Forums > Specific Focus > Technical Mexico

Rolly

Nov 4, 2006, 4:36 PM

Post #1 of 16 (4451 views)

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DSL change over from 512 K to 1 Meg

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Some folks in the Lake Chapala area have reported that their DSL service was switched from 512 to 1 meg recently. Mine hasn't changed. Today my service was out, so I called the service number. After waiting on hold long enough to pay a dozen games of Free Cell, I got an operator and asked for an English speaker who came on with almost no wait. He fixed my problem. Then I asked why I had not been changed to 1 meg. He said they are working on converting the whole country -- slowly -- and that the process may take a year to complete. I guess it is being done by the street repair guys who hardly ever fix pot holes.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

esperanza

Nov 4, 2006, 5:58 PM

Post #2 of 16 (4435 views)

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Re: [Rolly] DSL change over from 512 K to 1 Meg

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That would explain why the changeover has not happened in my neighborhood.

The pothole crews have been working overtime to get the streets fixed around here.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

johanson / Moderator

Nov 4, 2006, 7:06 PM

Post #3 of 16 (4425 views)

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Re: [esperanza] DSL change over from 512 K to 1 Meg

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Yes Rolly, the Advertised download speed has doubled, but the capacity of the system has not doubled so the actual download speeds are only twice as fast during those periods when very few people are on line. Most of the time, at least from my home, the speeds are maybe 25% to 50% faster, not twice as fast as hoped for, because there so many other folks on line

Although the download speeds have increased, the upload speeds remain the same

I just did a speed test thinking I would be able to complain and show how slow the connection usually is or was. Well not tonight, I just got 801 down by 106 up and 5 minutes later 709/107 kb/sec on www.dslreports.com

I know Esperanza has cable so I bet her speeds are even faster.

(This post was edited by johanson on Nov 4, 2006, 7:11 PM)

esperanza

Nov 4, 2006, 7:34 PM

Post #4 of 16 (4421 views)

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Re: [johanson] DSL change over from 512 K to 1 Meg

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1762 up/236 down.

Have you ever tested using http://www.upseros.com/testvelocidad

Try it.

Oddly enough, earlier in the week my connection was soooooooo slow I couldn't stand it. I called my server; the tech said nothing was wrong. Isn't it interesting that it's running about 10 times as fast since I called. Hmmm.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

(This post was edited by esperanza on Nov 4, 2006, 7:38 PM)

johanson / Moderator

Nov 4, 2006, 8:54 PM

Post #5 of 16 (4411 views)

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Re: [esperanza] DSL change over from 512 K to 1 Meg

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No: I hadn't tried http://www.upseros.com/testvelocidad . However I just did. I couldn't get in at first. So I tried first http://www.upseros.com/ and then left clicked on the "test de velocidad" link and then got in. The next time I right clicked on the link and obtained the properties thereof which showed the URL to be http://www.upseros.com/testvelocidad.php and with that I was able to get in

When I checked my speeds, I became even more envious of you Esperanza. The speeds I got from your test site always showed my speeds to be lower than what I got at www.dslreports.com. By about 10 to 15% That means using my dsl test site your 1762up/236 down would have been closer to 2,000 up/260 down and those speeds are darn right outstanding. what do you pay per month for this connection?

sfmacaws

Nov 4, 2006, 9:03 PM

Post #6 of 16 (4408 views)

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Re: [johanson] DSL change over from 512 K to 1 Meg

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I don't think that upload speed is accurate. I've gotten over the top numbers sometimes as well and the gurus on datastormusers have said that there are some things that can skew it and not to believe it. I'd venture a guess that the upload speeds will rarely to never exceed the download speeds.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

Ron Pickering W3FJW

Nov 4, 2006, 9:37 PM

Post #7 of 16 (4402 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] DSL change over from 512 K to 1 Meg

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You're right Jonna. The upload speed will never exceed the download speed. Reason: No need for a high upload speed unless one publishes large web or data sites. 99.99% of the users do not need that speed and bandwidth.
Most just need enough to handle their VOIP needs which I believe top off about 156k upload for good communications.
Most users just query a search engine, chat on chat sites, or surf to various sites none of which require anything approaching high speeds. The important side of the equation is the download speed which on a highly visited site won't matter anyway as one just has to wait in the queue until the server responds to your request.
For the average user I would estimate that the ratio of upload vs download usage is probably less than .001 to 99.999%.
Getting older and still not down here.

bournemouth

Nov 5, 2006, 6:10 AM

Post #8 of 16 (4387 views)

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Re: [johanson] DSL change over from 512 K to 1 Meg

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I tested, one after the other, on this site and my usual site, which is Cox Las Vegas.
Whilst the download speeds came in fairly close - 870.60 and 876.032, the upload speeds were quite different 108.234 against 71.176. I'd love to know which one is accurate but I suspect neither truly is.

toddmc

Nov 6, 2006, 3:20 PM

Post #9 of 16 (4348 views)

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Favourite Speed test Especially if you VOIP

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Favourite Speed test Especially if you VOIP
http://myvoipspeed.visualware.com/ca/index.html

If you use VOIP even if you have good bandwidth you can have problems
I have taken to using this before I make a call as we dont get the best signal where I am in Patzcuaro.

Todd

*************************
Our new life in Patzcuaro: http://lifeinthecorazon.blogspot.com

bournemouth

Nov 6, 2006, 3:45 PM

Post #10 of 16 (4343 views)

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Re: [toddmc] Favourite Speed test Especially if you VOIP

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Todd - as I've been having VOIP problems today, I went and ran your test - results, 668/42.3 - which may explain the VOIP problem.

I then ran Cox Las Vegas - 705/50.4 and after that a Mexican test that someone mentioned the other day - 631/78.96.

These were all in a period of less than 5 minutes - how on earth can they all vary so much?

toddmc

Nov 6, 2006, 3:51 PM

Post #11 of 16 (4340 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] Favourite Speed test Especially if you VOIP

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On the left hand side of the page where you do the test are a number of terms explained.
Reading through those taught me quite a bit.
The one that comes to mind is QOS
Which stands for Quality of Service.

What that basically tests is how consistent the bandwidth is, which is very important to VOIP

Based on the range in the numbers you mentioned I would guess you QOS is not very high.
Do the test again and see what your QOS number is.

Good luck!

Todd

*************************
Our new life in Patzcuaro: http://lifeinthecorazon.blogspot.com

bournemouth

Nov 6, 2006, 5:30 PM

Post #12 of 16 (4325 views)

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Re: [toddmc] Favourite Speed test Especially if you VOIP

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Just did it again, 7.30 p.m. CST and it came in at 807/93.6 with 80% QOS - a great improvement over the earlier one. What I cannot understand is how three tests, run one after the other, can be so different. But no-one ever said I would understand this stuff!

tonyburton

Nov 6, 2006, 5:50 PM

Post #13 of 16 (4319 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] Favourite Speed test Especially if you VOIP

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Think of it as traffic flowing (or not) along a road... some days there is more, others less, sometimes an accident/jam, etc.

Ron Pickering W3FJW

Nov 6, 2006, 6:49 PM

Post #14 of 16 (4312 views)

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Re: [tonyburton] Favourite Speed test Especially if you VOIP

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A great description Tony.

The reason it's different from one access to the next is because the path through the "net" is always routed between several different servers and each server in the path may be busy, not too busy, overloaded, etc. so the speeds you're seeing from each attempt are from different paths (routes) through the net to the site and depend on each servers available bandwidth at that particular time.
If on an extremely busy server, you may be put in the queue until such a time as the server can answer your request in which case it may take 500 miliseconds to a few minutes before the server can address your request.

Hope this helps make it a bit clearer.
Getting older and still not down here.

taltman711

Nov 6, 2006, 7:37 PM

Post #15 of 16 (4305 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] Favourite Speed test Especially if you VOIP

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bournemouth said "Just did it again, 7.30 p.m. CST and it came in at 807/93.6 with 80% QOS - a great improvement over the earlier one. What I cannot understand is how three tests, run one after the other, can be so different. But no-one ever said I would understand this stuff!"

The best speed test site for explaining the results is
http://www.vonage-forum.com/gate.html?name=Forums

You must register to use the speed test. It is free. Scroll down the right hand side to find the "register here". They don't exactly make it obvious. After registering, go to the top left "Vonage Forum Menu". Under the "Vonage Information" heading, you will see the speed test. Don't forget to click the Start Test button, the graphic makes it seem as though the test is already running. The summary that shows after the test is finished explains the basics of the quality of your connection.

Tim

Papirex

Nov 8, 2006, 3:17 PM

Post #16 of 16 (4257 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Favourite Speed test Especially if you VOIP

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I downloaded the VOIP test that Todd recommended a few days ago and found it very useful. Today, I registered with Vonage forums to try the test recommended by Taltman. I thought it would be interesting to compare the two tests.

They both use the same, identical test, except that Vonage has left a few things out of their version. In the version used by Vonage, there is no choice of which server to use, and it doesn’t seem to have as much information regarding the test results.

To use the Vonage version, I first need to go to the Vonage website and log in to the forums website, then select the VOIP tests. I like the link that Todd provided, because I have put a shortcut to it on my desktop, I double click on it, and I’m ready to test.

This test is a lot better than the way I used to tell if I was likely to get a good VOIP connection. I used to dial a call, and if the ring tone sounded scratchy. I would hang up and try later. If the ring tone sounded scratchy, I always got a bad connection.

I think (without really knowing) that heavy Internet traffic is the cause of VOIP calls being the pits sometimes. Most of the time, Vonage is an excellent, cheap way to make and receive international long distance calls, and it is half the price when we make domestic long distance calls to other cities here in Mexico.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

(This post was edited by RexC on Nov 8, 2006, 3:22 PM)