Good potential, but no cigar

First I'd like to thank the mods and members of this forum for the good advice they give, and how they give freely of their own time. Well done to all!

I have had a new IP provider for a couple of months. They are Monster Broadband, a
local middle Tennessee broadband service. They have a broadcast tower about 7 miles from my home, and a receiver mounted on the side of my house, with a regular
5-wire phone line connected to my computer via some small modem type thingy. It's not wireless in the traditional sense, and I'm not sure what to call it.

My problem is that I signed up for a 2MB/sec download package, but have only been
able to get an average of 160KB/sec. I have had them out a couple of times to adjust the receiver and confirm that everything is working on their end, and it is. The last time they were out, I had the installer bring his laptop into my house, hook it up to my line, and try a 105MB download from CNET that I use as a benchmark for testing my speeds. To my amazement, his laptop hit a whopping 3.3MB/sec download speed before he cancelled the operation.

So now I know my computer is the culprit. His laptop was a 3-year-old Dell running
Windows XP. My tower is a 3-year-old Gateway DX430B running Windows Vista Home
Basic.

I have read most of the forum posts that deal with slow speeds, and have tried a
number of proposed fixes, but the only thing that has made any difference, doesn't
last, and doesn't make any sense (to me).

If I go to Control Panel > Network Connections, r/click on my connection, select
Properties, then click the Configure button, and then click on the Advanced tab, I get a listing of properties that are available for my network adapter - Intel(R)
82562V 10/100 Network Connection. There are 2 buffer properties listed: Receive
Buffers, with a value of 256, and Transmit Buffers, with a value of 512.

I tried setting the Receive Buffers to 1024 and the Transmit Buffers to 2048, clicked OK, and when the system identified and setup my connection again, I went for the 105MB CNET download, with the same old 160KB/sec result. Thinking that did
nothing to help me, I set the Buffer properties back where they were before
(256/512), and tried the CNET download again. This time, my download started out
at 3.2MB/sec and slowly degraded back to 160KB/sec over the space of about a
minute.

I have tried this several times, so I know it's not a fluke. If I set the buffers to higher values, there's no improvement in my download speeds. But as soon as I
reset them to their default values, my download speed jumps to 2.0MB/sec or
higher, then gradually falls off again.

Why won't my download speed stay high? Why does it only go high after returning
my buffers to their default values? What can I do to stabilize my settings?

I know my system is capable of download speeds in excess of 2.0MB/sec, and I know
you guys can tell me how to make that happen - I have faith

If you need more specific info on my settings, just tell me what and where, and I'll send them along.

Thanks,
~Papawayne

Do you have programs set to look for updates when you go on line?

I didn't when I first got the new service, but then I switched to auto updates (I hate Windows updates). I didn't notice any difference either way.

I just now turned off the Auto Check for Updates, did a test, and no change (185KB/sec)

Have you tried disabling Receive Window Auto Tuning?

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/72308-auto-tuning-tcp-ip-receive-level.html

I just now did that, and tested again...no difference.

Do I have to reboot for that disable to take effect?

Yes.

5. Close the command prompt and restart the computer to apply the changes.

Click to expand...

Hmmm...maybe I misunderstood ilikefree's question. Do I have "programs" set to look for updates when I go on line?

Some I do, and some I don't. However, if you're thinking those checks for updates are slowing me down, then I should come back up to speed once the checks are done, yes? But I don't. I could be online for hours, and my download speed doesn't vary from between 130-190KB/sec.

@ardneh,
I disabled Receive Auto Window Tuning, got the OK, and restarted my computer. I went for my usual download and got the same slow speed, but now the network icon is missing from my taskbar (the 2 monitors). What happened to that?

papawayne60 said:

Hmmm...maybe I misunderstood ilikefree's question. Do I have "programs" set to look for updates when I go on line?

Some I do, and some I don't. However, if you're thinking those checks for updates are slowing me down, then I should come back up to speed once the checks are done, yes? But I don't. I could be online for hours, and my download speed doesn't vary from between 130-190KB/sec.

Click to expand...

Yes I agree any slowdown would only be temporary.
Would be good to know what settings the tech. guy had on his computer.

I didn't think to ask for his settings. He seemed to think it was a Vista problem, and I didn't discover the thing about changing my network adapter buffer settings until after he left.

About those network adapter buffer settings: Receive 256, Transmit 512 - should I change those permanently to some higher value? And again, it's only after I change them back to their defaults that I see an increase in my connection speed. Does anyone have an answer as to why that happens or why it then degrades to a slower speed?

It seems clear that my slow speed is a settings problem, but what's the solution? I'm hunting in the dark here, not knowing much about Vista's internal settings.

Thanks for your help...

Why do I get slow download speeds? DC++ FAQ / Direct Connect FAQ - dslreports.com

Tweaks and tests here


Also some people say to uncheck TCP/IPv6 and try that

Hi ilikefree,

I unchecked TCP/IPv6, and followed the Method Two instructions for disabling the QoS Bandwidth Reserve at dslreports.com. Neither action had any effect on my download speeds.

It is still the case that I can get a temporary speed boost by changing the network adapter buffer values, and then changing them back to their default values. That seems so strange to me.

I'm going to call my ISP and ask if they have any throttles or P2P controls on my account. I'll also call their tech support line. They have some pretty sharp people on their staff.

Anyone have other suggestions?

I have a Broadband connection ... we had to put 'filters' on all our phone jacks. I don't know if you need them or not, just tossing things out

Can you define "filters" for me? (Manufacture/part #'s/etc.)

Edit: Actually, my line in is capable of carrying a phone line, but I don't have phone service enabled. I have my phone through AT&T. So, after looking up what DSL filters are used for, I don't think they will do me any good, as they are for separating the phone service from the DSL service.

My ISP service is new to me. It transmits from a tower like wireless, but is received by an antennae which converts the signal to a phone line type input to my computer. I'm not sure what the service is called.

Thanks for the input, though

And just so you don't ask why I don't use AT&T high-speed DSL, it's because I live out in the boonies (AKA Paradise), and they haven't run the service out this far.

I still think your best option is to find out from the tech guy what his settings were.
He didn't put any filter on so you must be able to do it without one.
He would probably be happy to tell you to keep a customer happy.

~laughs~ I've been bugging them pretty bad for the past two months. When he came out this last time, his first words were, "What's your problem now?"

When you say "settings" do you have a specific series of settings in mind? Would it be possible for you to list them for me, or point me to a forum post that lists the various settings that effect connection speeds? If I had that info, I might be able to get him to list his settings.

OK, Not sure how this is set up for you. I was on a wireless broadband connection that used an express card/34 to connect with and on my computer Visa saw it as a dial up connection. It was a 7.2Mb connection 3 Gig cap, and I only ever had download speeds of 140Kb/sec
To be honest the only way I was able to speed things up was to switch to cable
Now on a 10Mb connection and 20Gig cap with download speed of around 9Mb/sec tops.
In network and sharing what is your connection listed as?

Here's an image of my Network and Sharing window. My connection is only listed as "Local Area Connection"

When you say you switched to Cable Now, was that a different service provider?

I have tried setting up a new broadband connection, but the results were the same.

Here is my Connection Status and Connection Details windows:





IPv6 connectivity is limited because I disabled it per a previous suggestion. If you'd like to see anything else, just say so.

Here's my network properties window:

First, Yes another provider gave me cable for the same price as the Vodafone 3G.
The Vodafone was not much good.
In your last photo I have the ticks in all boxes but if I highlight and click properties the only entry that has anything is Internet protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4) none of the others are installed.
Found the driver for your network adapter it but it is only available for XP

http://cr.am/framed.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.intel.com%2F&ref=driverguide

Also found this which may help, seems a lot of people have a problem setting this adapter up in Vista
http://www.intel.com/support/network/sb/cs-006333.htm

In the first box you have open in your post, click manage network connections,highlight the connection and click diagnose this connection.
It may give you something to look into.