Dsl Speed

[razzle51]

I recently got DSL and am noticing its not any faster than dial up. What do yall think. At $ 40 a month I think it should be alittle faster . thanks

[teyrn]

DSL is slow :) compared to cable any way, fast compared to dialup. I guess it depends on what you are doing online. Some webpages will load no faster/slower then they did with dialup compared to DSL/cable. Downloading music or using other things online such as gaming which are dependant on speed and you will notice a difrence between dialup and DSL.

[Patonb]

Also depends on your dsl speed. Here in Canada it ranges from 128kbs up to 7000kbs. Dialup is at max 56kbs. The best part of dsl or cable is ou can leave it on to d/l all the time.

Just check and $35-$45 gets 3000kbs from earthlink.

Use this to test ur actual speed DSL Reports (http://www.dslreports.com/stest). Then you can decide if your paying too much.

[McDuff]

You should be way faster than dialup. As Patonb says, dial is 56k max, usually slower in both up/dn. My DSL was 1.5M dn/ and 384k up. Just recently got FiOS service so switched.

There are settings on your computer that probably need to be tweeked to get best speed out of anything above dialup. You can check this at the same site Paton suggested:
http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks

[Hunker]

If he had programs running in the task manager that could slow it up, plus the RAM, right?

[McDuff]

Being low on ram, plus a busy machine will definitely slow you down. But, assuming he had the same setup/things running as before, he should still notice an improvement in speed.

[rollin64]

you can also check pcpitstop.com. they'll run a diagnostic check on your pc. it'll show which programs are running that are unneccesary/neccesary and you can stop the unneccesary ones by way of.......start-run-msconfig-startup. i only have like 6 running at startup versus around 15 that windows starts by default.

i also downloaded tcp optimizer v1. that sets your MTU an tcp receive window to dsl level instead of dial-up mode. these 2 things really made a difference in my dsl speed.

[bob clark]

I recently got DSL and am noticing its not any faster than dial up. What do yall think. At $ 40 a month I think it should be a little faster . thanks

Hi razzle51,

When I had dial up the fastest allowable speed by law was (still is) 56k. But it rarely ever went over 42k when I measured it by an accurate independent program like NetStat Live. (See below)

So you'll want to find out the actual download and upload speeds that your DSL provider is offering (selling) to you. Maybe if you really are getting very low throughput numbers in your area they'll "boost" you up to the next level at the same price. Most or all DSL providers have different speeds they'll sell you. In effect, for more money they'll open up the spigot a little bit more!

Sprint (for example) is now offering a "lifetime" DSL account for $19.95 USD per month. But that's for their slowest connect speed of up to 256k download/128k upload. Notice the words "up to"! That is only 4-5 times faster than dialup speed.... if you reach the "up to" rate! I believe your speed depends on how close you live to the telco or they may have "repeating stations" or signal amplifiers out now and your speed would vary on how far you lived away from one of those.

With cable broadband the speed varies depending upon how many subscribers are on the same line.

Just last week I was talking on the phone to a Sprint Hi-Speed customer rep and I believe their fastest connection is somewhere in the $50 a month range. I guess that speed is "up to" 5.0M download/640k upload.

Have you had your speed tested at DSLReports (http://www.dslreports.com/tools) yet? Scroll down to where it says "Speed Tests". It will also compare your speed to others with the same service and company so you'll know where you stand. No pun intended! :)

Test your line performance both upload speed and download speed, from several dedicated locations, and browse a directory of dozens of other test sites.

You'll need the the java.com plugin (http://java.com/en/index.jsp) to perform the tests.

PREP: These speed applets work using the official java.com plugin! if you have not already done so, we recommend you install the java.com plugin (visit, and click 'Download'). The ancient Microsoft JVM bundled with Explorer, is NOT supported.
NEW: Use a simple applet to verify your Java version.

I'm on Comcast cable ($42 a month with a cable TV package or $56 without. Here are my DSLReports results.

dslreports.com speed test result on 2006-04-27 17:31:40 EST:
6052 / 353
Your download speed : 6052 kbps or 756.5 KB/sec.
That is 20.2% better than an average user on comcast.net

Your upload speed : 353 kbps or 44.1 KB/sec.
That is 12.1% worse than an average user on comcast.net

No matter how fast your connection is still depends on where you're downloading from. Some sites are atrociously slow.

Dedicated and secure Internet connection that gives you the bandwidth you need to do what you want

Unlimited Instant access - - - no waiting to establish a dial-up connection

Speeds vary by product, with four options: 256 download/128K upload, Up to 1.5M download/384K upload, Up to 3.0M download/512K upload, and Up to 5.0M download/640K upload for quick downloads of email attachments, music, video, or pictures of friends and family

Earthlink is your Internet Service Provider (ISP) so you can now eliminate your monthly ISP charge

Eight e-mail* addresses you can use to separate your business, personal, family, leisure or travel communications. Plus, you can access your e-mail away from home


Sprint currently has four speed options for our high-speed Internet access allowing you to pick the speed that's right for you.

Up to 256k download/128k upload
Up to 1.5M download/384k upload
Up to 3.0M download/512k upload
Up to 5.0M download/640k upload

Sprint doesn't mention the prices on their website. I think it depends on how much competition (other DSL and cable companies) they have in any particular area. I guess you'd have to call them up to find out. You also need to run their "location finder" or whatever it's called to find out if you're close enough to their telco or signal amplifier to qualify.

But you already have a DSL ISP so this is mainly for informational purposes.

There's a really cool accurate internet connection speed program from AnalogX. It's called NetStat Live (http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/nsl.htm). It's a tiny program (257kbs) and will tell you your actual throughput. Not that connection rate number your ISP gives ya!

http://bcee1.home.comcast.net/NetStat_Live.JPG

[PN]

If I recall correctly, when cable first became available in Silicon Valley, there was an article in the L.A. Times which reported how slow the cable internet had become because of more users.

As more people in your neighborhood subscribe to the cable modem, the amount of bandwidth available per user decreases. This means that if you and a lot of your neighbors all get online at the same time, then you will notice a significant performance hit. The good news is that this particular performance issue can be resolved by the cable company adding a new channel and splitting the base of users. Most cable companies monitor performance regularly and add another channel when the bandwidth per user hits a certain point.
Howstuffworks (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question589.htm)

[metronycguy]

what is the advertised speed and what are you getting? if its way off , which it sounds like , you may have a fixable problem . let the provider know, file a trouble report if its more than 10% off advertised. you could have a line trouble that was not as critical whe on dial up.
i use dsl reports for all that info, you vcan even check how others in your zipcode are doing.
http://www.dslreports.com/

[metronycguy]

If I recall correctly, when cable first became available in Silicon Valley, there was an article in the L.A. Times which reported how slow the cable internet had become because of more users.


[URL="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question589.htm"]Howstuffworks[/URL
]
paul that is a old wives tail cicrculated by the telo's
my cable upload speed is faster than the local teloc dsl download speed.
12310/1784
however telco will call me and tell me that same bandwith story..

[PN]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the update! However, there was an article in the LA Times that reported about extremely slow cable internet speeds and this was in the late 1990s. If I understand correctly, your disagreement is with the quote from Howstuffworks!?

[metronycguy]

cable companies just add a new node when too many customers are sucking the bandwidth down, the article in how stuff works sounds like they were in a area that needed a new node or way old technology.
i installed dsl for telco from the first days it was available. in my area cable blows away dsl 24/7 , i see less than a 10% difference between 11am test and prime time test at 8pm .
testing proves everthing

[mike]

I don't know who your carrier is but you should be able to do better then $40.00 per month. In my area, the carrier, the local phone company, will provide you a lower cost package rate if you purchase your home phone, cell phone and ISP service from them. I pay $30.00 per month. You should check around for a lower rate.

Although I have had cable and now DSL, I did find the DSL slower, but much faster then dialup. When my DSL was set up by my ISP, I found the speed extremely slow. They found a problem with my phone line, got it repaired and it got my speed up considerably. If you have a decent ISP, they will be anxious to help you get the most from your service, so you should contact them with this problem.

[teyrn]

Is DSL dedicated, while Cable modems shared bandwidth ?

A common misconception is that residential DSL is dedicated bandwidth, while Cable modems provide shared medium.

This is only partly true - for the segment between you and the ISP's central office, and that is rarely the bottleneck of the connection. From the Central Office out to the Internet, both Cable and DSL share your ISP's backbones, whatever they are. Residential broadband is oversubscribed, whether cable or DSL - usually with 10 times as many subscribers as the maximum backbone capacity. Since the backbones are most likely the bottleneck of the Internet connection, and it is shared medium, both residential DSL and Cable may experience slowdowns at peak times.

http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?category=88&qid=136

[ctoom91]

You're definitely having a problem.I have Verizon dsl at 768/128kbs for $14.95 per mo.And it is far superior to dial up.

[bob clark]

I recently got DSL and am noticing its not any faster than dial up. What do yall think. At $ 40 a month I think it should be alittle faster . thanks

Until Razzle51 has his or her connection speed/throughput tested at DSLReports (http://www.dslreports.com/) or similar website there isn't anything that any of us can say that may shed some light on the situation.

And since Razzle hasn't posted since he or she started the thread perhaps the problem has been solved or for whatever reason, there's now a lack of interest.