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Fatty

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Today I had RR re-hooked up (had it a couple years ago) at the house. I now have both DSL and RR running at the same time, one PC on each.

 

The cable guy did NOT run a dedicated line to my PC...it's mixed with all my other professionally (lol) done splice jobs...so they'll be coming back out to run a dedicated line after I contact them tomorrow.

 

I'm just going to use this thread to do some comparisons.

 

Although I have a PC on both, for my reliable comparisons I plan to do tests, then switch over on the same PC and rerun the tests. That way I know that the differences in computers is not in play. I'll do this for bandwidth tests and downloading of large files.

 

However, for simple things like trace routes and pingplots and hlsw comparisons, I'll run them simultaneously, unless someone thinks even the turnaround time for simple packets like that are influenced by CPU, memory, etc. My secondary PC is not a dog, but is also not my gaming machine.

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ping tests and trace routes are not cpu or ram intensive in the least so it doesn't really matter what PC you are on for those. The rest sound like solid methods for comparison.

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GC Founder

Test #1 - Pingplots to our beloved Recrudescence.

I used this same PC, just switching patch cables inbetween tests.

 

Test notes:Similar time frame, primetime for just about anything Internet.

300 samples, every 2.5 seconds.

 

Cable:

cabletorecrud.png

 

DSL:

dsltorecrud.png

 

Conclusions:

Nothing major. Packet loss showed at the same point for both.

Cable has a slight ping edge at this point.

DSL shows 3 less hops, seems cable spends more time before getting out of WAN.

 

Repeating pingplot test to yahoo.com

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Results of pingplot to yahoo.com

 

Cable:

cabletoyahoo.png

 

DSL:

dsltoyahoo.png

 

Conclusions:

DSL obviously has a more efficient route to this particular site. Cable hits a real boner on the 9th hop. While browsing yahoo I wouldn't notice this, hopefully this isn't a sign about overall routing.

 

Note to self: Do not rent a gameserver at yahoo.com if I'm sticking with cable.

 

Next: Download speed tests.

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GC Founder

cnet.com bandwidth tests:

 

Cable:

1554.3 Kbps - You 1554.3 kbps

1526.9 Kbps - You 1526.9 kbps

1536.1 Kbps - You 1536.1 kbps

 

DSL:

646.3 Kbps - You 646.3 kbps

600.3 Kbps - You 600.3 kbps

659.4 Kbps - You 659.4 kbps

 

http://chi.speakeasy.net/ test

 

Cable:

«3147 down «370 up

«3063 down «373 up

«3098 down «370 up

 

DSL:

«1234 down «318 up

«1254 down «316 up

«1254 down «317 up

 

http://nyc.speakeasy.net/ test

 

Cable:

«2780 down «358 up

«2782 down «370 up

«2665 down «359 up

 

DSL:

«1258 down «318 up

«1258 down «317 up

«1253 down «316 up

 

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/7004-7254_16-0.html

 

Cable:

1508.9 kbps

1563.8 kbps

1544.9 kbps

 

DSL:

585.4 kbps

737.7 kbps

696.4 kbps

 

http://www.bandwidthplace.com/

 

Cable:

2.7 megabits per second

 

DSL:

1.2 megabits per second

 

Conclusions: No doubt the cable is doing what it should here. I'll be interested to see if anything changes when a dedicated line is run. Both seem fairly stable within the 3 tests on each site.

 

As for the cable speeds, I am going to need to see some higher marks before I'm happy after this advertised increase, which boasted up to 5 mb/s I believe.

I'm now going to find some large files in various places and manually watch the speeds.

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GC Founder

From download.com I found a couple small files and observed averages of:

 

CABLE:

280 KB/s

 

DSL:

170 KB/s

 

I need some suggestions of some files on sites that are wide-open so I can see some major speeds. Does anyone have any suggestions, or perhaps accounts with unlimited bw on downloads that I could borrow for these tests?

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Fatty I wonder what is up with yours, all my test went pretty close together. But yours are scattered throughout, kinda weird.

 

Also What kind of modem you have? I know we are not supposed to say one is faster than the other but it is true some of them are allitle slower. Also you said the tech for RR is coming out, ask him what your RC power is. He should have it on him on the work order. It should be between -1 and 1. If its not that could be the problem. 0 is the best so hope for that. If you have any other questions about RR let me know, I work for them and I will give you straight answers unlike some people.

Edited by M2.gc
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Modem is a PCX2200

 

What does RC stand for? I imagine it has something to do with signal strength or something? Dunno...wanna know what it means when I ask.

 

btw, Are those your speeds or something? I'm not looking for your speeds, I'm looking for large files to download and watch the speed. This is not a thread for other people to post their times, etc. If those are simply your times, please remove. I don't see a file on those pages.

 

I'll ask the guy about RC tomorrow.

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You are exactly right, RC is for the signal strength. You dont want it to high or to low but 0 is perfect. We use a program called Docsis(Nitrous) to test modems, if he doesnt know what your talking about for the RC then say its from Docsis. He wont use the program but the people who right his work orders should have put it on there.

 

BTW about a big file, try downloading Dirty's movie from his link, it let me dl really fast at about 720KB(Not trying to show my speed, Just showing I dont think it has a cap on it) and it is 100mb big.

 

And your modem is fine, its not the older ones that we have been having speed issues with.

 

http://www.project2improv.com/main_event_final.mpg

Edited by M2.gc
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Yep, although I really care mostly about primetime....cause that's when I use the computer.

 

First thing is first: have an appt tomorrow for a tech to come back out and run a dedicated line like it was supposed to have been done.

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GC Founder

Contractor just left. Other guy did a lousy job. This guy fixed the splitters, replaced some coax, and even hooked up a TV that I hadn't hooked up yet. This won't effect much about my cable, dunno.

 

The RC reading: went upstairs and put the TV on channel 611...he said it should be between -5 and 5, mine was a 1. He said that's about as good as it gets.

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GC Founder

 

 

As for the above file,

 

Cable: ~240 KB/s

 

DSK: ~155 KB/s

 

Yes, you want to set me up with some of the FTP so I can test something else?

 

Anyone else have large files in unmetered areas for testing, either post up or PM me and I'll keep private. Heck, I don't even have to d/l the whole thing, just wanna see the sprint.

 

It's really turning into a non-issue now because we're going to cancel our telephone service and just use our 2 cell phones....which eliminates DSL as an option anyways.

 

After all the changes, including dsl to cable, adding digital cable, and the elimination of the phone line, we're saving about $30 / month with better TV and more bandwidth (not to mention dealing with 2 less bills / month)

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SP2 is the devil. Especially if you have an Athlon64 cpu, it's not designed for 64bit processing, they are working on a version for that, just wanted to post a warning.

 

That came right from Microsoft tech support, they told me to delete it. My system was fubar with it installed.

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I had a lot of lock ups and freezes with different error messages. After a few sessions with Microsoft, they determined that it was the 64 bit cpu w/ SP2.

 

I uninstalled SP2, as instructed, and poof, problems gone. Maybe it just depends on hardware configuration as well, i dunno, but it didnt work for me. I've also read in various articles about SP2 having the most issues with gamers.

 

Anyways, just wanted to reply, I better quit now cuz Fatty is gonna chew us out for letting this topic stray. :D

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Guest zerodamage
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What's the service pack do for XP?  How do I know if I don't already have it? (or would I have had to d/l that 200mb file? I know I didn't do that.

 

 

go to start, then run.

Type: winver

Hit enter.

 

It will tell you either Sp1 or SP2 at the end or nothing at all meaning you have no Service packs installed (shame if this is the case, tsk tsk).

 

As for the mpg file above, my average was 400k a sec on it. Yet I ping very high on the servers. Me not happy about that (High as in 80-ish compared to 40-50ish for most others)

 

SP2 caused issues on my system at first. I am running it now without any problems.

Also, the issue with only 10 TCP connections max sucks. If you do have Sp2, try this and fix that problem.

http://www.winxpcentral.com/windowsxp/xpsp2speed.php

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