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OT Has your internet slowed?

9100

Diamond
Joined
Nov 1, 2004
Location
Webster Groves, MO
Since Ajit Pai took over the FCC, my internet service has slowed to the point that some applications never download. I mentioned it to someone last night and he had the same problem but thought it was his computer.

Bill
 

Far, far TOO many of the ISP's own provided tests are as much as 100% optimist, BTW.

One has to run "many" to find that out.

More likely cause is yet-another battle in progress on the 'net somewhere or other. All-hands can get sideswiped, seldom be told why, nor by-whom. A primary klew is that it is sporadic, not permanent.
 
I prefer this test: TestMy.net Broadband Internet Speed Test as it shows the variation in speed. A lot of tests just show max speed and if you are not hardwired you can get a lot of speed fluctuation. Mine was 3.8 Mbps down and 6.6 Mbps up. I have Verizon Wireless and it slows on summer weekends, due to congestion. The best down speed I ever get is 12 Mbps and the 6.6 upload speed is blazing fast for me. I used to have satellite and it was terrible. Anything more than a light rain rendered it useless sometimes it would drop out a dozen times a day even in good weather, it often ran at speeds less than 1 Mbps. A satisfied satellite internet customer is as rare as an albino deer.
 
Thanks for the advice. I ran the test and right now am running around 100KBPS down. A lot of things time out before they are loaded. I had a Samsung Galaxy S phone with TMobile but they shut it down because it was not compatible with their service changes. I needed a phone and the Cricket store was close by, the phone was free and they could get me on line right then. It has to be the worst service in existence. I am using the phone with a USB tether, which sometimes works all right but at times like now, it is terrible. Customer "Care" means a retarded Indian who can barely speak English and knows nothing. I need to do something different.

Thanks, Bill
 
Last speedtest I ran on my phone over my home WiFi network shows 63 megs down and 23.9 up. The one prior to that was 89.4 down and 23.8 up. Not bad, considering my plan top speed is 150, and I was on WiFi, and the router was behind a wall from where I was.
 
Thanks for the advice. I ran the test and right now am running around 100KBPS down. A lot of things time out before they are loaded. I had a Samsung Galaxy S phone with TMobile but they shut it down because it was not compatible with their service changes. I needed a phone and the Cricket store was close by, the phone was free and they could get me on line right then. It has to be the worst service in existence. I am using the phone with a USB tether, which sometimes works all right but at times like now, it is terrible. Customer "Care" means a retarded Indian who can barely speak English and knows nothing. I need to do something different.

Thanks, Bill

I have had my Verizon Wireless for about 10 months. I have noticed in that time period the sweet spot in the house has moved. Moving the Jetpack a whole 10 feet at the same height along a wall from one window to the next can triple the speed. Find the RSRP and SNR screen on your device and try different locations, seems on mine the Signal to Noise Ratio is the most important. Tethering by USB is a lot slower than connecting with a wireless card about 25 feet away. My office isn't a good spot for reception for the Jetpack or cell phone.
 
I have had issues in last 6months. On weather sites it is really bad to the point i can't even get radar to load up. However, it may be people added to the line on my road and they are doing high speed nearby so maybe something got messed up.
 
Since Ajit Pai took over the FCC . . .

Bill

Perhaps as you know, Pai is controversial. By way of analogy, if the Internet were the Interstate -- he'd want it to be toll roads across the nation rather than "net neutral."

His logic is that will spur innovation. On the other hand, the US just barely makes the top ten Internet speed by nations list and we (more than anyone else) invented the thing. Rather, it tends to be the publicly funded nations that are ahead:

Top 10 Average Internet Speeds Comparison

CountryQ1 2017 Avg. MbpsYoY Change
Global Average7.215%
South Korea28.6-1.7%
Norway23.510%
Sweden22.59.2%
Hong Kong21.910%
Switzerland21.716%
Finland20.515%
Singapore20.324%
Japan20.211%
Denmark20.117%
United States18.722%

New speed data as of Q1 2017: Overall, worldwide average internet speeds increased again in Q1 of 2017. The above table compares YoY averages.
 
I'm just really excited to see if SpaceX can meet their projections on their internet system... Going to be a game changer and probably cause a big stir.
 
Pai's logic is that his big business buddies will have all the bandwidth they want at the expense of us peasants.

Bill

It was never any other way. Read "Swift Tidings" and 'Girdle Round The Earth".

Closer to home, a key component of the links NORAD needed were built off the back of Ma Bell residential phone bills rather than Congressional appropriations.
 
Far, far TOO many of the ISP's own provided tests are as much as 100% optimist, BTW.

One has to run "many" to find that out.

More likely cause is yet-another battle in progress on the 'net somewhere or other. All-hands can get sideswiped, seldom be told why, nor by-whom. A primary klew is that it is sporadic, not permanent.

Speed tests no matter what server you connect to only show potential speed. All ISPs game the system and give higher priority to speed test traffic. I rely on downloading speeds from google drive or Microsoft or youtube performance, much more representative of what you can through your ISP. I have Gbit Fios, so I expect good speed to everything to whatever Verizon owns, the rest is a crapshoot.

dee
;-D
 
Per test suggested in post 5, ATT is giving 2mbps down and 1.3 mbps up.

Yes it is slower than it has been.

I do NOT use the ATT wireless, I have a local Cisco wireless router.
 
I got to say... finally a thread where Thermite is THE guy to provide THE info... Telecom is very interesting to me.

It was once. Until it was no longer.

Mostly it just makes me inordinately WEARY, even thinking back over it. I do still keep a finger in and on the pulse for my own b/w needs, but no deeper than I can avoid.

Otherwise, NOT!

Irony?

- The surrogate-son I guided through building an ISP biz? Sold it to fund top Swiss universities, then more.. has for some years now been one of the Directors at a Bank in Zurich.

- My best-ever Director of Engineering was working for Amazon last time we had contact. And not in ACS. Automated fulfilment. The package-handling end of the biz, rather.

Telecoms has been "commoditised" into an instant-gratification wastrel. Worse? As seed-corn for growing more of the same.
 
K-kid, the notion of low earth orbit satellites has been around for a while. First to scale was Motorola's Iridium, which provided comms for remote areas but had trouble make a go of it. Then, Teledesic. Back then, there were several issues - some of which might still plague Musk's plan.

One issue is cost. It's expensive to put things in orbit. That's gotten cheaper.

Another is latency -- Musk is looking at very low earth orbit (had to get an FCC exception for it) so that helps.

A third are the issues around bandwidth, power, and interference (with both others on nearby bands and possibly human biology given the power needed back then) The planned Teledesic design required fairly massive earth dishes - significantly larger than you'll see with something like a Hughes DirecPC dish. That too (the power needed on the satellite end and the sensitivity on the earth end) has gotten better.

All that said, the main use (IMO) for satellite coverage still seems to be to reach relatively rural and remote areas. Even in those areas, finding fiber somewhere and using radio relays is often cost effective. Or, just putting up a cell tower.

Bottom line, since more people are now living in urban areas, it doesn't seem to me that Musk's plan will dominate the market even today It's still going to be more expensive, with lower bandwidth, and lower reliability for the 70% or so of us in relatively urban areas. Could eventually be good news for you though, if you're in the other 30%. I'd guess it's maybe 50-50 they'll even get enough satellites up for broad coverage?
 








 
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