Is youe ISP throttling your connection?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=1070

I know mine is. My connection just suddenly stops and as soon as I call them, it will suddenly start. I have had it not work for DAYS and spend hours working on it, cleaning out of all sorts of stuff, unused programs, burning pictures and getting them off. Doing scans for adware and viruses and nothing I would do would make a bit of differance. Try for hours to get online to do a online scan and can't even pull up a wab page so I break down and call my ISP. We do the clean out cookies game and repete things I had already done and WALLA! Suddenly it is working again! This has happened a lot in the SEVEN years I have been living here and I am not suppose to notice! :rolleyes:

Nope, they never do that to me.

Do you use a router? I had a similar problem a few years ago and what helped most of the time was to pull the cable on the router out, and plug it in again.

Hope you'll work it out. If not, keep bugging your ISP! ;)

When they talk about throttling a connection, they are talking about altering the bandwidth available for a particular connection based on overly heavy usage. Unless you are downloading entire DVD's of information, you probably don't fall under that heading.

If you can't connect reliably, that isn't throttling, that's more than likely a technical problem with the network equipment rather than the ISP throttling your connection. All it takes to reset the switch port your connection is going through is a few keystrokes, so if there's an issue on their end it doesn't take much to clean things up.

I disconnected the router over a year ago as they tried blaming it on that although I had it secured and I have not used one since..

I do not download anything... EVER, no movies, no music.. I shouldn't have to call them to give me the service I am paying for and always wondered if they could cut back on you like that because of how fast the problem would go away everytime I would call.. Once I started DEMANDING they send someone out here right then, it just about stopped altogether. Yesterday was the first time I had to call them since I made them send someone out 3 days in a row.

If you're not downloading anything, then the chances of your problem being "throttling" are slim to none.

Okay, since I am pretty computer ignorant, and don't understand what a throttle or that program they talk about does, let me ask it in a way I will understand. If I download that program, whatever it is, will it tell me why my connection speed is often only 26.4 kbps and I either time out or freeze the computer while loading some sites (including this one)? And will it tell me how to fix it?

Based on this info, i am suprised my ISP is not throttling my connection because i run some form of a server 24/7/365.

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Originally Posted by Ginger's Mom

Okay, since I am pretty computer ignorant, and don't understand what a throttle or that program they talk about does, let me ask it in a way I will understand. If I download that program, whatever it is, will it tell me why my connection speed is often only 26.4 kbps and I either time out or freeze the computer while loading some sites (including this one)? And will it tell me how to fix it?

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The program will only tell you if your ISP is throttling (altering how much of your bandwith you can use) your connection. Most likely, to get it stopped call your ISP.

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Originally Posted by Reggie

The program will only tell you if your ISP is throttling (altering how much of your bandwith you can use) your connection. Most likely, to get it stopped call your ISP.

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Oh Reggie, this brings up another question. When I go to my Task Manager box,because my computer is running so slow, I see that my internet connection is only using 31% of it's power. I always wondered why it wasn't using all of it. Is there something I can do about that?

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Originally Posted by Ginger's Mom

Oh Reggie, this brings up another question. When I go to my Task Manager box,because my computer is running so slow, I see that my internet connection is only using 31% of it's power. I always wondered why it wasn't using all of it. Is there something I can do about that?

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Hmm, that is most likely on your end, because your computer knows the max and min it can use. Do you mean power as in processor power or bandwidth being used?

Charter is AWFUL for internet... ours goes up and down ALL THE TIME, and we have upgraded to the fastest connection available in our area (they JUST came out with it this month, too). My in-laws run a business from their home that is pretty internet-dependent so when the inet goes down, they aren't informed of orders or customer emails to be able to process anything. Of course when we call them they always seem to think its a problem on OUR end... my in-laws are all pretty computer and network savvy, my father in law used to work FOR Charter so it isn't like he doesn't know what he's doing... of course it isn't on our end!!! But they always try to tell you it's on your end, never theirs... :rolleyes:

Even with the fastest internet available in this area, we still can not run two computers playing World of Warcraft (an online game) and two to three people on XBOX Live simultaneously without the guys on XBOX lagging really bad. My latency on WoW is always reallllllly good compared to others on my server so I don't really experience bandwidth problems... the problems I experience is the internet will just stop, period. =/ SO FRUSTRATING!

I do want to throttle my ISP at times.

I went to cable last year in Feb. Everything worked fine until the end of the month, then I would go for the first week of on and off service.

I'd unplug the modem, reload the program and reboot the machine. It would work for a while then peter out.

I replaced the modem, put in new cables* and a splitter and all is well now. I even wake up in the middle of the night just to watch the modem wink at me.

*I had taken the 'extra' cable that came with the original modem and used it to replace a cable on my mom's hookup next door-Why? because I was too lazy to move furniture and use it. I was putting in a new splitter and I could not get the comp to work AFTER I matched the new splitter with the old cable. So I got her a cable and took the 'old' one back.

Get top notch splitters and cabling. The shiat you buy at Radio Shack and Target is O.K. for putting a DVD player to the TV set, but useless for comp hookups.

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Oh, and the cable that ran from the phone pole to the house was 20+ years old....This was at the time when there was ON TV! One cable channel that you saw when youflipped a switch on a box that rested on the top of the set. Had that line replaced too!


Put it this way......We had it installed when Apocalypse Now had just hit cable!

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Originally Posted by Randi

Do you use a router? I had a similar problem a few years ago and what helped most of the time was to pull the cable on the router out, and plug it in again.

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Mine keeps doing that lately. It's so annoying!