I had a post a while back about my internet being very slow compared to what was advertised. I am technically supposed to have 4000/1000 cable, but I get about 800/140 (max, usually lower). I called the ISP and they sent someone out and he was happy to get me to the 700-1000 range (it was even lower before.) I have noticed that my speed tends to be running fine for a while then bottom out HARD. Like in my FTP program I have a bandwidth monitor, and my file download would run aroun 100 Kbps for a while then fall to 0 and rise back. When running a test here, the little progress bar animation will shoot out and go to maybe 40% then freeze, then shoot to 80%, freeze, and then complete. I have run the tests on other computers and they tend to display the bar at constant speed, etc. I am thinking I would have some decent internet speed if I could calm it down a little. One thing of interest I have found is that my ISP has the MTU set at 1420. Has anyone ever heard of this before, or know something I could try.
Thanks for your help

The Internet STANDARD MTU is 1500 ...period.  There are dozens of reasons that ISPs will grab lower numbers, (depends on what 'nix' systems they are running for T-1s or whatever they have.  YOU should keep your settings at 1500, because "the backbone" of the entire web is built around an MTU value of 1500.  (But there are tons of computers that do better with varying numbers ...that's because there are tons of forces 'at play' which influence the behavior of MTU values and how the router "perceives" them, your Ethernet card "sees" them, and how your system board will handle them.  No two are alike ...even two identical motherboards will perform radically differently.

Most likely their systems will 'default' to 1500 when it is being 'forced', otherwise they can play with a lesser value for too many reasons to list (and there is far too much misinformation out there to make much sense of it).  Road Runner won't tell you the truth, but when I lived in Florida they gave me speeds unlike I will most likely never see again.  (They were using 1480 at the time, but it would 'default' to the forced 1500 'on demand'.  It isn't really worthy of a 2nd thought.  I'd look elsewhere for an answer to such strange behavior.  Have you tried swapping out your Ethernet Card with another?  Checked your CAT-5 cable or swap it out too?  Or, is the Ethernet Card "seated" (with good, clean contacts in its slot)?  Clean contacts make for HUGE differences ...that goes double for CPUs and DDR!

Cheers!

Thanks for you help so far. I have tried to change the MTU through the registry and with tweak programs but it always reverts back to 1420. I tried to cycle the modem and I will try to swap the cable in the next few days or so. I have an on-board LAN port, but it and the cable seems in good shape. I tried the cablenuts settings, and it seems to be about the same so far, but I will keep fiddling with it.

Here is my tracert to testmy
[code:1]

C:\>tracert testmy.net

Tracing route to testmy.net [67.19.36.6]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    16 ms     6 ms     5 ms  172.16.66.1
  2     7 ms     6 ms     7 ms  128.163.252.1
  3     7 ms    25 ms     6 ms  uky-mdc-h1-1.net.uky.edu [128.163.55.65]
  4    31 ms     8 ms     7 ms  128.163.55.46
  5    21 ms    18 ms    19 ms  atl-edge-19.inet.qwest.net [65.114.1.13]
  6    19 ms    20 ms    21 ms  atl-core-03.inet.qwest.net [205.171.21.125]
  7    21 ms    21 ms    34 ms  atl-core-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.21.153]
  8    38 ms    60 ms    42 ms  iah-core-03.inet.qwest.net [205.171.8.145]
  9    48 ms    38 ms    48 ms  iah-core-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.31.41]
 10    44 ms    44 ms    46 ms  dal-core-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.8.125]
 11    42 ms    43 ms    40 ms  dal-core-03.inet.qwest.net [205.171.25.134]
 12    55 ms    43 ms    42 ms  dax-edge-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.25.162]
 13    59 ms    42 ms    42 ms  65.118.50.202
 14    45 ms    43 ms    44 ms  216.140.5.45
 15    42 ms    42 ms    45 ms  67.99.43.234
 16    45 ms   109 ms    44 ms  dist-vlan32.dsr3-1.dllstx3.theplanet.com [70.85.
127.61]
 17    44 ms    43 ms    59 ms  dist-vlan21.dsr1-1.dllstx2.theplanet.com [70.85.
127.67]
 18    44 ms    54 ms    45 ms  dsr2-2-v2.dllstx4.theplanet.com [12.96.160.40]
 19    49 ms    44 ms    63 ms  gig1-0-2.tp-car9-2.dllstx4.theplanet.com [67.18.
116.86]
 20    70 ms    45 ms    60 ms  6.67-19-36.reverse.theplanet.com [67.19.36.6]

Trace complete.

C:\>
[/code:1]

Thanks again.

hey again bcraig, like RTB said trace is nothing abnormal just some spikes, do you have a router?

If so unplug it and hook up your pc directly against modem and try speed again, and also a new tracert.

VanBuren

I dont think it matters if your connected at 10 or 100 Mbps against modem. It might be your modem/router that make these slowdowns.

borrow a modem from a friend or ask your ISP if they have a modem you can try with.

good luck

VanBuren