Bad latency with BT 512K ADSL

Hi folks,

I've done a quick google and checked back postings to this group, but
can't find anything related to my question, so here goes:

Someone I know has normal wired broadband and has BT as the ISP.
When surfing, it just seems slow. I've done a couple of speed tests with
different sites such as plusnet's test and adslguide.org and the
download speed is fairly ok (can't remember exactly, but its >> 400Kbs
).

Its almost as if sometimes there is a large latency (seconds) from when
you click a link to the time that any response happens. Its never
'zippy' or nearly instantaneous as with my Demon broadband.
He was originally using the Bt supplied USB modem.
I've now stuck in the same ethernet modem and netgear router that I have
at home, but the delay is still there (he's even on a faster computer
now as well!)

Is it a slow BT DNS problem?? Does the BT web traffic go through some
proxy that's not the quickest in the world??
Is BT just really slow generally in this respect??

Oh - he MAY be on a business tariff. Whether that makes any difference
to what or how he connects via?

Has anybody got any ideas/comments?

TIA

Gareth.
--
__________________________________________________
Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
'usenet4gareth' followed by an at symbol
followed by 'uk2' followed by a dot
followed by 'net'
__________________________________________________

"Gareth Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Is it a slow BT DNS problem?? Does the BT web traffic go through some
> proxy that's not the quickest in the world??
> Is BT just really slow generally in this respect??
>
> Oh - he MAY be on a business tariff. Whether that makes any difference
> to what or how he connects via?
>
> Has anybody got any ideas/comments?

Assuming its not a temporary problem..

BT are migrating their customers to the BT Central Plus platorm (see
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/newsarchive.asp?item=1604 and
http://www.uk-bug.net/modules.php?op...rticle&sid=247)

There have been some reports that customers have previously manually changed
their MTU to 1458 (or something else), they may get poorer performance on
this new platform than before.. therefore try setting teh MTU on the PC and
router to the default setting..

Regards
Sunil

"Gareth Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi folks,
>
> I've done a quick google and checked back postings to this group, but
> can't find anything related to my question, so here goes:
>
> Someone I know has normal wired broadband and has BT as the ISP.
> When surfing, it just seems slow. I've done a couple of speed tests with
> different sites such as plusnet's test and adslguide.org and the
> download speed is fairly ok (can't remember exactly, but its >> 400Kbs
> ).
>
> Its almost as if sometimes there is a large latency (seconds) from when
> you click a link to the time that any response happens. Its never
> 'zippy' or nearly instantaneous as with my Demon broadband.
> He was originally using the Bt supplied USB modem.
> I've now stuck in the same ethernet modem and netgear router that I have
> at home, but the delay is still there (he's even on a faster computer
> now as well!)
>
> Is it a slow BT DNS problem?? Does the BT web traffic go through some
> proxy that's not the quickest in the world??
> Is BT just really slow generally in this respect??
>
> Oh - he MAY be on a business tariff. Whether that makes any difference
> to what or how he connects via?
>
> Has anybody got any ideas/comments?

First thing I would check for is spyware and browser hijackings. These can
give the symptoms you are describing. There are a few downloads you can
try. Adaware is quite popular, but I dont think catches hijackings. Also
try Spybot Search and Destroy. This I think catches most nasty thigns
including dodgy premium rate diallers.
Also make sure your friend does some routine maintenance. Disk cleanup and
defragmentation may help and should be performed on a regular basis. If he
hasnt got the time to do them, they can be scheduled to run overnight.

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 18:33:03 +0100, Gareth Jones
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi folks,
>
>I've done a quick google and checked back postings to this group, but
>can't find anything related to my question, so here goes:
>
>Someone I know has normal wired broadband and has BT as the ISP.
>When surfing, it just seems slow. I've done a couple of speed tests with
>different sites such as plusnet's test and adslguide.org and the
>download speed is fairly ok (can't remember exactly, but its >> 400Kbs
>).
>
>Its almost as if sometimes there is a large latency (seconds) from when
>you click a link to the time that any response happens. Its never
>'zippy' or nearly instantaneous as with my Demon broadband.
>He was originally using the Bt supplied USB modem.
>I've now stuck in the same ethernet modem and netgear router that I have
>at home, but the delay is still there (he's even on a faster computer
>now as well!)
>
>Is it a slow BT DNS problem?? Does the BT web traffic go through some
>proxy that's not the quickest in the world??
>Is BT just really slow generally in this respect??

With PN I have found the DNS is the limitation so have a Linux Box
running BIND as a caching DNS.

HTH

--
Brian Orpin http://www.borpin.co.uk/

In message <c6ec0p$af9$(E-Mail Removed)>, Beck
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>
>> Someone I know has normal wired broadband and has BT as the ISP.
>> When surfing, it just seems slow. I've done a couple of speed tests with
>> different sites such as plusnet's test and adslguide.org and the
>> download speed is fairly ok (can't remember exactly, but its >> 400Kbs
>> ).
>>
>> Its almost as if sometimes there is a large latency (seconds) from when
>> you click a link to the time that any response happens. Its never
>> 'zippy' or nearly instantaneous as with my Demon broadband.
>
>First thing I would check for is spyware and browser hijackings. These can
>give the symptoms you are describing. There are a few downloads you can
>try. Adaware is quite popular, but I dont think catches hijackings. Also
>try Spybot Search and Destroy. This I think catches most nasty thigns
>including dodgy premium rate diallers.
>Also make sure your friend does some routine maintenance. Disk cleanup and
>defragmentation may help and should be performed on a regular basis. If he
>hasnt got the time to do them, they can be scheduled to run overnight.
>

Good suggestions, but I've done all that. In fact, I've just built him a
new (fast) machine with a fresh install of everything.
Its also slow on my centrino laptop (which is fine at home with me) when
I've plugged that in.

Sunil - he wouldn't have changed anything. Its been running using the
default settings from day1.
When I installed an Origo 8000 ethernet modem for him, I also just used
the default settings - he didn't have any documentation giving any
settings other than the login/password details.
Might I have missed something somewhere?
Do you need to configure IE to use a specific proxy server etc??

But the original install would no doubt have been via a standard BT
installation CD and the problem was there then ......

Note - if he is on a business tariff - I've only ever checked it in the
middle of a weekday. Any chance its just the BT system being loaded at
that time??

--
__________________________________________________
Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
'usenet4gareth' followed by an at symbol
followed by 'uk2' followed by a dot
followed by 'net'
__________________________________________________

"Gareth Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Sunil - he wouldn't have changed anything. Its been running using the
> default settings from day1.
> When I installed an Origo 8000 ethernet modem for him, I also just used
> the default settings - he didn't have any documentation giving any
> settings other than the login/password details.
> Might I have missed something somewhere?
> Do you need to configure IE to use a specific proxy server etc??

I haven't been a BT ADSL customer for a while but they don't use any proxy
servers/cache's or anything like that..

> But the original install would no doubt have been via a standard BT
> installation CD and the problem was there then ......
>
> Note - if he is on a business tariff - I've only ever checked it in the
> middle of a weekday. Any chance its just the BT system being loaded at
> that time??

I woudn't have thought contention plays a big part in the problem but you
can also try http://www.btopenworld.com/speedtest to help rule out
contention.

Given that it doesn't appear the problem is with the PC (as you can
replicate it on your laptop) - can you try plugging in the USB modem,
instead of the router , to rule that out as well and see if the issue still
exists?

If it does, its certainly worth him logging the issue so their tech support
people can have a look - making sure he explains that he has tried multiple
modems/PC's etc..

Regards
Sunil

"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c6egp2$b9vbu$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Given that it doesn't appear the problem is with the PC (as you can
> replicate it on your laptop) - can you try plugging in the USB modem,
> instead of the router , to rule that out as well and see if the issue
still
> exists?
>
> If it does, its certainly worth him logging the issue so their tech
support
> people can have a look - making sure he explains that he has tried
multiple
> modems/PC's etc..

Meant to add - also try setting another ISP's DNS servers temporally as well
though I don't think its a DNS issue you never know.

Regards
Sunil