COX Slow upload speeds

I do know the my b's. I understand your point Bob, but. That is what I want to know. The bandwitdh of the connection between my computer and another (server). I use http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ among many others, to determine my bandwitdh and transfer rates (between servers).

Cnet for example, I do not get anywhere near 10Mb/s download I never have. Not even 2Mb/s. I get 300KB/s download on a normal day. However I have downloaded content from other sites and servers much faster or slower. So I understand the transfer rates between hosts and clients varies.

I will attempt to give both and specify which ones I am talk about.
Upload is about 600-700kbps or 63KB/s (Transfer rate)

If cox specifies 2.5Mb/s Transfer rate. That should be 2000kpbs or 250KB/s correct?

Let's find a server that Cox let's you test to. You'll need something that you can traceroute to and not have more than 3 or 4 hops and stay inside Cox land.

I never thought about that side of it. I will have to find an available IP. Thing is, realistically I won't be connecting to a local server whilst crusing the inernets. So in actuality, I am more likely to get results such as Speakeasy states, with NY being closest. Wouldn't you agree?

Latest results
8018kbps Down
430kbps up
Download Speed: 8018 kbps (1002.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 430 kbps (53.8 KB/sec transfer rate)<--u kidding cox?

Also, I heard that Cox will pro rate your bill if you achieve less then 70% of the stated speeds. Is that true?

-Dark

Sorry, I don't send the bill but will refund your virtual beer bill and tab on demand!

With all the people that run Torrent software your upload speed can be limited by someone on your street doing that. While they have great download bandwidth the upload speed is limited and you share that speed with your neighbors.
Bob

The upload speeds can be affected by hidden malware. Thats more of a common symptom when a user who used to get great speeds now gets very slow speeds. Looks like I will have to battle it out with Cox again. Cox support is a complex beast and the tier 1 people are just average phoners with no tech background. This ought to be fun!

Thanks for all the help!

Tier 1 are cannon fodder, 'phone boy' and such. You have to get past those fast.

Cox wants people who use their service to use their programs because their programs tell you what THEY want you to see. I do not agree with that. I believe one should be allowed to use which ever test they want. THEY ARE NOT AS GOOD AS THEY CLAIM.

"That speed is from your PC to the first router and not beyond that since that's the Internet and not controlled by Cox (yet?)"

We can test the link at the home and to the ISP's servers to see if they have that up to speed. But past that is not under their control.

Are you saying they do have such control?
Bob

I am getting 400kbps download speed the actual transfer rate is the opposite of your equation, so 50KB/sec transfer rate. The 400 number was the speed.

In either case I found the modem (a motorola) was dropping packets this weekend and I was losing up to 50%. I exchanged it and now COX is using scientific Atlanta modems. Any word on those?

I use many bandwidth testing sites to simulate transfer rates over the internet as a whole. The servers I test are no different from any other webservers on the net. I think they are a very good tool and I use them for information purposes only. I do not think they are the word on anything. However similar results from many sites and even my own tests on my ISP DNS servers tell me I am getting 70% less speed then stated. Talking with the Tier 1 tech support got me nowhere and I am waiting for Fios to make it's way here.

There is not much difference from modem to modem. They are really made the same and dont offer much performance difference to the next one in that generation. I have always been use to my Surf Board Moto. If I had to switch, I wouldnt mind.

When you say dropping packets, how was the test determined? What active ping was you doing? What site/IP address was you doing this to? I know you have talked to people but can you organize all the thought in one post and I will help you as much as I can. I have this thread monitored so when you post, I can read it.

Yes, I also found that altering the MTU was the only thing that finally gave me reliable upload capability and well beyond. What a relief. This after many months of tweaking and scanning this and that, connecting directly to PC instead of modem etc. to no avail. Would like to briefly share my path to success in case it can help someone else struggling with this.
Not a very fluent computer person I finally stumbled upon instructions of how to determine the optimal MTU settings at http://www.dslreports.com/faq/5793
I did it manually via DOS command as it outlines further down page because for some reason the automatic DrTCP program did not work in arriving at the optimal MTU settings for me at all.

Anyone having this problem just be sure to also change the MTU setting on your modem to match the new MTU setting on your PC. I found that leaving the modem set on "Auto" for MTU did not work.
This has made uploading batches of pictures to Flickr etc. a breeze. Happy days.

True there are 8 bits per byte for standard ASCI encoded character set.

But, when transmitted over any electronic communications, start and stop bits are added.

A start bit is added to precede each byte transmitted, and a second stop bit is added at the end of each byte transmitted.

This makes 10 bits the total for communications of ASCI encoded chars.

That is easier on the arithmetic - now can just divide and multiple by ten.

I do have one uncertainty though - If I remember correctly, sometimes there may be more than one stop bit. However, ten should be a much closer approximation than eight for the calculation.