Awful upload speed

Hi

In June I upgraded my Virgin dial-up account to 512kbps broadband.
Download speed is consistently around 489kbps, I think very good for a
512 connection, but upload is pretty awful; it has varied between 31 and
91kbps, but is mostly around 60kbps.

Virign broadband support asked me to try testing without any other
equipment on the line, and also without my firewall running. This didn't
make any difference, so they reported it to BT as a fault.

It's now two weeks later, still no word from BT, so I emailed Virgin
again. They said they will check for developments tomorrow (Monday). In
the meantime, they tell me to try the main socket (not possible due to
where it is) and not to use extension cables (I don't). I used various
tests around the internet, but then bought Dan Elwell's Broadband
Speedtest, and have been using that exclusively.

Has anyone any idea what could be wrong, please? I know nothing about
the technical side of adsl but if something were wrong with the socket
I'm using, wouldn't I be getting poor download speeds too?

--
Nightowl

Nightowl wrote:
> Hi
>
> In June I upgraded my Virgin dial-up account to 512kbps broadband.
> Download speed is consistently around 489kbps, I think very good for a
> 512 connection, but upload is pretty awful; it has varied between 31
> and 91kbps, but is mostly around 60kbps.
>
> Virign broadband support asked me to try testing without any other
> equipment on the line, and also without my firewall running. This
> didn't make any difference, so they reported it to BT as a fault.
>
> It's now two weeks later, still no word from BT, so I emailed Virgin
> again. They said they will check for developments tomorrow (Monday).
> In the meantime, they tell me to try the main socket (not possible
> due to where it is) and not to use extension cables (I don't). I used
> various tests around the internet, but then bought Dan Elwell's
> Broadband Speedtest, and have been using that exclusively.
>
> Has anyone any idea what could be wrong, please? I know nothing about
> the technical side of adsl but if something were wrong with the socket
> I'm using, wouldn't I be getting poor download speeds too?

Sounds just about right to me. You didn't think you'd get 512K uploads as
well as downloads for your twenty quid a month, did you? Expect to pay a few
hundred a month for a similar upload/download speed ratio.
--
huLLy
Mobile phone 07976 123278
ICQ 136-987-925

huLLy <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote on Sun, 4 Sep 2005:

>Sounds just about right to me. You didn't think you'd get 512K uploads as
>well as downloads for your twenty quid a month, did you? Expect to pay a few
>hundred a month for a similar upload/download speed ratio.

Uh, no, I didn't, but it's rated 256kbps upload and I expected to get
somewhere around 200, not 60.

I admit I know nothing about the technical side, but AdslGuide says I
should expect 220-260kbps and the Dan Elwell test says my results show a
serious problem with my uploads.

If you really think a 60kbps upload "sounds just about right" for a
512kbps connection. . . well, I'm baffled and everything I've read must
be wrong, then.

Do others agree with huLLy?

--
Nightowl

On Sun, 4 Sep 2005 16:01:00 +0100, Nightowl <owl@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:

>Has anyone any idea what could be wrong, please?

what is the upload speed of the modem, is it the full 288 kbps or is
it less.

Virgin aka NTL often use datastream so you are probably just sharing
an overloaded connection at the exchange.

Otherwise check you TCP/IP settings with
http://www.netmonitor.org/tools/ttest.php look out for MTU and RWIN
values or post the red results URL.

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali

AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Nightowl <owl@[127.0.0.1]>
writes
>
>Do others agree with huLLy?
>

Not from my experience.

I have 512 Kbps ADSL, like you. My line speed down is about 488Mbps
(55-62 Kbytes/sec) and up at 260Kbps (29-31 Kbytes/sec).

The Kbytes per sec can be found on the ADSL line speed tests at URLs
like - http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp

I just tested my speeds on this site and the following is reported -

Direction Actual Speed True Speed (estimated)

Downstream 472 Kbps (59.0 KB/sec) 509 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 252 Kbps (31.5 KB/sec) 272 Kbps (inc. overheads

One site you can determine the Kbytes/sec is to carry out a partial file
download of Netscape 7.1. This can be found at -

http://ftp.netscape.com/pub/netscape...ows/win32/sea/

The file I refer to is NSSetup-Full.exe 26-Jan-2004 17:54 29M

Just download 10.00 Mb or so by saving to a file or folder. If you don't
complete the download you do not need to dump the file after a time.
--
Hugh Janus Constipation is the thief of time, but diaorrehia waits
for no man!!

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Phil Thompson
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Otherwise check you TCP/IP settings with
>http://www.netmonitor.org/tools/ttest.php look out for MTU and RWIN
>values or post the red results URL.

Phil

Just tested at the URL suggested.

What do these results for me mean, especially the RWIN? This was set for
a free 2 way satellite system I hosted and trialed. Should this be
altered for ADSL, and to what?


Tweakable settings:
RWIN: 224360
Window scaling: YES (scaling factor: 2^2)
PMTUD: YES
Time stamping: NO
SACKS: YES
MSS requested: 1460
TTL remaining: 53

Results of download test:
Data bytes we sent: 255756 bytes
Data packets we sent: 176
Retransmitted data packets: 16
Transfer efficiency: 91%
Max packet size you sent (MTU): 1500
Max packet size you received (MTU): 1500
Data transmit time: 3.931 seconds
Maximum idle time: 169.3 milliseconds
Transfer rate: 56929 bytes/sec (55.6 kilobytes/sec)

Ping test:
80.xxx.xxx.xxx : xmt/rcv/%loss = 10/10/0%, min/avg/max = 34.9/36.4/37.7


NEW! Suggestions based on these results

This bit is under development, please ignore all the suggestions below
for the time being :-)

Your RWIN is a multiple of your MSS
Retransmits detected, indicates a problem
Path MTU discovery is enabled

Your chosen RWIN value will limit your throughput to:
25094 kb/s (3136.7 kB/s) to UK sites (assuming 20ms RTT)
5576 kb/s (697.0 kB/s) to US (East Coast) sites (assuming 90ms RTT)
3346 kb/s (418.2 kB/s) to US (West Coast) sites (assuming 150ms RTT)
2281 kb/s (285.2 kB/s) to Japanese sites (assuming 220ms RTT)


John
--
John Clark

> . . well, I'm baffled and everything I've read must
> be wrong, then.
>
> Do others agree with huLLy?

No
Like you, I would expect an upload speed approaching 256kbs irrespective of
what download speed the ISP is supplying.
Even the much maligned Tiscali service that I am using here does not fall
far below this.

--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%

"Nightowl" <owl@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi
>
> In June I upgraded my Virgin dial-up account to 512kbps broadband.
> Download speed is consistently around 489kbps, I think very good for a 512
> connection, but upload is pretty awful; it has varied between 31 and
> 91kbps, but is mostly around 60kbps.
>
> Virign broadband support asked me to try testing without any other
> equipment on the line, and also without my firewall running. This didn't
> make any difference, so they reported it to BT as a fault.
>
> It's now two weeks later, still no word from BT, so I emailed Virgin
> again. They said they will check for developments tomorrow (Monday). In
> the meantime, they tell me to try the main socket (not possible due to
> where it is) and not to use extension cables (I don't). I used various
> tests around the internet, but then bought Dan Elwell's Broadband
> Speedtest, and have been using that exclusively.
>
> Has anyone any idea what could be wrong, please? I know nothing about the
> technical side of adsl but if something were wrong with the socket I'm
> using, wouldn't I be getting poor download speeds too?
>
> --
> Nightowl

I had a problem once with my Pipex 512/256 ADSL.
It had worked perfectly since first installed but after a few months i
noticed that although my downloads were ok, my uploads were less than
10KB/s.

After a lot of red herrings i finally found the problem - in a recent
change-a-round i'd plugged my ADSL line extension into the filtered output
of the micro-filter and my phone was plugged into the non-filtered output
that was intended for my ADSL modem.

I changed the phone and ADSL modem plugs around on the micro-filter and heh
presto!

All was working perfectly again - uploads back up to ~30KB/s.

Martin.

Graham <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote on Sun, 4 Sep 2005:

>> . . well, I'm baffled and everything I've read must
>> be wrong, then.
>>
>> Do others agree with huLLy?
>
>No
>Like you, I would expect an upload speed approaching 256kbs irrespective of
>what download speed the ISP is supplying.
>Even the much maligned Tiscali service that I am using here does not fall
>far below this.
>

Thanks, Graham

That helps stop me feeling I must be going mad :-)

--
Nightowl

Martin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote on Sun, 4 Sep 2005:

>I had a problem once with my Pipex 512/256 ADSL.
>It had worked perfectly since first installed but after a few months i
>noticed that although my downloads were ok, my uploads were less than
>10KB/s.
>
>After a lot of red herrings i finally found the problem - in a recent
>change-a-round i'd plugged my ADSL line extension into the filtered output
>of the micro-filter and my phone was plugged into the non-filtered output
>that was intended for my ADSL modem.
>
>I changed the phone and ADSL modem plugs around on the micro-filter and heh
>presto!
>
>All was working perfectly again - uploads back up to ~30KB/s.


Thanks for the reply, Martin, and it did make me double-check. My ADSL
modem connector is smaller/squarer than the BT phone connector, though,
so they only fit into the filter one way.

--
Nightowl