Dialup Speed, Tweaking slow performance

[SpenceQ]

I have a newly installed XP Pro Os, so I'm working a bare bones system with little software that would gobble up performance. My modem is an AOpen generic. My port setting is 115K, and my average download speed is 42K and never seems to rise above this. Page updating is slow and sometimes takes half to a full minute to update even in off peak hours. On my previous w98SE system my performance was better, and I pretty sure I saw some 115K performances on downloads.

I called my provider's support center. They said 115K performance was not possible and 42K was good and there was nothing they could do.

Is it possible that our provider(server) is sacrificing service to dialup people to meet demands of higher paying speed and broadband clients.?

I know in the old days computers could be set up to service in priority fashion, and perhaps the servers use this now.

Do the game clients and commercial clients,etc who's programs demand high performance from the server cause a slowdown to the dialup people in any way?

How can I tweak performance?

I know there are software performance boosters that can improve it but they come with a high risk of virus infection. Other than Outlook and HP for my printer I haven't had a chance to build up my software suite, so there's nothing I can see that would bog the system down.

Thanks for the help.

Spence

[lancec2c30]

wait, you are on dial-up and claimed you had speeds of 115k. What kind of dial-up service are you on?

[SpenceQ]

Originally Posted by lancec2c30

wait, you are on dial-up and claimed you had speeds of 115k. What kind of dial-up service are you on?

Well I WAS certain I did once, but maybe this is one of those "maybe it was a ghost" cases.

Spence

[Blitersety]

I thought the max for dial-up was 56k, I've never seen higher thaan that because once you reach 128k you're getting into ISDN.

But anyway to answer your question, I highly doubt they are limiting the performance of dial-up users in order to give high-speed users better performance.

For example, lets say a high-speed client of theirs who is paying for 3mbs of service (3,000Kb) is only getting 1.5mbs, so they start prioritizing high-speed over dial-up. you said you noticed your downloads changed to 42k, which is a 73k difference (115-42), so at that rate, they'd have to affect 20 of their dial-up customers just to get that one person back up to his 3mbs. When you factor that in to the grand scheme of things (assuming they oversold their bandwidth, meaning this problem would be affecting all their high-speed customers), it doesn't really work out because they would have to have a ratio of 20:1 for dial-up customers vs. high-speed customers which just doesn't work out because over 50% of people in America who have internet access have a high-speed connection.

Not to mention how it would be illegal and all.

[SpenceQ]

Blitersety:

Good point, thanks!

Local networks work in this fashion. The administrator sets up priorities to meet the condition of bog downs on peak demands. At year end tax time Actuarials John and Helen in Accounting would get CPU priority over Harry in Shipping, and he over Mary in Inventory.

Could easily be done on the server as well.

It was just a thought as this explained one of the accepted conditions of slowdowns years back in the token ring days. Added to the fact the slowdowns just happen to occur with regularity after hours(EST) during high speed game times when the lads are out of school.

The coincidence is remarkable, what are the odds.?

Spence

[Blitersety]

Your ISP has probably just oversold their bandwidth, which would explain the slowdown during peak hours. But I still don't think they would give priority to certain customers over others, because that could lead to lawsuits and a ruined reputation.

[Nagasama]

whats a modem?

[Nagasama]

lol jk above.
actually ISP's give priority all the time to higher paying customers.
i have wireless serveice (cos i live in the sticks). i pay for the highest bandwidth availible on my system.
if there is limited bandwith availible because of peak usage or gamers trying to crack me in COD4 and there is a slowdown...
who gets throttled back? not me. its the folks who pay 29.99 a month for their service that get the boot (or choke lol) first. its not anything to do with legality at all, its just...there is a minimum bandwidth that you sign up for. and when people who pay 3 times as much as you need to borrow some of your bandwidth, they tend to kick it that way.

[Blitersety]

Well I know for my Verizon high speed DSL, we are paying for a simple 3 mbps. No minimum or maximum, just 3 mbps downstream. On average we get around 2.8, anything less than 2.5 has never happened unless there is a problem on my end.