Forums > Specific Focus > Technical Mexico

johanson / Moderator

May 4, 2005, 12:38 PM

Post #1 of 18 (2388 views)

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Internet connection speeds

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I've had Prodigy infinitum for several months now. I subscribe to the slowest broadband connection advertised, one that has a 256 kb/sec download and 128 kb/sec upload speed. I regularly check my up and download speeds and averaged about 211 down and 68 up. I wasn't very happy with that, because that is 82% and 53% of the rated download and upload speeds. This was about what everyone else was getting.

Some folks believe that Prodigy is giving us these terrible upload speeds to discourage file sharing and VoIP (Vonage, etc).

All of a sudden now my speeds have changed, my upload speed still sucks much, but not all of the time. My upload speeds are bouncing all over the place, much more so than before, bouncing from 60 to 102 Kb/sec or 47% to 91% of the advertised speed.

My download speeds are stable and have almost doubled. For the last 4 days my download speeds have been between 400 and 412 which is 156% to 161% of the advertised download speed.

What does mean to the lay person? Well with the upload speed bouncing all over the place, VoIP will still not work as well as it should, but with a faster download speed one can download files, information, pictures, etc much more rapidly.

What are your upload and download speeds. Why don't you share them with us. I find a great place to get those speeds is at http://www.dslreports.com/stest?loc=2 Another test site is at http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/default.asp

Here are my results They are average results. They are in kilobits per second

Prodigy advertised 256/128 Kb/sec Actual 405 over 68 or 158% over 54% of advertised
Lagunanet advertised 512/512 Kb/sec Actual 471 over 482 or 92% over 94% of advertised

I just ran some final speed tests with both of my internet connections. For some reason today, the speeds from both were bouncing all over the place.

Please let us know what type of speeds you are getting. Do several tests, not just one. Thanks

(This post was edited by johanson on May 4, 2005, 7:25 PM)

johanson / Moderator

May 4, 2005, 7:23 PM

Post #2 of 18 (2350 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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Here is the answer.

Boletines
TELEFONOS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V.
BOLETÍN INFORMATIVO

México, D.F., a 1 de mayo de 2005.

Duplica Prodigy Infinitum su velocidad.

TELMEX informa que, gracias a la evolución de su Red, Prodigy Infinitum incrementará hasta el doble su velocidad de navegación en Internet, al pasar de 256 a 512 Kbps y de 512 a 1,024 Kbps, entre los crecimientos más significativos.

La conversión que permitirá el aumento en la velocidad de navegación se llevará a cabo del 1º al 13 de mayo de este año, por lo que a partir de esta fecha todos los clientes que ya disfrutan del mejor servicio de acceso de alta velocidad en México gozarán de este beneficio.

La ampliación de la velocidad permitirá a todos los clientes de Prodigy Infinitum disfrutar de una nueva experiencia al recorrer la Red; además de estar en disponibilidad de bajar archivos, música y video con mayor rapidez.

La incorporación de los actuales usuarios al nuevo ancho de banda se efectuará en forma gratuita. A quienes contraten por primera vez el servicio, éste se les proporcionará ya con la nueva velocidad y con las mismas tarifas vigentes.

Además de este aumento en la velocidad, los clientes de Prodigy Infinitum tienen acceso a valores adicionales únicos como lo es la navegación en sitios públicos de la red de Prodigy Móvil, cuenta de acceso conmutado, 25 cuentas de correo y protección para menores sin pago adicional.

Con la ampliación de su ancho de banda, Prodigy Infinitum se consolida como el mejor servicio de acceso a Internet de alta velocidad.

(This post was edited by johanson on May 4, 2005, 7:26 PM)

Jerry@Ajijic

May 5, 2005, 6:36 AM

Post #3 of 18 (2331 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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Pete, my speeds are:
2005-05-05 09:33:19 EST: 786 / 72
Your download speed : 805351 bps, or 786 kbps.
A 98.3 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 73759 bps, or 72 kbps.

I am supposed to have DSL at 512.

Jerseycoa

May 5, 2005, 5:25 PM

Post #4 of 18 (2304 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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I tested it yesterday 3 times at 821/108

Today 3 times: 824/98; 822/108; 823/212

Also DSL 512
Doris

(This post was edited by Jerseycoa on May 5, 2005, 5:26 PM)

johanson / Moderator

May 5, 2005, 6:47 PM

Post #5 of 18 (2292 views)

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Re: [Jerseycoa] Internet connection speeds

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Just think of it; the old 256 Kb/sec download speed has been increased now twice. First to 512 and then to 1024 Kb/sec or 1 Meg and that is down right respectable. And although one is only getting about 75% to 80% of that speed, for the price one pays, it's a good deal.

The problem is the upload speed didn't double first from 128 to 256 and then to 512 Kb/sec. Rather it has always stayed at 128 advertised, with an actual speed in my neighborhood averaging close to 68 Kb/sec or about 55% of advertised. And that is very slow

When I look at the statistics at a local internet service provider here in Ajijic, I see that the average person connected to the internet downloads about 2 to 3 times as much data as he uploads. Now if you are file sharing or using VoIP (vonage, packet8 etc) 68Kb/sec sucks. However if you usually surf the net this sad upload speed will not have as much of a negative impact upon you.

So if I had to sum it up, the advertised download speed is very respectable, but the un-advertised upload speed is very poor or sub-standard in North America

(This post was edited by johanson on May 5, 2005, 8:04 PM)

kirkswig

May 6, 2005, 4:07 AM

Post #6 of 18 (2277 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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I'm paying for 1Mbps down, 256Kbps up.

I'm getting 783Kbps down and 305Kbps up. And this is the best of the three attempts.

I go to their web site and I see now that, no, I'm not paying for 1Mbps anymore, I'm paying for somewhere between 512Kbps and 1280Kbps. I ran this test at 5AM so you'd think this would be the optimal speed for my connection.

So I'm paying more for a slower connection while everybody else gets faster connections for less money. That's just great.

Still, I am otherwise very happy with the service. Only one outage so far. My PC is dead so I only have the Macs which prevent me from reporting on VoIP use. I have the Vonage router but I don't want to commit to the service just yet since I'm already giving all of my money to Telmex.

Heh.

To boldly go where no wig has gone before.

Jerseycoa

May 6, 2005, 5:41 AM

Post #7 of 18 (2271 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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My upload speed is lower than it should be, but I only really use it for FTP and it hasn't presented any problems in the seven months I've had the service. I haven't had problems with Infinitum at all, of any kind, except for the email service, which is terrible.

Is there any late word on cable Internet here, Pete? I'll want to see how that goes. When I had it in the States it was way faster than DSL and since it doesn't rely on the phone line it was very reliable. I remember when 9/11 happened I had no phone service to contact family and friends for three days, but still had cable Internet and without it I would have gone mad, I think. But I'm not familiar with cable service in Mexico, so it may not be comparable.
Doris

johanson / Moderator

May 6, 2005, 6:10 AM

Post #8 of 18 (2265 views)

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Re: [kirkswig] Internet connection speeds

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Kirkswig:

There is still hope. Although the above press release only mentioned the two slower speeds, they did also mention that the changes were going to occure through the 13th of May. A friend of mine with the same speed as you here in Ajijic thinks his speed as increased by perhaps another 256 to, whats that 1280? He also noted that his download seems a little faster,

Time will tell

johanson / Moderator

May 6, 2005, 6:14 AM

Post #9 of 18 (2263 views)

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Re: [Jerseycoa] Internet connection speeds

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jersey or is that Doris:

Telecable will be offering internet lakeside. The big question is when. They are still perhaps 2 to 4 months out.. One of the lowest level workers suggested that perhaps it could be as late as November. I wish I had better information.

(This post was edited by johanson on May 6, 2005, 8:39 AM)

Jerry@Ajijic

May 6, 2005, 8:04 AM

Post #10 of 18 (2259 views)

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Re: [Jerry@Ajijic] Internet connection speeds

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Pete, I checked again and now my speeds are:

2005-05-06 11:02:16 EST: 831 / 196
Your download speed : 851087 bps, or 831 kbps.
A 103.8 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 201252 bps, or 196 kbps.

Jerseycoa

May 8, 2005, 5:53 AM

Post #11 of 18 (2220 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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In Reply To

jersey or is that Doris:

Either is fine. A lot of people online call me Jersey.

My check today: 826/108 - 827/107 - 827/212
Doris

Adrian

May 11, 2005, 12:28 PM

Post #12 of 18 (2188 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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Thanks for the test link. I am supposed to be on Prodigy 256/128 but just tested at 410/59.

Searching through the records, however, reveals that to be about average!

Adrian

johanson / Moderator

May 11, 2005, 1:19 PM

Post #13 of 18 (2183 views)

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Re: [Adrian] Internet connection speeds

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Yep 410 over 59 is about right. That upload speed is a little lower than average. I hardly ever have a slower speed than about 64 though. I sure wish I had that speed up here in modern WA state just 50 miles from the Microsoft HQ.

Trouble is I'm in the woods some 20 miles from the closest town for about 6 weeks. All I have is good quality dial-up. I sure do miss broadband. Oh well. I will be back in Mexico soon.

kirkswig

May 13, 2005, 1:42 AM

Post #14 of 18 (2142 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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You were right. Just yesterday (Thu, May 12) I noticed a big bump in throughput, so I ran the speed tests you've linked to again.

Yes, the tests show an increase in speed. I was 783Kbps down and 305Kbps up. Now it's telling me I'm 871/273.

However, my real world experience is much different. I first noticed the speed increase tonight as I was downloading a large file using BitTorrent. At one point in the transfer I got a 140KB/s, which translates to 1750Kbps down. This was sustained over a period of a couple of minutes, so I'm thinking it's a real figure.

Now I know what you're going to say, people are confusing the metric K which means 1000 with the computer K which means 1024 and some people are even translating 8 bits to mean 10 bits (e.g., 1000Kbps = 1KB/s) but even factoring all of that in the real world speeds I'm getting exceed those of the benchmarks.

I did this on a Power Mac running OS X, so that could be part of it. I've experienced various degrees of incompatibility between Macs and Windows machines when it comes to network IO, but it was always related to esoteric issues like how to negotiate and close connections. Once the connection is established the platforms are equal.

I'm thinking that the test completes so quickly that these connection issues manage to skew the times.

To boldly go where no wig has gone before.

Jerseycoa

May 14, 2005, 12:45 PM

Post #15 of 18 (2112 views)

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Re: [kirkswig] Internet connection speeds

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Today: 822/145 822/211 823/212
Doris

johanson / Moderator

May 14, 2005, 6:05 PM

Post #16 of 18 (2095 views)

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Re: [Jerseycoa] Internet connection speeds

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Doris:

You really are having a negative impact on my moral, posting this terrible information. Right now, I am just 45 miles line of site from the Microsoft HQ, or some 18 miles from the closest town here in the Cascade foothills in the state of WA. The fastest speed available to me is dialup. Right now I'm getting a 40 down by 32 up. Oh well I will be back in Mexico in 6 weeks.

PS because of the mountains, the only two way internet satellite visible to me at the cottage will be the service offered by www.wildblue.com . But it's not available yet.

(This post was edited by johanson on May 14, 2005, 6:07 PM)

Jerseycoa

May 18, 2005, 5:53 AM

Post #17 of 18 (2050 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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Yeah, Pete, but just think ... you have all that fancy HDTV stuff and I have no television at all and a touch of envy, too.

Now, I can live without television, but if I had to return to dial-up it would bother me a whole lot.

In Reply To

Doris

Carron

May 19, 2005, 8:49 AM

Post #18 of 18 (2021 views)

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Re: [johanson] Internet connection speeds

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My Hubby is the techno-buff in our family and he is out of town so I can't report on input/output speeds, but after waiting for months to get Infinitum (Telmex said we did not have a tower in our neighborhood) it finally arrived this past Tuesday. I am a believer already, although it is costing us a small fortune on a two-year contract!!

Our Compaq desktop computer setup was built last year to our specifications in a local shop here in Acuna and we have been pleased with it, but our Prodigy bills were hitting the sky due to the number of times we were interrupted on line by incoming phone calls to our two daughters and had to re-dial our Internect connection. We have also in the last several months been plagued by a general freezing up of our computer when we are on-line. This also required us to shut down everything and re-start, necessitating additional phone calls.

Infinitum is much faster and I have not been frozen out in two days. I love the way that now we never have to shut off the computer. Just wiggle the mouse and I am ready to communicate with the world. And incoming calls don't interrupt my computer time or require me to re-dial.