Internet service slowing down?

[mb]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I have a dim 2400 system. It has been working fine. I use Broadband (cable).

Lately, (just during the last few days) I've noticed my internet connection
seems to vary in speed quite a bit. In the early afternoon it is usually
fine. But in the evenings of late it seems to slow down. It is also slowing
down right now. I am wondering if this is just the time of the year where
maybe there is just a lot of traffic?? (School is about to start, etc. Would
a large amount of such usage slow down my speed).

If not, what could the problem be??

I use a firewall (Zone Alarm). I regularly run my anti-virus program (AVG)
and there are no viruses. I also run anti-spyware (both Ad-Aware and
Spybot). I also defrag my drive and do the usual IE and OE maintenance.

Any ideas??

MB

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:17:27 -0400, MB wrote:

> I have a dim 2400 system. It has been working fine. I use Broadband (cable).
>
> Lately, (just during the last few days) I've noticed my internet connection
> seems to vary in speed quite a bit. In the early afternoon it is usually
> fine. But in the evenings of late it seems to slow down. It is also slowing
> down right now. I am wondering if this is just the time of the year where
> maybe there is just a lot of traffic?? (School is about to start, etc. Would
> a large amount of such usage slow down my speed).
>
> If not, what could the problem be??
>
> I use a firewall (Zone Alarm). I regularly run my anti-virus program (AVG)
> and there are no viruses. I also run anti-spyware (both Ad-Aware and
> Spybot). I also defrag my drive and do the usual IE and OE maintenance.
>
> Any ideas??

My first guess would be what you described above, the number of people
getting online taking up bandwidth and slowing everyone down. Cable
Internet is particularly known for that in many areas. I also have cable
and got lucky since it just arrived in this area not many other people have
it yet.

You aren't downloading a lot of stuff are you? My ISP places limits on how
much I can download. For the plan I have I can download 350MB per hour at
which time I'm slowed down for an hour. When I first began hitting this
wall and seeing my connection go from 200kbps to 50kbps I thought something
was wrong, but a phone call to my ISP cleared it up. They said this was to
keep the file sharing folks from using up all the bandwidth all the time.

Dave
--
We are the US military. Your asses will be kicked. Resistance is futile.

US Army Signal Corps!
www.geocities.com/davidcasey98

Remove IH8SPAM to reply by email!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"MB" <mel@prodigy.invalid.net> wrote:

>I have a dim 2400 system. It has been working fine. I use Broadband (cable).
>
>Lately, (just during the last few days) I've noticed my internet connection
>seems to vary in speed quite a bit. In the early afternoon it is usually
>fine. But in the evenings of late it seems to slow down. It is also slowing
>down right now. I am wondering if this is just the time of the year where
>maybe there is just a lot of traffic?? (School is about to start, etc. Would
>a large amount of such usage slow down my speed).
>
>If not, what could the problem be??

One factor is the arrangement of cable internet, which involves
local nodes serving groups of customers. With customer growth
and/or changes [typically increases ;->] in customer usage
patterns, the node gets overloaded. I've seen this several times
in the four-plus years I've been with Comcast. So far, Comcast
has been pretty good with their traffic analysis, and
rearrange/increase nodes quickly. I've never seen this type of
slowdown last longer than a few days before jumping back up
again.

Another factor could be that several new customers on your node
have just discovered streaming video - porn sites or otherwise
;->.

Finally, is it every site you visit at a given time, or does it
vary. Remember, there are always two parts to your internet
connection, your computer and the one you are talking to. I have
seen periods when a server that regularly talks to me at kiloByte
speeds in the 400s all of a sudden drop back to 40-50KB/sec for a
day or two. While other servers are talking to me at the same
old 300-400KB/sec they always have.

>I use a firewall (Zone Alarm). I regularly run my anti-virus program (AVG)
>and there are no viruses. I also run anti-spyware (both Ad-Aware and
>Spybot). I also defrag my drive and do the usual IE and OE maintenance.
>
>Any ideas??

Last one, check out http://www.dslreports.com/stest, and run a
speed test from time to time, during regular times as well as
slowdowns.

The four main test servers shown are often busy, but there's a
link to a couple hundred other speed test sites. [Just did mine
and found I was within 5% of Comcast's 3mbps goal - not bad for
mid-day, particularly since it was 5% *above* that goal. ;->]
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Dave,
Off the topic of the original poster, how do you feel about having your ISP
limit your bandwidth usage? To me, that would seem like a self-defeating
proposition of the broadband offering. Content providers are working hard to
offer users programming of value, and some ISP's are just saying NO.
RTWhite

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 11:06:02 -0600, David Casey <sgtcasey@IH8SPAMcableone.net>
wrote:

>On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:17:27 -0400, MB wrote:
>
>> I have a dim 2400 system. It has been working fine. I use Broadband (cable).
>>
>> Lately, (just during the last few days) I've noticed my internet connection
>> seems to vary in speed quite a bit. In the early afternoon it is usually
>> fine. But in the evenings of late it seems to slow down. It is also slowing
>> down right now. I am wondering if this is just the time of the year where
>> maybe there is just a lot of traffic?? (School is about to start, etc. Would
>> a large amount of such usage slow down my speed).
>>
>> If not, what could the problem be??
>>
>> I use a firewall (Zone Alarm). I regularly run my anti-virus program (AVG)
>> and there are no viruses. I also run anti-spyware (both Ad-Aware and
>> Spybot). I also defrag my drive and do the usual IE and OE maintenance.
>>
>> Any ideas??
>
>My first guess would be what you described above, the number of people
>getting online taking up bandwidth and slowing everyone down. Cable
>Internet is particularly known for that in many areas. I also have cable
>and got lucky since it just arrived in this area not many other people have
>it yet.
>
>You aren't downloading a lot of stuff are you? My ISP places limits on how
>much I can download. For the plan I have I can download 350MB per hour at
>which time I'm slowed down for an hour. When I first began hitting this
>wall and seeing my connection go from 200kbps to 50kbps I thought something
>was wrong, but a phone call to my ISP cleared it up. They said this was to
>keep the file sharing folks from using up all the bandwidth all the time.
>
>Dave

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

> Any ideas??

Other than the problems mentioned about the way cable is distributing the
bandwidth, what browser do you use ?

Have you tried throwing cwshredder and spywareblaster at IE ?
(if you use it)

They can be found here (not the "home" site, but legit)

http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles (cwshredder)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com (spywareblaster)

Does it only happen when you`re browsing, or when you do anything ?

--
Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email
--- My new email address has "ngspamtrap" & @btinternet.com in it ;-) ---

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:17:27 -0400, in
<10i9kkqi6hi8m5d@corp.supernews.com>, "MB"
<mel@prodigy.invalid.net> wrote:

>I have a dim 2400 system. It has been working fine. I use Broadband (cable).
>
>Lately, (just during the last few days) I've noticed my internet connection
>seems to vary in speed quite a bit. In the early afternoon it is usually
>fine. But in the evenings of late it seems to slow down. It is also slowing
>down right now. I am wondering if this is just the time of the year where
>maybe there is just a lot of traffic?? (School is about to start, etc. Would
>a large amount of such usage slow down my speed).
>
>If not, what could the problem be??
>
>I use a firewall (Zone Alarm). I regularly run my anti-virus program (AVG)
>and there are no viruses. I also run anti-spyware (both Ad-Aware and
>Spybot). I also defrag my drive and do the usual IE and OE maintenance.
>
>Any ideas??

The problem with saying "the Internet" slows down is that you
generally aren't able to distinguish between the speed of data
transport from source to destination and the speed of the source
itself. If you play around on Yahoo or Hotmail in evening "prime
time" or between roghly 1200 - 1300 east coast or west coast time
then you're going to see decreased performance because Yahoo,
hotmail (etc) are loaded at these times. People play at night
and check email during lunch time. Pay attention to the pattern
for a few days and see if that doesn't explain it.

--
Jim Higgins, quasimodo AT yahoo DOT com
icbm: 33.55.34N, 80.24.21W

 

[larrry]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

zone alarm probably has a conflict with your anti virus.turn off zone alarm
and see if the speed improves. it happened to me and took many hours to find
this out. may not be your problem but it sure was mine.


larry


"Jim Higgins" <me7@privacy.net> wrote in message
newsj5ai0t6vc13oirfplo1qc1ni0lo5s106q@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:17:27 -0400, in
> <10i9kkqi6hi8m5d@corp.supernews.com>, "MB"
> <mel@prodigy.invalid.net> wrote:
>
> >I have a dim 2400 system. It has been working fine. I use Broadband
(cable).
> >
> >Lately, (just during the last few days) I've noticed my internet
connection
> >seems to vary in speed quite a bit. In the early afternoon it is usually
> >fine. But in the evenings of late it seems to slow down. It is also
slowing
> >down right now. I am wondering if this is just the time of the year where
> >maybe there is just a lot of traffic?? (School is about to start, etc.
Would
> >a large amount of such usage slow down my speed).
> >
> >If not, what could the problem be??
> >
> >I use a firewall (Zone Alarm). I regularly run my anti-virus program
(AVG)
> >and there are no viruses. I also run anti-spyware (both Ad-Aware and
> >Spybot). I also defrag my drive and do the usual IE and OE maintenance.
> >
> >Any ideas??
>
> The problem with saying "the Internet" slows down is that you
> generally aren't able to distinguish between the speed of data
> transport from source to destination and the speed of the source
> itself. If you play around on Yahoo or Hotmail in evening "prime
> time" or between roghly 1200 - 1300 east coast or west coast time
> then you're going to see decreased performance because Yahoo,
> hotmail (etc) are loaded at these times. People play at night
> and check email during lunch time. Pay attention to the pattern
> for a few days and see if that doesn't explain it.
>
> --
> Jim Higgins, quasimodo AT yahoo DOT com
> icbm: 33.55.34N, 80.24.21W

 

[mb]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

lARRY:

Somehow, turning off ZA doesn't seem like a very smart idea, although it may
well be the culprit.

Again, most of the time the speed is just fine.

Maybe it's just a temporary screwup.

Mel
"Larrry" <2roo@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:lYaVc.9227$z41.7805@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com...
> zone alarm probably has a conflict with your anti virus.turn off zone
alarm
> and see if the speed improves. it happened to me and took many hours to
find
> this out. may not be your problem but it sure was mine.
>
>
> larry
>
>
> "Jim Higgins" <me7@privacy.net> wrote in message
> newsj5ai0t6vc13oirfplo1qc1ni0lo5s106q@4ax.com...
> > On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:17:27 -0400, in
> > <10i9kkqi6hi8m5d@corp.supernews.com>, "MB"
> > <mel@prodigy.invalid.net> wrote:
> >
> > >I have a dim 2400 system. It has been working fine. I use Broadband
> (cable).
> > >
> > >Lately, (just during the last few days) I've noticed my internet
> connection
> > >seems to vary in speed quite a bit. In the early afternoon it is
usually
> > >fine. But in the evenings of late it seems to slow down. It is also
> slowing
> > >down right now. I am wondering if this is just the time of the year
where
> > >maybe there is just a lot of traffic?? (School is about to start, etc.
> Would
> > >a large amount of such usage slow down my speed).
> > >
> > >If not, what could the problem be??
> > >
> > >I use a firewall (Zone Alarm). I regularly run my anti-virus program
> (AVG)
> > >and there are no viruses. I also run anti-spyware (both Ad-Aware and
> > >Spybot). I also defrag my drive and do the usual IE and OE maintenance.
> > >
> > >Any ideas??
> >
> > The problem with saying "the Internet" slows down is that you
> > generally aren't able to distinguish between the speed of data
> > transport from source to destination and the speed of the source
> > itself. If you play around on Yahoo or Hotmail in evening "prime
> > time" or between roghly 1200 - 1300 east coast or west coast time
> > then you're going to see decreased performance because Yahoo,
> > hotmail (etc) are loaded at these times. People play at night
> > and check email during lunch time. Pay attention to the pattern
> > for a few days and see if that doesn't explain it.
> >
> > --
> > Jim Higgins, quasimodo AT yahoo DOT com
> > icbm: 33.55.34N, 80.24.21W
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Shoot, cable isn't the only culprit here - even DSL is affected by
traffic
that arrives at the SLIC, and clogs the server there. DSL guarantees a
given BW from your connection to the SLIC but after that they can easily
be suffering an "infrastructure" problem (not enough HW to support the
traffic).
Plus there's the additional factor already mentioned about the BW at the
SITE - if the connected site can't handle the requests being thrown at it by
a bunch of "high speed users", it can also slow the response greatly.
The rapid increase in number of "high speed users" is putting a larger
burden
on sites that were designed for "mediocre" traffic, methinks.

My ISP limit my bandwidth? Nowadays, that's not the total equation.

NGA

<RTW> wrote in message news2aai096a5ds3eau1dgmiqmn9g1rfof018@4ax.com...
> Dave,
> Off the topic of the original poster, how do you feel about having your
ISP
> limit your bandwidth usage? To me, that would seem like a self-defeating
> proposition of the broadband offering. Content providers are working hard
to
> offer users programming of value, and some ISP's are just saying NO.
> RTWhite
>
> On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 11:06:02 -0600, David Casey
<sgtcasey@IH8SPAMcableone.net>
> wrote:
>
> >On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:17:27 -0400, MB wrote:
> >
> >> I have a dim 2400 system. It has been working fine. I use Broadband
(cable).
> >>
> >> Lately, (just during the last few days) I've noticed my internet
connection
> >> seems to vary in speed quite a bit. In the early afternoon it is
usually
> >> fine. But in the evenings of late it seems to slow down. It is also
slowing
> >> down right now. I am wondering if this is just the time of the year
where
> >> maybe there is just a lot of traffic?? (School is about to start, etc.
Would
> >> a large amount of such usage slow down my speed).
> >>
> >> If not, what could the problem be??
> >>
> >> I use a firewall (Zone Alarm). I regularly run my anti-virus program
(AVG)
> >> and there are no viruses. I also run anti-spyware (both Ad-Aware and
> >> Spybot). I also defrag my drive and do the usual IE and OE maintenance.
> >>
> >> Any ideas??
> >
> >My first guess would be what you described above, the number of people
> >getting online taking up bandwidth and slowing everyone down. Cable
> >Internet is particularly known for that in many areas. I also have cable
> >and got lucky since it just arrived in this area not many other people
have
> >it yet.
> >
> >You aren't downloading a lot of stuff are you? My ISP places limits on
how
> >much I can download. For the plan I have I can download 350MB per hour
at
> >which time I'm slowed down for an hour. When I first began hitting this
> >wall and seeing my connection go from 200kbps to 50kbps I thought
something
> >was wrong, but a phone call to my ISP cleared it up. They said this was
to
> >keep the file sharing folks from using up all the bandwidth all the time.
> >
> >Dave
>

 

[larrry]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

whatever!! maybe do some research on zone alarms conflicts with mcafee
and other anti virus programs and you may learn something.
larry
"MB" <mel@prodigy.invalid.net> wrote in message
news:10iaviu97uo4l0b@corp.supernews.com...
> lARRY:
>
> Somehow, turning off ZA doesn't seem like a very smart idea, although it
may
> well be the culprit.
>
> Again, most of the time the speed is just fine.
>
> Maybe it's just a temporary screwup.
>
> Mel
> "Larrry" <2roo@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
> news:lYaVc.9227$z41.7805@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com...
> > zone alarm probably has a conflict with your anti virus.turn off zone
> alarm
> > and see if the speed improves. it happened to me and took many hours to
> find
> > this out. may not be your problem but it sure was mine.
> >
> >
> > larry
> >
> >
> > "Jim Higgins" <me7@privacy.net> wrote in message
> > newsj5ai0t6vc13oirfplo1qc1ni0lo5s106q@4ax.com...
> > > On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:17:27 -0400, in
> > > <10i9kkqi6hi8m5d@corp.supernews.com>, "MB"
> > > <mel@prodigy.invalid.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > >I have a dim 2400 system. It has been working fine. I use Broadband
> > (cable).
> > > >
> > > >Lately, (just during the last few days) I've noticed my internet
> > connection
> > > >seems to vary in speed quite a bit. In the early afternoon it is
> usually
> > > >fine. But in the evenings of late it seems to slow down. It is also
> > slowing
> > > >down right now. I am wondering if this is just the time of the year
> where
> > > >maybe there is just a lot of traffic?? (School is about to start,
etc.
> > Would
> > > >a large amount of such usage slow down my speed).
> > > >
> > > >If not, what could the problem be??
> > > >
> > > >I use a firewall (Zone Alarm). I regularly run my anti-virus program
> > (AVG)
> > > >and there are no viruses. I also run anti-spyware (both Ad-Aware and
> > > >Spybot). I also defrag my drive and do the usual IE and OE
maintenance.
> > > >
> > > >Any ideas??
> > >
> > > The problem with saying "the Internet" slows down is that you
> > > generally aren't able to distinguish between the speed of data
> > > transport from source to destination and the speed of the source
> > > itself. If you play around on Yahoo or Hotmail in evening "prime
> > > time" or between roghly 1200 - 1300 east coast or west coast time
> > > then you're going to see decreased performance because Yahoo,
> > > hotmail (etc) are loaded at these times. People play at night
> > > and check email during lunch time. Pay attention to the pattern
> > > for a few days and see if that doesn't explain it.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Jim Higgins, quasimodo AT yahoo DOT com
> > > icbm: 33.55.34N, 80.24.21W
> >
> >
>
>