HELP: Tips on Speeding Up Slow Internet?

[carbonmotion]

Hello Friends,
The internet at my apartment complex is extremely slow. My apartment provides internet through ethernet ports. The ISP is AT&T Worldnet, there are several T1 lines that service the entire complex. I suspect someone is abusing the bandwidth as a month ago, my bandwidth is around 6 - 8 Mbps (Mbit/s) down, now my bandwidth is around 0.30 Mbps down.

I tried calling the Landlord and ISP to no avail. For work, I need to use a video conferencing software and Google Earth, neither of which work well at the present bandwidth. For reference, Youtube also stutters during playback.

My computer is a '09 Macbook Pro with 8 gb of ram. The internet from the ethernet port is piped in to a D-Link DIR-655 G/N router running Wifi N mode. My question is, are there any tweaks or hacks I can do to my wireless router or computer to get more bandwidth?

Thanks!
-CM

 

[jav6454]

Yes there are. Well, not for your router. Most likely in the form of computer programs accelerators.

A classmate I had downloaded one of these programs to connect faster in the University's Wi-Fi. Since he was hogging so much bandwidth, the UCC banned his MAC address for a whole week and sent out a public notice to users who abuse UNO's Wi-Fi.

 

[carbonmotion]

Yes there are. Well, not for your router. Most likely in the form of computer programs accelerators.

A classmate I had downloaded one of these programs to connect faster in the University's Wi-Fi. Since he was hogging so much bandwidth, the UCC banned his MAC address for a whole week and sent out a public notice to users who abuse UNO's Wi-Fi.

Can you point me to some of these products? Right now its either speed up the current connection or keep paying the landlord for internet (included in rent) and buy internet from another provider. I would like to avoid paying double fees if possible. Help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jav6454]

Can you point me to some of these products? Right now its either speed up the current connection or keep paying the landlord for internet (included in rent) and buy internet from another provider. I would like to avoid paying double fees if possible. Help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

This was back in Fall 2006 mind you. I just know of the story, but I can't really point to one of these programs because I personally haven't used any of them.

I found this: Click Me
From CNET. It was the best match I could remember in naming.

 

[carbonmotion]

This was back in Fall 2006 mind you. I just know of the story, but I can't really point to one of these programs because I personally haven't used any of them.

I found this: Click Me
From CNET. It was the best match I could remember in naming.

Did not work. What about QoS and packet shaping from the router? Anyone know?

 

[electroshock]

Did not work. What about QoS and packet shaping from the router? Anyone know?

QoS generally requires the cooperation of the ISP. Packet shaping for inbound traffic generally works best if applied on the upstream side. (Packet shaping for outbound traffic can be done on your end, but doesn't accomplish your goal here.)

You might need to consider other ISPs -- and that's where it gets tough in an apartment type of situation where you don't own the property or premises. You do have options of getting, say, (for example) AT&T WLAN wireless service such as a USB 'key' that's a wireless modem that hooks into their cellular data network. Not the cheapest of options but if you need some sort of level of service you can depend on, might be worth a look.

An easier solution, even if it's low-tech, is to talk with neighbors, explain the issue, and ask them to see if maybe they could help out by keeping a closer eye on their bandwidth usage. Don't know odds of success, but doesn't hurt to try, and is cheap and easy enough.

 

[carbonmotion]

QoS generally requires the cooperation of the ISP. Packet shaping for inbound traffic generally works best if applied on the upstream side. (Packet shaping for outbound traffic can be done on your end, but doesn't accomplish your goal here.)

You might need to consider other ISPs -- and that's where it gets tough in an apartment type of situation where you don't own the property or premises. You do have options of getting, say, (for example) AT&T WLAN wireless service such as a USB 'key' that's a wireless modem that hooks into their cellular data network. Not the cheapest of options but if you need some sort of level of service you can depend on, might be worth a look.

fml. i feared this was the case.