newsgroups speeds

[meva]

Hi everyone,
I've been searching for an answer to this on the forums but have had no luck so far. My parents have just signed up for Sky Max and as a regular newsgroups user I thought I'd check out their uncapped LLU 11000kbps broadband ( my house is limited to 1024 kbps )
To my surprise the download speeds were barely better than mine ( 150 KB/s on average )
Why is it so slow. I've tried all the available ports on astraweb with grabit and newleecher with 20 connections.
I have read some stuff on here about port forwarding which I don't really understand ( I had a go at port forwarding on 1818 but it made no difference )
Thanks for your attention.
Matt.

[Saturday]

Lots of reasons for slow throughput compared to router sync, the most common being a poor wireless quality connection. Is this wireless? If not then we can take it from there and go through the alternatives.

BTW, when I was with Sky I could always max out my 13meg connection using Astraweb/grabit so I doubt it is either a Sky network or a newsgroup host/newsgroup reader problem.

[Tezcatlipoca]

BTW, when I was with Sky I could always max out my 13meg connection using Astraweb/grabit so I doubt it is either a Sky network or a newsgroup host/newsgroup reader problem.

Ditto. I have no problems maxing out my Sky connection when using Astra & GrabIt.

[meva]

I'm connected with a cable, I was wireless initially but originally assumed this was the problem ( sadly not ).
Thanks for your attention.

[gorebrush]

Sitting on a 16MB (16373 sync) line and get 1690KB/s no matter when I use it.

Always, flat out, 1690KB/s

me = happy camper

[gorebrush]

You say in your OP, you are limited to 1024kbps ?

That means you are on a 1Mbit line, correct?

120KB/s is the fastest a 1Mbit line will go, 150 is pretty good. Guessing you have an extremely long line and poor attentuation?

We need the stats off your router before we can start determining the fault.

[Saturday]

Hmm - one or both of us seems to be talking at cross purposes here.

The first post in the thread described two lines, one syncing at 1024kbps. the other at 11000kbps, but both only being able to download from newsgroups at approximately the same low speed.

I thought that was what we were discussing, not why one connection was 1024kbps.

Which issue is it Meva please - your low sync or your parents low throughput that you're trying to resolve?

[meva]

Hi , sorry for causing confusion. It's my parent's throughput that I'm trying to solve. ( I'm miles from the exchange and 1 Mb is the best I can get ).
I'll pop round there later and get some router stats.
Thanks again.

[Saturday]

Yes, stats may help.

As you've now eliminated wireless as the issue, here are the other possible causes of low throughput compared to sync, in rough order of likelihood:

• an overloaded server (not likely in this case as Astraweb is pretty reliable)
• incorrect TCP/IP settings (this affects XP and can be fixed using a tool such as TCPOptimizer. If the PC is Vista then this isn't relevant)
• something benign on the PC using bandwidth (an example would be Sky Anytime which constantly uploads/downloads in the background even when not apparently in use)
• something nasty on the PC using bandwidth (malware - I'd include Anytime in that category but that's just my opinion)
• someone else on the LAN using bandwidth (e.g. another user in the household or a wireless hijack)
• line problems causing massive levels of errors and data retransmission (if the line problems were that bad then I doubt your parents would get a 11meg connection)
• a router fault (rare but happens)
• a PC NIC problem (upgrade the drivers)
• Sky network/exchange problems (throttling is pretty much unheard of with Sky but an exchange fault is a remote possibility)

One further thing to establish is whether this slow throughput is limited to just newsgroups or other downloads too. If the former then a problem with how you've set up your newsreader leaps to the top of the list (port forwarding isn't required by the way).

HTH

[gorebrush]

My apologies, I didn't read the OP properly!