Computer question
I have long noted that computers are a mysterious bunch, and their ways inscrutable—at least to tech-challenged me.
Yesterday, in a mild cost-saving move, I decided to try downgrading to a lower-speed connection from my previous fast one. The lady I talked to on the phone assured me that I could try it and see whether it worked out.
She warned me that the newly-diminished velocity would be quite noticeable, especially when uploading and downloading photos, and that You Tube buffering would probably be a problem, too. But I could cancel immediately if I didn’t like it, and go back seamlessly to my formerly speedy service.
But when I went to my computer, I discovered that its speed was faster than before. It was quicker to post photos to the blog, faster and better at showing You Tube videos, zippier at navigating in general.
Can anyone within the sound of my voice explain this paradoxical phenomenon?
If you have DSL, sometimes restarting their cr*ppy router gives you a temporary speed boost.
The one’s used by cable companies tend to be better and this doesn’t do anything (that I’ve been able to see).
Thomass: Oh, I hope it’s not temporary! Please don’t tell me it’s temporary!
Traffic. You had a high speed connection think of it as a set double doors BUT LOTS OF PEOPLE ARE GOING BACK AND FORTH Thru the doors so you have to move slow. You are now using a single door put your one of the few using it so passage is a lot faster.
(Sorry for the caps cat had to get on my lap).
DSL is getting faster and faster all the time. It’s possible that when you changed your cost structure it resulted in a speed upgrade.
Frankly, I find a 768K adsl connection quite suitable for most things, except the aforementioned videos. That can be bypassed by pausing the video until it is completely buffered, or just by downloading the video in question, such as Download helper for Firefox: http://www.downloadhelper.net/
They made a mistake either before or now..
Run a speed test at http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed?jisok=1
to see if their mistake is ‘now’
This will be difficult to determine, because what some people mislabel as “speed” can in reality be latency. If you previously could upload an image in a single second, but it took 4 or 5 seconds of latency for the remote site to respond (or for the network inbetween to allow your traffic through in the first place), then the perception is that it’s slower than one where the upload takes 3 seconds but has absolutely minimal latency. This is entirely possible, especially if your ISP is upgrading equipment in the area and happened to reduce the number of people sharing your “node” simultaneous with your plan change: Fewer users can lead to both less latency and less bandwidth usage, so while your “limit” is lower, your practical access to it is higher.
Does that make sense?
This could also be something trivial: I was on the verge of complaining to my own ISP about reduced speeds one month until I played around with my wireless router settings. If too many people are on the same wireless “channel”, that too can result in reduced speed. This of course would be a coincidental change, not one caused by the change in your data plan.
This may also be nothing more than a provisioning mistake. My cable company once accidentally allowed HBO through without a subscription from me; that changed once I signed up for a cable modem 🙁 and they caught the error (didn’t back charge me; I just pretended I never noticed it (*whistles*)), but I had free HBO for nearly a year. This additional “speed” could be something as simple as the ISP charging you for one plan but accidentally provisioning another. Sometimes errors work out in our favor.
The only way to determine if bandwidth had really changed would be to have done before and after tests at sites like DSLReports. And I mean multiple tests, since there will be natural variation with each individual test. Those tests would have had to have been conducted over time, and since you’ve already changed your plan, it’s impossible to go back in time and do them. I’d just rest happy with what you’ve got and not look this gift horse in the mouth.
neo-neocon Says:
“Thomass: Oh, I hope it’s not temporary! Please don’t tell me it’s temporary!”
If its my thing then the good news is you can recreate it by pulling the plug on their router and restarting it whenever you want.
Someone else had a good point about cost structures. You might have had an old plan that was both expensive and slow… and maybe today’s cheap plan is… actually faster… I’ve seen it happen before with internet plans…. Something to check.
Another possibility: they may have cheered up your speed a bit in an effort to keep you as a customer, since your call may have made them worry that you were thinking about bailing on them.
http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2009/10/26/am-i-seeing-things-ap-takes-on-skyrocketing-health-insurance-profits-smear/
AP !! Associated Press !! Takes it to the Mitsu’s and DNC and Bob Beckel’s and ∅bama’s of the world. Reporting is in vogue now…
oops. Wrong thread. I need more coffeee ! sorry.
I’m out on the end my DSL provider’s line. I recently had to downgrade my speed since the higher speed was running wide open and I routinely had connection issues. The slower speed feels as fast or faster since I’m not experiencing so much lost data. That may be part of your change as well. The slower speed may be a cleaner connection.
open thread at this point? 😉
Arnold’s letter to the legislature
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2009/10/27/a-rare-moment-of-political-honesty.php
Neo, on the above topic, I found Reihl World View’s find.
Arnold actually spelled out “F–k you” to the legislature in his message to them
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=yddu3qzgab5emw&xid=yddt0u1drg5z63&done=.yddu3qzgaboemw
I don’t know how I feel about this.
On one hand, I’m troubled because of my morals. On the other hand, I’m happy to see Arnold standing up to this out of control legislature on some level.
I’m betting this will drive liberals nuts. It might drive the legislature nuts. Or… nobody will blink an eye I suppose. It’s anything goes here in CA right?
Neo, your network anomaly could be due to many things. Network data links are complicated systems and often tempermental beasts. (Check out the Wikipedia entry for Transmission Control Protocol for the merest glimpse of the issues, especially the section on congestion control.) If your computer or its network interface isn’t quite up to handling the higher speed, the resulting stumbling and fumbling could slow things down considerably.
“High” is a relative term although one would expect that “faster” and “slower” would correlate to something measurable. Too many variables including human error on your provider’s part. Enjoy it while you have it.
When I got flushed out of New Orleans I signed up for DSL in Shreveport. They had 3 “speeds” with three attendant prices. When I called up I got a cool techie guy on the phone who spilled the beans that the people who didn’t go for the cheapest level usually went for the most expensive one which left the middle level with unused capacity and so I would probably get the same service at the middle pricing level that I would on the most expensive. I took his advice and it was the fastest hookup I’ve ever had. Maybe something like that happened to you.