broadband speeds confused

boogey man

hi I have just had ntls new 20mb service installed.
my problem is that through my laptop i am only getting 2.5 mb and about 400 up. This machine is an hp pavilion running xp pro with inbuilt wlan and about a year old.
my other machine is also an hp but a budget basic model running vista basic with wlan, through this machine the broadband is running at 10 mb although it is dropping down at times as well.
I have spoken to ntl and they are looking into it but i am more concerned why my pavillion is running so much slower.
I have also plugged it straight into the modem and run complete registry,virus,spyware, check this does not seem to make any significant difference. also my machine has just been completely rebooted due to a crash so it is quite empty and clean.

Spear

boogey man wrote: »

hi I have just had ntls new 20mb service installed.
my problem is that through my laptop i am only getting 2.5 mb and about 400 up. This machine is an hp pavilion running xp pro with inbuilt wlan and about a year old.
my other machine is also an hp but a budget basic model running vista basic with wlan, through this machine the broadband is running at 10 mb although it is dropping down at times as well.
I have spoken to ntl and they are looking into it but i am more concerned why my pavillion is running so much slower.
I have also plugged it straight into the modem and run complete registry,virus,spyware, check this does not seem to make any significant difference. also my machine has just been completely rebooted due to a crash so it is quite empty and clean.

What are you using to gauge the speed? You're not just checking your local wireless speed are you?

boogey man

speedtest .net

Cabaal

You menation both your machines have wireless, are you connecting to your cable modem/router via wireless or ethernet, if your connecting via wireless try using ethernet

boogey man

sorry for sounding stupid but i presume ethernet is cable. i have connected straight to the modem via a cable very little difference 2-300k

boogey man

I have also been to hp website and down loaded all the latest drivers for my wlan. please help

MrVestek

Any chance you can post the results from speedtest.net? They give you the boards img code to do so...

Hank Scorpio

boogey man wrote: »

hi I have just had ntls new 20mb service installed.
my problem is that through my laptop i am only getting 2.5 mb and about 400 up. This machine is an hp pavilion running xp pro with inbuilt wlan and about a year old.
my other machine is also an hp but a budget basic model running vista basic with wlan, through this machine the broadband is running at 10 mb although it is dropping down at times as well.
I have spoken to ntl and they are looking into it but i am more concerned why my pavillion is running so much slower.
I have also plugged it straight into the modem and run complete registry,virus,spyware, check this does not seem to make any significant difference. also my machine has just been completely rebooted due to a crash so it is quite empty and clean.

You may not be set to full speed in control panel -> network connections -> properties, double check and make sure its not set to 1/2/ Mbps connections

Also , borrow a USB wireless device or purchase one from a store, all signs point to that your laptop is not properly configured.

I wouldnt suspect its not a ntl problem to be honest.

craichoe

boogey man wrote: »

I have also been to hp website and down loaded all the latest drivers for my wlan. please help

The speed displayed in Windows is NOT the speed of your broadband.

I.E. I connect to my Broadband modem with ethernet, the ethernet is 100mbps but the broadband connection is not.

In your case your using Wireless so its not guaranteed, wireless interference can cause all sorts of jump in signal.

watty

11Mbps WiFi runs about 3Mbps or less.

Hank Scorpio

why dont you just run a ethernet cable from the laptop to the router to rule out a NTL problem if the speeds are proper. Obviously if they are you have a problem with your wirless setup..

Would clear alot of things up

boogey man

nuxxx wrote: »

You may not be set to full speed in control panel -> network connections -> properties, double check and make sure its not set to 1/2/ Mbps connections

where do i go after properties i cannot find the option you mention.

I have connected via cable to the modem and the router and it only makes a very slight difference.

just to clarify two machines in identical tests with cable and also via wireless
machine 1 runs 10mb
machine 2 runs 2.5mb
the speeds do fluctuate but machine 2 will never be above 2.5mb and machine 1 will never be below 6mb
i have done about 30 speed tests on each machine i will post some this evening.
i have up dated drivers and updates from hp and microsoft.

Thanks for your replies but i am baffled.

MrVestek

It depends anything really can affect wireless connection speeds. Interferece / badly coded drivers / bad hardware / incorrect Wireless G or B setup / signal strength & quality levels too low.

What signal strength levels are you getting on both machines? It may just be a case that your router isn't powerful enough to give out a strong enough signal.

boogey man

but why when i connect via cable it is still slow

craichoe

Did you turn off the wireless in the Laptop, its still probably routing via that rather than the cable.

TBH .. i dont think you should worry about it, even if you do work out why its slow, i doubt your going to be able to make it any faster.

At the end of the day is it really going to make a difference to your Youtube/emailing experience ?

Hank Scorpio

well if hes paying for a certain speed logically it would be nice to recieve it instead of 1/5th of it.

is there anyway on ntl to check what speed your synced at?

boogey man

seems to be sorted ntl said modem was storing to many ip addresses.
I needed to clear them (turning it off for a few hours) so the modem only had the ip address of the router.
also a techy friend of mine looked at the laptops he said some of the tcp/ip and packet settings in xp are not always optimized hence the reason why vista ran faster he changed some stuff and they are flying this morning not
20meg but 13/14meg.
cheers all

Cryos

craichoe wrote: »

Did you turn off the wireless in the Laptop, its still probably routing via that rather than the cable.

TBH .. i dont think you should worry about it, even if you do work out why its slow, i doubt your going to be able to make it any faster.

At the end of the day is it really going to make a difference to your Youtube/emailing experience ?

Just for your own refrance HP Equipment does automatic LAN/WLAN switching.

Ta!

MrVestek

boogey man wrote: »

seems to be sorted ntl said modem was storing to many ip addresses.
I needed to clear them (turning it off for a few hours) so the modem only had the ip address of the router.
also a techy friend of mine looked at the laptops he said some of the tcp/ip and packet settings in xp are not always optimized hence the reason why vista ran faster he changed some stuff and they are flying this morning not
20meg but 13/14meg.
cheers all

Storing too many IP addresses? That, my dear friend was a bull**** excuse to get you off the phone. The NTL docsis bridge doesn't hold any IP addresses... it requests an IP address from the DHCP server on NTL's end and then relays that public IP to your PC/Router.

Your techie mate however is right about XP, they severely limited the amount of incoming / outgoing TCP/IP concurrent connections.

craichoe

Blitz wrote: »

Just for your own refrance HP Equipment does automatic LAN/WLAN switching.

Ta!

Don't think so mate .. Its whatever is set in the default route.

I have a HP Compaq nx7400 and use the Wifi for Pure internet and Lan for the Office network.

'Switching' network interfaces is nothing to do with the Brand of equipment. My laptop has a Broadcom network adapter so does IBM, Dell and other brands.

PogMoThoin

I think Ntl have just fobbed you off

You could use tcp optimiser on Xp. Make sure to create a restore point first.