downloads at less than 100 bytes/sec

[micalah]

i have a 486 with an external 28800 u.s. robotics sportster modem which has been upgraded to a 33600. although my modem indicates that i am connected at 31200, i notice that many times pages download at less than 1k/sec and sometimes less than 100 bytes/sec. i also notice that the modem often seems to pause (the lights stop flashing) for up to 30 seconds at a time. i have tried a few "tweaks" that i have found but none of them have helped.

[BBA]

Is that "All the time" or "Some of the time"?

See, I have a 2-way cable modem opened up to 2M/sec both ways, and although I can usually get around 75-200K/sec, sometimes I only get 10k/sec or less. It all depends on the web page/site and traffic.

BBA

[dawgtuff]

Your almost never going to get the up/down load power of your modem.The sites have limited download(computer)power when they're busy.In other words,you have to "wait in line".Try in "off peak" hours.

[micalah]

well, i guess this happens pretty much all of the time. i have read sources that blame this on a serial port buffer or something, but my download speeds are ridiculous. by the way, based on the way i have been calculating download and modem speeds, i didn't think i should expect to get more than 3 or 4k/sec. your cable connection must be something way different than what i know about.

[CMonster]

Have you checked your COM port speed in the Device manager?? Is it currently set to 9600 instead of something higher?

[micalah]

com port is set at 230,400. this was one of the tweaks that i have already tried...thanks anyway

[BBA]

Well, I just referenced the cable modem speeds to show how much of a swing there is in downloading and to demonstrate that no matter what type connection you have, its mostly the web site your recieving from or isp connection problems that slow you down.

Also, your calculations are mostly correct. You will get at most a transfer rate about 1/9 of your connection rate, just because of the TCP/IP protocol. Actually, UDP would be faster so it is possible, but thats just not a reality (UDP can have serious packet loss and not know about it, not good for data transfer).

BBA

[philipg]

Here is a web site that may explain this a little better than me.

http://www.e4me.com/techsupport/faq.html#modem