Intermittent Internet Slowdowns

I have noticed this as well.

It starts just before 11 a.m. Central. It ends just after 1 p.m.

It starts again at 4 p.m. I don't know what time it ends there because I'm usually doing other things after that time.

It also happens again at 7 p.m.

It makes me wonder if they are beginning to test shutdowns of various areas etc. I imagine that goes hand in hand with the 'kill switch'!

the times of day should answer it for you.
lunch time, dinner time, primetime

I've noticed it too. It went off completely for 6 hours on the 29th. I ran a line test and I have completely random packet loss - which I have never seen before... I have Cox cable.

I get 6 mbit downstream, 300 kbps upstream... It's not a bandwidth problem...

Ditto here... same sort of time...

Same here OP, I even cleaned the computer and its still somewhat slower.

Had no internet service at all on the 31st.
Phoned the technical help and they would not say why just that it was down.
First time I have seen it.

I think your tinfoil hat is on a little too tight.

Did those ISPs you were on in the same area? If yes, then they are most likely on the same backbone, which, during peak times the connections can be slow.

Also it also depends on the sites you are visiting. People could be hitting the site you are trying to visit and the server is slow with responding to requests. So regardless of ISP the site you are visiting will be slow.

There are many factors as to why a site could be slow, hell, you might just be having a bit of bad luck and all the computers you used which were on different ISP were probably slow.
The router could be an issue, etc.

TL;DR: Learn how the internet works.

I even switched devices. From ethernet to USB. Meaning a new static ip. Line test reveals the same occurrence. Random packet loss..

Have you actually tested your speed or is that what your cable company said?
Also cable is on a shared line, so if you live in a neighborhood where other people have the same ISP, they are going to be on the same line as you.
So unless you pay to have a dedicated cable all to yourself, I doubt you get 6Mbit downstream constantly.

Well for the price I/we are paying, I shouldn't be getting the connectivity problems I have been having.

I get them nearly every day, and sometimes more than once in an hour.

It's not like we aren't paying for these services, so I don't see how we should have to stand for this garbage.

Here too. Mid morning to early afternoon. Southeast USA.

Did you ipconfig /release?
Different IP address does nothing, because you are still using the same line to the hub, the same line to the cable company, which still is using the same back bone.
If you switched from the ethernet cable from the modem to the USB cable from the same modem, nothing will happen because the ISP sets the IP to the modem and not the computer. You have to unplug the modem and the coax cable then plug it back up to get a new IP, hopefully. Depends on the IP pool.

If you got a new IP from your router, this does nothing either because you are still in the same subnet of your router, just a different IP. Example, you went from 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.5 still on the 255.255.255.0 subnet which still has whatever IP you are assigned from your ISP.

Last Edited by static void on 02/01/2011 11:59 AM

We are advertised 1~2 mbit and 30k upstream. We get 6mbit down and 300k up. I <3 my ISP.

You're chasing your tail.. I'm a *nix guy.

[link to www.speedtest.net]

Do that and take a screen shot. Cause, 6Mbit downstream is awesome and I want your internets, k?

ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 up

Yes?

I first noticed this early last week.

I really can't say what's causing this. The neighborhood thing would make sense but I know most people aren't home at 11 a.m. Also, the 4 p.m. slot is suspect due to people leaving work and having to drive home.

And yes, it isn't any particular website. It's net wide slowdown.

As for the person with the lunchtime answer, dinner time, prime time answer, isn't that when people are busy doing other things, anyway? Like lunching, dinnering, and primetiming?

[link to www.speedtest.net]

Here is my speedtest. I'm at work and I would kill to get this speed at my house:
51Mbit Downstream
40Mbit Upsteam

WIN

Well, I told you there's some packetloss!


IMAGE ( [link to www.speedtest.net] )

Not anymore. Laptops, Netflix, Xbox Live, etc.

And yeah.. my upstream is screaming today..

Yep.. 50 bucks a month :D

[link to www.speedtest.net]

Not bad.
Also, I would check the cable lines in your area.
Do you live in an apartment complex? If you do then check the cable box and see how many spliters are on the line to your house. Too many spliters will cause the signal to degrade. Old cables can also do that.
If the upsteam power level on the cable is around 50-55 dbmv then the signal is being degraded by too many spliters, a bad spliter, or a bad cable.

EDIT: can also be from a bad hub in the area too, but really unlikely cause the ISP usually will replace those fairly quickly.
With Comcast you can "test" your signal on the cable by trying the On Demand feature. If you get lots of errors trying to get On Demand, then the signal might also be degraded, since On Demand uses the same frequency on the coax cable as the internet uses.

Last Edited by static void on 02/01/2011 12:15 PM

It seems to make sense that whether it is egypt-doom or weather doom, the internets have a problem with the increased volume.

Help us, when the SHTF we won't be networking using the internet to communicate with our survival buddies.

Well now this is concerning, my droid x is slow connecting to a variety of sites.

This must be an unfolding situation to which we are not privvied. Whether it is the GPS sytems down in the Southeast or increasing slowdowns today, this could be symptomatic of something much much larger!

This just in, though I have no link:

Major outages at some of the major internet backbones this morning; Verizon, NTT, Qwuest, etc. all experiencing outages due to the massive storm. A lot of sites on the internet are slow, unresponsive, etc.

You may have a cat in your internets.