get a faster d/l for a little bit. Also you have to take into account that most d/l speeds are limited by the sources upload speed. and cable is not dedicated so the more people in the area using it the slower it is.. or so they say I have cable and never notice a difference maybe I'm lucky or there aren't enough users in my area to slow my connections noticeably.

I know there is a difference, but I just get confused on it

I have the regular/normal 10mbps speed that my cable company offers.

 

[JackMDS]

Maybe this can Help, http://www.ezlan.net/Internet_Speed.html

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Maybe this can Help, http://www.ezlan.net/Internet_Speed.html

Thanks, but I'm still way slow at night. Here is a screen cap:

That number should be above 10.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/476673217.png

Also, I unhooked the router and have a Cat 5e going directly from the modem to pc, restarted the computer multiple times, power cycled the modem several times, released/renewed my IP, but this thing still goes to a crawl.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: austin316

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Maybe this can Help, http://www.ezlan.net/Internet_Speed.html

Thanks, but I'm still way slow at night. Here is a screen cap:

That number should be above 10.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/476673217.png

Also, I unhooked the router and have a Cat 5e going directly from the modem to pc, restarted the computer multiple times, power cycled the modem several times, released/renewed my IP, but this thing still goes to a crawl.

That's because you're hooked into a node. Each node only has so much available bandwidth, so when everyone is using it, it slows down below your "up to" speed. The cable company is not guaranteeing your speeds.

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: austin316

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Maybe this can Help, http://www.ezlan.net/Internet_Speed.html

Thanks, but I'm still way slow at night. Here is a screen cap:

That number should be above 10.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/476673217.png

Also, I unhooked the router and have a Cat 5e going directly from the modem to pc, restarted the computer multiple times, power cycled the modem several times, released/renewed my IP, but this thing still goes to a crawl.

That's because you're hooked into a node. Each node only has so much available bandwidth, so when everyone is using it, it slows down below your "up to" speed. The cable company is not guaranteeing your speeds.

I understood that, but I never assumed my speed would decrease by 95%. Does everyone else experience such a huge speed drop off?

Plus, I've had the same speed and ISP less than 1/2 mile from my current location and never had a single problem. Sounds like I'm screwed though.

 

[Fardringle]

Have you tried speed tests at other sites? Try http://broadbandreports.com, for example.

I get VERY wrong results from speedtest.net, so I don't think I would trust any numbers from that site. Using various test servers around the U.S., I get anything from 8-15mbps download (which I don't have) and 6-8mbps upload (which I definitely don't have). My test results from BroadbandReports are usually fairly close to the rated 6mbps download and 768K upload speeds of my Comcast cable connection.

If you still get the same odd results from other test sites, I would call your ISP. There might be a problem with your connection.

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: Fardringle
Have you tried speed tests at other sites? Try http://broadbandreports.com, for example.

I get VERY wrong results from speedtest.net, so I don't think I would trust any numbers from that site. Using various test servers around the U.S., I get anything from 8-15mbps download (which I don't have) and 6-8mbps upload (which I definitely don't have). My test results from BroadbandReports are usually fairly close to the rated 6mbps download and 768K upload speeds of my Comcast cable connection.

If you still get the same odd results from other test sites, I would call your ISP. There might be a problem with your connection.

I'll try a few other sites tonight. I did a quick test this morning at 7AM and sure enough, I got 10megabits per second. I would be fine even with 3 megs at night, so I can play xbox or watch hulu.com