Chris Dias

Why is my MODEM so fast?

Okay first of all let me say that I am definately not complaining about this but just curious. I've got a cable modem and on my old computer I would average around 100 KB/s for downloads and I think that is pretty normal. According to the McAfee speedometer that looks just about right.

Well now I've got a new computer (Unfortunately it's for my Dad's office and it won't be around here very long) but I hooked up the same modem and now it downloads at about 350-450 KB/s.

So I first just thought it must be the new computer with it's faster writing to hard Drive and everything else, but according to the McAfee Speedometer now I'm off the charts, past a T1 line.

So anyone know what's up?

WayneO

Yes a faster computer can speed up page load times and other things. But......maybe you have some bad settings for your network card or a bad card in the older computer? If you run a speed test on a cable ISP and have a standard cable internet package of 1.5mbs, you should get theoretical T1 type speeds, sometimes more if there aren't a lot of users on your loop. Of course real world downloads are completely different as you know. I'd go to DSLReports.com and use their bandwidth tester on both pc's and see what you get. If one is signifigantly slower then are somethings to be looked into. By the way, what are the differences in CPU,Ram,etc between the two?

If the best advice is "listen for yourself", then why offer your opinion?

LewB

Faster CPU, I/O bus, more memory, new or larger cache etc.etc.
Different versions of Windoze ?
Different Windoze settings for data transfer? I seem to recall reading once that the networking settings used to be optimized for phone connections since that was the main communications vehicle. These settings needed to be tweaked in the registy once you started using a network card. Perhaps that changed with the newer versions of Windows ?

Hey, what the hell ? Enjoy it !

Lew
My DVDs

Michael Harris

One question you may want to ask is if your ISP upgraded its speed. I have Comcast cable here and they doubled their speed recently.

Chris Dias

Yeah I guess it is just the computer then. I just didn't realize that it would make such a difference on Download times. I mean page loading and stuff yeah, but I thought just downloading a file would be more modem dependant than anything else.

By the way the old one, don't laugh, is a Pentium (the originals) 200MHz with 64 Megs of RAM and Windows 98. The new one is a P4 2.6GHz with 512 RAM and a 7200 rpm hard drive.

Of course I'll have a hell of a time going back now that I've seen the light. But it does the job for now, which is just surfing and programming my Pronto.

Thanks Guys,
Chris

Bill Slack

http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=119

Old versions of windows come setup to work with modems faster, when using TCP/IP. That should be your main culprit. It still seems like a pretty huge difference, but there's no way a Pentium wouldn't be able to 'keep up' with a 350KBs connection. It may be very slow and old by our standards now, but basic network IO isn't exactally a taxing thing to do.

There could be a problem with the ethernet card (conflict, bad driver, etc.) too.

Lee L

Also, you can check www.dslreports.com for speed enhancing tips.

Revenge is like serving cold cuts-

Tony Soprano