UPC 100MB Fibre - Poor Actual Download Speeds

rosboy

Hey All.

I just got UPCs 100MB line in yesterday. I was previously with Smart Telecom and had a 10MB line.

When I got to UPCs site and do a speed test, it's coming back at about 90-100MB (when I got to www.speedtest.net it's coming back at 65MB, but that's another story).

When I actually try to download an avi file, I'm getting speeds that are varying wildly, but ranging between 50-1300Kb/s (and usually closer to 130kb/s). The number did jump to about 3500kb/s for a short time.

On my previous Smart line I was getting constant speeds of 1100kb/s for downloading files.

I don't expect that I'll be getting actual download speeds of 100MB for downloading files, but I expect better that what I was getting on my old 10MB line.

Has anyone experienced this problem before?

Any suggestions?

P.S. I rang UPC and they had no idea. They are sending a tech out to me on Tuesday to look at it.

homer911

How are you downloading the file? and from where?

Wanton

What are you using to dl the avi? If its torrent your not really getting a real idea of your speed.

You need to try an FTP site like http://ftp.heanet.ie/disk1/download.sourceforge.net/opensource-cd/opensource-cd/.

On the opensource_dvd23.iso 22-Mar-2011 11:48 4.4G file I am getting around 5.5MB per sec on my UPC 50MB connection. Thats pretty decent imo. With the old multiply by 8th rule that brings me in around 44MB. It can peak as high as 5.8MB.

rosboy

homer911 wrote: »

How are you downloading the file? and from where?

Downloading files from fileserve.com. My previous experience downloading files from this site has given me speeds of approximately 1.1MB/s. And that was constant.

I'm downloading using the Flashget Download Manager. I also tried downloading through my browser (Chrome) directly, but that yielded worse results.

rosboy

Wanton wrote: »

What are you using to dl the avi? If its torrent your not really getting a real idea of your speed.

You need to try an FTP site like http://ftp.heanet.ie/disk1/download.sourceforge.net/opensource-cd/opensource-cd/.

On the opensource_dvd23.iso 22-Mar-2011 11:48 4.4G file I am getting around 5.5MB per sec on my UPC 50MB connection. Thats pretty decent imo. With the old multiply by 8th rule that brings me in around 44MB. It can peak as high as 5.8MB.

Wanton, thanks for the feedback. As I mentioned in my reply to Homer911 a few seconds ago, I'm downloading from fileserve.com...not from torrents.

The only thing that has changed from Wednesday (when I was getting 1.1MB/s downloads with Smart), is that I've switched to UPC. The download files, the computer, the download manager have all stayed the same.

I just tried downloading the file you suggested. I am getting a speed of approximately 1.1MB/s, but that's fluctuating pretty wildly. It's going down as low as 0.8MB/s, and even briefly jumped to about 2.4MB/s.

melekalikimaka

use heanet for a test and make sure your connected via cable not wireless

rosboy

melekalikimaka wrote: »

use heanet for a test and make sure your connected via cable not wireless

I've just tried to download the file http://ftp.heanet.ie/debian-cd/current-live/i386/iso-hybrid/debian-live-6.0.2-i386-kde-desktop.iso

It's a 1GB file. Getting a speed of 1.2MB/s.

I'm connected to the router with a 1m network cable.

Wanton

rosboy wrote: »

I've just tried to download the file http://ftp.heanet.ie/debian-cd/current-live/i386/iso-hybrid/debian-live-6.0.2-i386-kde-desktop.iso

It's a 1GB file. Getting a speed of 1.2MB/s.

I'm connected to the router with a 1m network cable.

I am only on 50mb UPC and I am getting 5MB/s on that file.

When the installed the 100MB did they replace any cables etc? The engineer who fitted mine ran a new cable from the street to the house as the cable that was there was sub-standard.

UPC technical support should be able to check for noise on the line.

rosboy

Wanton wrote: »

I am only on 50mb UPC and I am getting 5MB/s on that file.

When the installed the 100MB did they replace any cables etc? The engineer who fitted mine ran a new cable from the street to the house as the cable that was there was sub-standard.

UPC technical support should be able to check for noise on the line.

An engineer came out before I got the router. He checked that everything was ok, and said that I was fine for a 100MB line. I called tech support earlier. They did some checks and root causing, but they couldn't find any problem. They are sending out an engineering on Tuesday to have a look. When you sign up for UPC you have a seven day period of cooling off period to cancel your contract. If they haven't sorted the problem by Wednesday, I'll have to cancel I'm afraid.

Mech1

Wanton wrote: »

I am only on 50mb UPC and I am getting 5MB/s on that file.

When the installed the 100MB did they replace any cables etc? The engineer who fitted mine ran a new cable from the street to the house as the cable that was there was sub-standard.

UPC technical support should be able to check for noise on the line.

Same file dl @ 8.75MB/s here 100MB upc Dublin.

digiman

Getting 12.4Mb/s on one of the 4Gb files there on UPC 100Mb in Dublin

vibe666

rosboy wrote: »

I've just tried to download the file http://ftp.heanet.ie/debian-cd/current-live/i386/iso-hybrid/debian-live-6.0.2-i386-kde-desktop.iso

It's a 1GB file. Getting a speed of 1.2MB/s.

I'm connected to the router with a 1m network cable.

getting about 1600kB/s on it with 100mbps in Navan, but I can download the same file 5 times and get the same speed on all of them, so there may be a speed cap on each individual download.

Sudsy86

OP - Have you check your comp to make sure your settings are correct for a dynamic IP...If your set to a static IP of 192.168.1.5 for example this is in the range of te modem and will suply you with this IP...

If you have an IP address set static then chances are you have a DNS set static...If your still using Smarts DNS settings then this could be the issue with your downloads as your routing will be incorrect...

You could also try assighning google DNS or OPENDNS to see does this resolve the issue for you...

Lastly, have you run a speedtest and if so are your gtting 100Mb? - Sry I didn't read all posts if you have already answered this!!!!

Cuddlesworth

UPC throttle fileserve connections. And hotfile. Filesonic and rapidshare are fine for now. So its not really a bandwidth problem on your line. Using something like jdownloader and opening multiple files with multiple connections helps.

rosboy

Thanks everyone for your responses, and sorry for the lack of replies. Here's an update of where I am at the moment:

1. I switched from Fileserve to Filesonic the other day and that seemed to improve things a little.

2. I switched to Jdownloader too, and again that seems to improve things.

3. An engineer came out this morning and replaced some of the cabling leading to the router, again that seems to have improved things again.

At the moment, when connected directly to the router I can get download speeds of 10-15MB/s, which I'm very happy with.

I still have a problem with sending that signal throughout the house though. The wireless N router seem not to give a much better signal over a distance of 15 meters than my old Smart a/b/g one, and Homeplug seems to give me a very degraded signal too (about 2-3MB/s).

OK...I just did an experiment. There seems to be a deadspot in the wireless access where I normally use my system. 1.5 meters in any other direction and it's a good signal, it's just the one spot where there is interference...wierd.

Anyways, I think at this stage all the problems are down to me rather than UPC.

Thanks again everyone for the help!

Cuddlesworth

If you drop the wireless router into the 5ghz bandwidth its much improved. Certain devices are limited at that range though.

jor el

Connecting through a proxy server will get around and ISP speed restrictions to certain sites. One I've seen many posts about is Megaupload, which UPC definitely throttle. Whether the restriction is deliberate by the ISP, or the sites themselves are restricting speed to UPC IPs, I don't know. A proxy does get you around the restriction though.

Cuddlesworth

Seems to be pretty deliberate. Any file host outside of UPC's network in Europe that's popular gets hammered bandwidth wise.

justinc121

Wanton wrote: »

What are you using to dl the avi? If its torrent your not really getting a real idea of your speed.

You need to try an FTP site like http://ftp.heanet.ie/disk1/download.sourceforge.net/opensource-cd/opensource-cd/.

On the opensource_dvd23.iso 22-Mar-2011 11:48 4.4G file I am getting around 5.5MB per sec on my UPC 50MB connection. Thats pretty decent imo. With the old multiply by 8th rule that brings me in around 44MB. It can peak as high as 5.8MB.

hi justin here im on upc 100mb in carlow and when i try that link i get 11.9MB..........is that good

rosboy

Hey Justin.

I'm getting about 8.5-9 Mbps, so 11.9 is really go.

vibe666

justinc121 wrote: »

hi justin here im on upc 100mb in carlow and when i try that link i get 11.9MB..........is that good

yes, that's 11.9 megaBytes shown on your download, the speed of broadband is generally measured (and advertised) as megabits (notice the lower case lettering on the 'b'), which means your download speed is 95.2mbps out of a possible maximum of 100mbps, which is pretty sweet.

to work it out for yourself, to get the download speed in megabits from the speed in MegaBytes, you just multiply the figure by 8.

justinc121

thats great so lads.i tought the speeds were slow when i was dl.didnt know bout the x8 thing............fair play upc:D

mrbrown69

jor el wrote: »

Connecting through a proxy server will get around and ISP speed restrictions to certain sites. One I've seen many posts about is Megaupload, which UPC definitely throttle. Whether the restriction is deliberate by the ISP, or the sites themselves are restricting speed to UPC IPs, I don't know. A proxy does get you around the restriction though.

Was trying to watch a streamed vid on megavideo earlier which was near impossible.....1 sec of vid 3 secs of buffer right the way through, quite brutal for a 50m connection :cool:

jay93

mrbrown69 wrote: »

Was trying to watch a streamed vid on megavideo earlier which was near impossible.....1 sec of vid 3 secs of buffer right the way through, quite brutal for a 50m connection :cool:

Megavideo have a limit of the download rate from their site even on the fastest connection it's still the same speed as a lower rate connection.