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mangoman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 27, 2002
929
60
Second Floor
... I don't get it.

I'm usually spoiled by a nice, fat connection to the 'net with my cable modem, but for the last two days the connection's been unusually CRAPPY. Just reinstalled the system, reset my cable modem and Belkin router, but no better speed.

Apple Music Store is painfully slow. So is eBay... CNN, MacRumors, etc etc.

Anyone else having this problem? And is there anything a cable modem user can do via System Prefs or otherwise to speed things up? I called Roadrunner -- they ping'd me and said it was 'all good' from their veiw.

:mad:
 

Thom_Edwards

macrumors regular
Apr 11, 2003
240
0
**it happens

how long have you been using roadrunner? i've been using it for a couple of years, and things like that happen. it's like my car. some days it purrs, then other days i wonder if i'll make it to work without it dying. i seriously doubt if it is anything that can be fixed.
maybe there are some new subscribers on your segment of the network. it all works just like a real-live ethernet network. more users equals less speed. if some dude is running a high-traffic website on his computer (against roadrunner TOS) or downloading an ungodly amount of porn, you're gonna get less bandwidth. that's just the way it goes.
i know this doesn't make your connection any faster, but maybe it will give you hope of better days to come!:)
 

mrjamin

macrumors 65816
Feb 6, 2003
1,161
1
Strongbadia
I have this problem a lot (NTL). Some days i get loads of 404's, very slow loading pages. Other pages (very few) zip along. When this occurs, a bandwidth test generally comes at the right speed - the problem round here is supposed to be the NTL Proxy servers; could be the same problem with you if your pings are still fine.
 

Kwyjibo

macrumors 68040
Nov 5, 2002
3,809
0
knock on wood, we got cable in november and its been down like once since them and only once. I'm really happy with the service from comcast i think it is now. also is this happening on all the machines that are online, if not it could be a browser issue or something like that.
 

tjwett

macrumors 68000
May 6, 2002
1,880
0
Brooklyn, NYC
I have Optimum Online and 99% of the time it's AMAZING. From a decent server or website I usually average about 1mb per second. However, at times it slows to a near stop. Sometimes just resetting my machine will help. Usually I also reset the modem and router until it gives me a new IP. Sometimes nothing works. I think it has to do with something at the cable company. Maybe it's maintenence or something like that. I think the longest it's lasted has been about 3 or 4 days.
 

mangoman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 27, 2002
929
60
Second Floor
Thanks for the tips and encouragement, all. Hopefully things will pick up. And if it IS my neighbor, I'm cuttin' his cord tonight!

:D
 

mangoman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 27, 2002
929
60
Second Floor
Connection still sucks. Consistent, dogged timeouts from Safari and Netscrape. Email barely works. And I've seen my neighbor out and about, so I know his fatass isn't dumping gigabytes of animal porn and choking my connection.

Hmmph.

I'm calling Roadrunner back tonight. This is B.S.
 

springscansing

macrumors 6502a
Oct 13, 2002
922
0
New York
Originally posted by tjwett
I have Optimum Online and 99% of the time it's AMAZING. From a decent server or website I usually average about 1mb per second. However, at times it slows to a near stop. Sometimes just resetting my machine will help. Usually I also reset the modem and router until it gives me a new IP. Sometimes nothing works. I think it has to do with something at the cable company. Maybe it's maintenence or something like that. I think the longest it's lasted has been about 3 or 4 days.

I have optimum and I average 2.5 mb per second. Kick-ass.
 

TMA

macrumors 6502a
Jan 6, 2003
933
1
England
It does sound like a problem on your ISP's side, or other users are contending on the same cable using up bandwidth. Here are a few ideas/suggestions, you've probably tried some or all of them but just in case.

Make sure you don't have anything near your Cable Modem or Router that could cause interfearance. I heard a story once where users were complaining about problems over christmas time - turns out the blinking of their christmas tree lights was causing havoc.

If you run any sort of file sharing/email/web server make sure it's not saturating your Upload speed. If you're maxing out on upload speed your download speed and ping times will suffer badly. There are ways to fix this if that's the case.

If you notice problems, disconnect and reconnect a few times and see if there is a difference. Could be a gateway server that you initially connect through is playing up and reconnecting might give you a different one (this theory applies mostly to DSL but possibly Cable aswell)

See if the sites you are having trouble with have anything in common, especially if they're in the same region (East US, West US, Europe, etc..) If there appears to be a pattern it might indicate that your ISP is having routing trouble.

Check that your Modem and/or Router are running the latest software/firmware. Also check with your ISP that you are using the correct settings, ask if they've changed anything like DNS Server address.

But don't worry too much, almost all ISP's have problems every so often, It's a part of having broadband (here in the UK anyway)
 
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