Ping - Download Speed

dante-

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Feb 20, 2013
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Hello Guys

I've contacted my isp in order to lower my ping. I was pinging my isp threw command prompt getting an average of 30 ms.
In the past i was getting 4ms.

Any pings you get to games is the addition of those 30ms + the ping of the server.

They managed to drop it to 7ms now but my download speed has decreased from 8.8mbits to 7.5mbits

Is that normal?

some years ago i had the same problem getting 6mbits rather than 8mbits

I ve asked them if it would affect the download speed if we chose to lower the ping and they said it would not affect

Is there something specific i could ask them to do to avoid this bandwidth drop?


Thanks for your time :)
 
Solution


No not really, my experience is in the uk, but it will usually be about 10-30ms on adsl.
Make sure you are pinging the ISP and not the modem.

You may wish to try an extended ping between yourself and the ISP when your line is quiet.

ping -l 1200 -n 200 [ip of isp], look for packet loss.

It is possible you had contention issues. ADSL uses something called a DSLAM which connects up to 50 telephone lines to the internet. if too many people are using the internet heavily at once the single up link from the DSLAM becomes busy and you get latency. Its quite possible they moved you to a quieter DSLAM.

The BRAS is the Broadband Remote Access Server...

dante-

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Feb 20, 2013
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Primetel.
An isp in Cyprus
I have just hanged up with them assuring me that they havent affect the download speed
Apparently they have by 1.5mbits.

I cant imagine how these two can be connected.
How can u get a lower ping by having a slower d/l speed internet?

If u guys are aware of what settings/changes must be done to the telephone's line settings to avoid this decrease in bandwitdh please enlight me so i can enlight them as well :p
 

Devin Mann

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Feb 3, 2014
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Try downloading cfosSpeed its a traffic shaper that works pretty well. then after you install it test your speeds without touching any of the settings. it should have reduce packets loss in settings already selected. and what this does is maximize ping time by reducing the packets loss.
if you see no change in speed check the settings of the program to see if it is selected.
 

dante-

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Feb 20, 2013
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Thanks for the reply Devin.
My main concern is why is this happening to the download speed tho.
Why do i have to sacrifice download speed in order to get a lower ping? it doesnt make sense since the two arent affecting each other.

Does anyone know what changes are done by the isp for lowering the ping to its customers? apparently something in these changes has gone wrong to be affecting the download speed.

I cant make them understand that my speed has actually been reduced after the change
Is there something concerning the hobs and access points of where my connection is being connected to?Can i ask them something specific about this and get them to understand right away?
 

dante-

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Feb 20, 2013
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Yes man. i did

I had the same problem a few years back.lowering ping by having a slower connection
I decided to stop careing for that matter but in the present day the ping times have been worst forcing me to start careing again.
But the deal is the same.i cant make them understand that they slow down my connection for a lower ping.Something in these changes of theirs is affecting the speed.i dont know if they are allowed to tell me what they did so if anyone of you guys is aware of what they do please inform me ! :p
 

Urumiko

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Dec 28, 2013
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What technology is your connection using? ADSL?

I believe the first thing they will do if you complain about latency is turn off interleaving, but this in itself shouldn't affect download speed unless you are getting loss on your line?

I think its most likely that there was an issue with loss or errors on the line and they have altered the SNR, or BRAS profile manually to compensate.. the trade off would be a more reliable connection but slightly slower max speed.

Did you notice if you were getting many errors in your router logs?

7ms rounds really quick.. though i suppose cyprus is small :)
 

dante-

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Feb 20, 2013
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7ms is the command prompt ping from me to my isp which i guess it should be near 0?
Yes its ADSL2+
Furthermore the modem/router they provide are locked i cant access it and i cant get the password from them since they will refuse to give it to me(many have asked).

They have been some errors in the past months. disconnecting from time time. internet freezing and resuming after some seconds.
The thing is everything used to be ok back in the day.high download speed and low ping.everything started after they decided to double the speeds for the customers.
I am not aware what SNR and BRAS profiles are.I will check them out later on.

Thanks for your replies and time guys
 

Urumiko

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Dec 28, 2013
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No not really, my experience is in the uk, but it will usually be about 10-30ms on adsl.
Make sure you are pinging the ISP and not the modem.

You may wish to try an extended ping between yourself and the ISP when your line is quiet.

ping -l 1200 -n 200 [ip of isp], look for packet loss.

It is possible you had contention issues. ADSL uses something called a DSLAM which connects up to 50 telephone lines to the internet. if too many people are using the internet heavily at once the single up link from the DSLAM becomes busy and you get latency. Its quite possible they moved you to a quieter DSLAM.

The BRAS is the Broadband Remote Access Server. It is the computer in the exchange that decides how fast your line is capable of going and handles authentication etc when connecting.

I think what is more likely given what you are saying is that they have tweaked, your noise margins.

Basically you have a copper wire and you send a broadband signal down it at a range of different frequencies. As the signals travel down the wire, they start to distort or get interfered with from radio waves and thermal noise. This will happen to a point where the signal starts to become unusable. This happens in stages with the outlying frequencies becoming unusable first. your modem can cope with this to some extent and will only see some errors. It will work with the computer in the exchange the BRAS, to select the right values that your line can handle. Sometimes, particularly if your line conditions fluctuate or have a minor intermittent fault this doesn't work too well. Its very hard and expensive to improve the quality of a line like this, so the next thing ISPs will try is manually fixing the line with safer margins on the BRAS. Because you are using a slightly narrower frequency range there is less bandwidth to use but if it works its much more reliable so it's worth the trade.

You mentioned that this started when the ISP upgraded to higher speeds? This could be because they enabled a higher range of frequencies for use, but this just made the problem on your line worse.
The alternative explanation would be the contention issue I already mentioned getting worse.

I would say if your connection issue stops, accept the lower downloads and be glad you have a more reliable connection.

If it still happens check your internal wiring, and filters etc. I don't know of you have a test socket available?
http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13567
Also listen for interference on your phone line, this could indicate an issue with bad wiring or filters.
 
Solution

dante-

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Feb 20, 2013
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I will give it a couple of days and see how the connection behaves after this change.

Thanks devin and urumiko for the detailed explanation and your time.