Ikonboard » Printable Version of Topic » 56K modem hitting 13.6KB/s???

Forum: Geek Forum
Topic: 56K modem hitting 13.6KB/s???
started by: Spydir Web

Posted by Spydir Web on Mar. 28 2001,20:36

For the past week, my 56Kbps modem has been hitting between 10.3KBps and (highest I've seen) 18.3KPbs for about 40-50 seconds, at a steady pace. On a regular basis I get about 4.5-5.6KBps... I'm not much of a technicial engineer in that department, so why is this happening? I always figured 56Kbps ment just that, no higher (but mostly lower). I know some modems can go a little faster, but that much?

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Spydir Web - < http://netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >
Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >

Sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the hydrant...

Posted by askheaves on Mar. 28 2001,20:43

Compression, bad math, buffering. Could be anything.

My guess is that you see this speed for a short time at the beginning of a download, then it stabalizes somewhere normal. Probably what's happening is that Windows is buffering a bunch of serial data, processing it in bursts, and buffering it again in the TCP stack, then buffering it again in IE or Nutscrape. So, the calculations are probably done up in IE, and they're done on an choppy data stream and averaged, and there is a small amount of data already that has transported before the averaging takes place.

Or, you have a magic modem and I want it. Better not go down any dark alleys with that modem of yours.

Posted by Spydir Web on Mar. 29 2001,00:16

It's not a Windows thing, cuz, well... don't run windows on this box. I've watched it reach the high speeds on multiple occations in about 5 different apps (gkrellm, modem lights (gnome applet), netscape status bar, and a 'cat /proc/net/dev' command). Normally it's not when I'm downloading some large like a MP3 or file, it's more when I'm downloading something like a flash thing or large images (btw - I hate people who use those huge image maps for navbars...). Like I said, it's only for less then a minute, and it doesn't happen that much, like once a connection (damned ISP kicks me after 12 hours, exact).

I dunno, it could have something to do with bad math on /proc/net/dev's side or some heavy compression between my ISP and me (I didn't think my ISP supported it, but I built it into my kernel anyway)... who knows...

oh yeah, I'll sell it to you for about ũ,500 per month and about how ever much it costs for a T1 line setup...

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Spydir Web - < http://netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >
Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >

Sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the hydrant...

Posted by Spydir Web on Mar. 29 2001,00:22

it's doing it again!! going between 9.4KBps and 13.2KBps... I really gotta find someone with some damned porno AVI's before it stops

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Spydir Web - < http://netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >
Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >

Sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the hydrant...

Posted by damien_s_lucifer on Mar. 29 2001,00:55

It's almost definately buffering. What happens when you download is :

1. A connection to the server is opened.

2. Your client requests the file.

3. The server returns either an error code, or an "OK" status code - and immediately starts sending data.

4. Once the client gets the "OK" code, it prompts you for a filename. Meanwhile, the server continues to send data, which is buffered into a temp file until you give the client a filename and click OK (or whatever the equivalent action is on your system).

5. The download dialog pops up, and speed calculations are made by dividing the # of bytes received by the # of seconds the download has occurred.

Because most clients don't start timing their download until you click "OK," the "# of seconds we've been downloading" number is usually a few seconds short. In the end, this will average out, but in the begginning you'll get a transfer rate that appears to be a lot higher than normal.

But it's just an illusion caused by buffering. The same thing happens on my machine - my DSL line is only capable of sustaining about 40K / second, but IE often reports upwards of 150K / second initially. By the end of the download it's back to 40K / second

Posted by CatKnight on Mar. 29 2001,01:15

also could be text compression. you can download text much faster then compressed data like jpg's or exe's. if you are loading pages or files that are mostly text they could go that fast consistantly.

Posted by solid on Mar. 29 2001,01:58

Exactly what askheaves mentioned. I get the very frequently too. I once even hit a T1 speed about 3 years ago. And a few months ago I pre-buffered a lot and got a steady 20k/sec getting ICQ files from my friend.

Posted by MattimeoZ80 on Mar. 29 2001,04:47

you guys have to get cable. on downloads using dap i get upwards of 700kb/sec... thats kiloBYTES, not bits. and i know thats not buffering. in the ie download window, i get like 250 from a normal server, i've gotten 450 k/s from real.com. and all for ุ/m.

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Ah screw it.
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ICEGAMING.COM

Posted by kuru on Mar. 29 2001,05:17

yeah, it's really convenient. if it's in your area.

sometimes though, even though you can easily afford the ุ/month for the cable modem, they can't sell it in your area because of the franchise agreement with your city.

so then you try to get dsl, which is what you really wanted, but you're too far from the CO and the wiring in your neighbourhood is too old.

so then you start planning to move.

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kuru
'dancing is the vertical expression of horizontal desire.'
-robert frost

Posted by askheaves on Mar. 29 2001,05:28

I want to install Sprint Broadband access (Wireless dish, 5Mbit/s, ุ bucks) where installation involves 3 bolt holes in the roof (which can be circumvented) and a coax cable. My apartment manager won't allow it. However, if it were available up here in the mountains, they'd let me do DSL or cable... possibly much more invasive. Damnit, I have to work this out. I'm dialing up a server at work right now which has a crappy connection to the Net to begin with, muchless the filtering software and firewall. No HL, no pr0n, no nothing. AOL barely works.

Posted by damien_s_lucifer on Mar. 29 2001,05:29

quote:
Originally posted by MattimeoZ80:
you guys have to get cable.

what kuru said. On the other hand, I can run servers and use l33t ports and stuff. But only 40K/sec... :sigh:

Posted by Spydir Web on Mar. 29 2001,20:48

I don't think you all get my second post... It's only when Netscape or something is downloading larger things in a webpage, such as images or Java Applets. What damien said makes some sense, but doesn't fully explain when last night, when I had about 15 netscape windows open, each downloading a totally different image (each over 150KB), gkrellm's monitor on ppp0 was still pulling 13.5KB/s for the little bit it took to download each graphic (note - not porn, stuff a friend of mine did with Gimp).

I dunno, all I know is I'm happy. I figure it must be header compression action going on or something between me and my host. Another odd thing I noticed is that it's only at night... I guess the techs at bellsouth like me cuz I download so much shit from so many different places and advertise in server logs or something

Oh yeah, cable is fast as hell and all, but to goofy for me. One of my dad's friend's printed something to his network printer, and it came out at his neighbor's house...

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Spydir Web - < http://netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >
Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >

Sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the hydrant...