Thursday, 22 May 2014

The fastest and slowest Internet speeds in America

Average internet speeds by Congressional district, courtesy Gizmodo
The tiny town of Ephrata, Wash., is home to just 7,664 residents. It has six public schools, an Amtrak station and one tiny newspaper, the Grant County Journal. It also has the fastest broadband Internet in America.
That’s according to Net Index, a measure of Internet speed maintained by Ookla, a software and broadband testing company based in Seattle and Kalispell, Mont. The company’s software tests Internet download speeds across the country, and for the first half of last year, it found Ephrata’s average download speed of 85.5 megabits per second was far faster than anywhere else in the country.
Kansas City came in second, the study found, at an average speed of 49.9 Mbps. Both cities have help: Ephrata is home to iFiber Communications, a broadband company that covers four sparsely populated rural Washington counties. And in 2011, Google chose Kansas City to be the guinea pig in an experiment to bring ultra high-speed Internet access to metro areas.

Internet access is a basic human right: A Q&A with Keren Elazari

Keren Elazari speaks at TED2014. The day she gave her talk, we spoke to her about TK. Photo: James Duncan Davidson
Two weeks ago, hours after Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to “wipe out” Twitter, his government blocked access to the platform across the country. It was just weeks before a hotly contended election, and Erdoğan was upset about tweets accusing him of corruption. A judicial ruling in Turkey called for Twitter to take down the offending links, but when Twitter did not comply, the Turkish government opted to block the site. (Since then, the courts have deemed the ban illegal, but the government has yet to lift it — and instead banned access to YouTube as well, reportedly due to a security leak.)
Other governments have also tried to block access to parts or all of the Internet in the past, including Egypt’s Internet shutdown in January 2011 and Syria’s in May 2013. As it happened, cybersecurity expert Keren Elazari was talking at TED2014 about the effects of the Egyptian shutdown and others like it around the same time as news of the Turkish Twitter ban was starting to trend on Twitter.
In her talk, Elazari said that hackers play an essential role in giving power, or free access to information, back to the people when governments try to take it away. We were curious to hear her take on the situation in Turkey, so we sat down with her to discuss the ban and the uneasy relationship between tech companies, like Facebook or Twitter, and governments. An edited version of our conversation follows:
So what’s really going on in Turkey?  

Hong Kong increases lead in Internet speed league, now up to 63.6 Mbps

As the first country ever to break through the 60 Mbps Internet speed barrier, Hong Kong has, according to the latest figures from Akamai, increased its lead over its closest rivals.
Now enjoying an average peak connection speed of 63.6 Mbps, people in Hong Kong should be saying to themselves, “wow, that’s fast.” Especially when you consider that the world average peak connection speed is 18.4 Mbps.

Worldwide leaders in Internet speed

Over the first quarter 2013, South Korea fell to fourth place with 44.8 Mbps, bypassed by both Japan and Romania at 50 Mbps and 47.9 Mbps respectively.
Here’s what the current top 10 list looks like (we added the United States for reference):
internet broadband speed
Hong Kong seems to be more and more in a league of its own. According to Akamai, this is due to investments in FTTH (Fiber To The Home) infrastructure and aggressive high speed pricing, which now seems to be paying off.
A few other things worth noting:

Lowering Barriers to High Speed Internet in the Arab World

On affordability grounds alone, millions of people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region could be excluded from today’s information revolution. Meeting this challenge has become a top regional priority. Many countries in the Arab world have identified broadband Internet as a critical input to the broader objective of nation building and the transition to a knowledge-based economy. There is growing consensus that broadband Internet is critical in fostering sustainable economic development and job creation, and a key component of strategies for reducing poverty, enhancing job opportunities, and advancing trade integration. Indeed broadband is expected to have a similar impact on the transformation of the economy and of society as a whole as the printing press, steam engines, or electricity had in the past. But for it to have its full impact, people will need access to it. Lowering Barriers to High Speed Internet in the Arab WorldAs a consequence, an increasing number of countries across MENA are adopting national broadband strategies to promote broadband access. Today 11 countries out of 19 in the region have already adopted such policies. The adoption of a national broadband strategy or policy means that a country is making dedicated efforts to stimulate broadband market development in a systematic and holistic way with all key stakeholders. At the core of such a plan are often ambitious national targets for broadband penetration or coverage. For example, the Arab Republic of Egypt’s “eMisr” National Broadband Plan calls for about 22 percent of households subscribed to fixed broadband by 2015 and about 40 percent by 2021.

How do I... get faster internet at home?

Your experience of the internet is heavily governed by the speed at which it is served. Slow internet, for instance, can make web pages load slowly. 

Fortunately there are ways to make your internet faster. Here are some tips.

Check your speed

Before taking any action you should check your current internet speed. Go to the SpeedTest.net website and hit 'Begin Test'. This will tell you your ping (lower is better), download speed (higher is better) and upload speed (again, higher is better). 
If the numbers you are getting seem much lower than what you are meant to be getting, ring up your internet service provider to see what's going on. If you are getting good numbers but experiencing problems, the issue is perhaps elsewhere.

A screenshot of Speedtest.net
A screenshot ofSpeedtest.net

Check what's using your internet

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Slow Internet Speeds

Several factors can contribute to slow Internet speeds.   This article defines potential contributing factors to slower Internet speeds, suggests additional resources and recommends troubleshooting steps to  increase your Internet speed. 
First things first…  Click here to run a Charter speed test.
If you are experiencing slow speeds over a wireless connection, use an Ethernet cord to hardwire into your gateway to run your speed test (to isolate if it's a potential issue with your Internet connection or with your wireless performance).
  • Potential Causes
  • File Sharing Programs
  • Virus/Adware/Malware
  • Firewalls
  • Low available system memory (RAM)
  • Resources
  • Charter Internet Speed Packages
  • Troubleshooting
  • Slow Speeds
  • Deleting Files and Cookies - Internet Explorer
  • Running NETSTAT - Windows XP
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows 7
  • Checking your computers RAM
  • Ultra 100 Considerations
  • Quick Links
  • Charter Speed Test
  • Powerboost™ Reference
  • Slow WiFi Speeds
  • About Charter Internet
 

Potential Causes

File Sharing Programs

Programs such as LimeWire, KaZaa, Bit Torrent, ect.  are File Sharing Programs.  File Sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information such as computer programs, multi media (audio, video), documents or electronic books.  Because they require uploading and downloading huge amounts of data, they hog your Internet speed.

Virus/Adware/Malware

These types of programs are installed and run on your computer without your knowledge.  You may inadvertently download one of these by clicking on unknown hyperlinks or opening files attached to emails.  To check your computer, download the Charter Security Suite

Firewalls

A firewall monitors and logs incoming and outgoing network traffic on your computer, and includes a set of rules for what is allowed.  By definition, these programs scan all data that comes in to and out of your computer, so the stricter you have the firewall's rules set, the more intense scanning it has to perform, thereby potentially slowing down your Internet speeds.  You likely have a program to manage this for you – in most cases, the default rules are sufficient and well-suited for home use.

Low available system memory (RAM)

Random Access Memory (RAM), also known as a computer's "memory", provides space for your computer to read and write data as is required to run certain programs.  The more programs you have running on your computer, the more RAM or memory that is being used, meaning the slower your computer will operate.

How to Speed Up Your Slow Internet Connection

Broadband internet connections have given users access to instant information. However, slow internet connection problems are becoming more common. The speed of your internet connection is based on a number of factors. If any of these factors are hampered, the overall connection speed will slow. Some causes of slow internet connection are beyond your control. For example a poor Internet Service Provider (ISP).
The majority of the connection problems can be easily eliminated with a few maintenance task. Some of the factors that directly affect your internet net connection are modem speed, line quality, windows cache, security software and the quality of your internet service provider. The tips below will help you to tweak your system to get the best that your broadband has to offer.
Special Note: One of the major causes of slowdown on the net is spyware. So, before you begin tweaking your setting. Make sure that your computer is free of spyware and other nasty. There are tons of good anti-spyware programs out there like Microsoft Security Essentials. Errors also play big part in your internet and performance slow down. Learn how to make your PC faster and Find Errors that cause a slow internet connection.

How to Check Your Internet Speed

You can check your internet connection by hovering your mouse pointer over the internet connection icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. A pop up window will display your internet connection. You can also click the icon to launch the Properties window. Also you can test your internet speed at speedtest.net

The graphic shows a connection that is using a wireless router so in addition to your internet speed, log on duration and status, you will also see the signal strength. You can get more accurate test by using online

Never mind the connection speed, measure the connection consistency!

Knowing your Internet speed is slow without providing the means to help resolve the problem is of little value.
When discussing Internet connectivity problems the number one complaint is always about speed or the lack of it. End-users relay the same message over and over again, and quite frequently users with Internet service problems are quick to defend their choice of service provider with statements like “But I have a 5 Mbps or a 10 Mbps connection so I shouldn't have jerky video” or “But the speed tester I use says I can run 9 VoIP lines, so why are my VoIP calls often garbled?”
As speed is the prime criteria when users select an Internet service provider, when they are asked “what is the consistency of the service?”, the question is most often met with a puzzled expression along with the retort, “consistency! What do you mean by consistency?”
Speed versus consistency is a crucial issue for measuring bandwidth performance. An example of speed without consistency would be like driving a Ferrari during the heavily congested rush hour — while the capability of high speed exists, the speed is not realized due to other factors.
We all drive on highways and through experience we know only too well that our journey time will not be governed by the maximum speed of our car or the maximum speed of the highway. In reality it will be governed by the many different events that occur on our journey such as weather, congestion, accident backup or highway construction.
Running a speed test that shows a slow throughput without consideration of the event information to help the ISP to identify and resolve inherent performance issues has absolutely no value. Only through careful measurement of every aspect of the end-to-end journey can a speed test really start to benefit the user, and more importantly benefit the service provider by providing the information needed to identify the problem.
In the Internet world there are many different issues that affect how our applications perform. When performance is as we expect we are content, when it is not we get frustrated. Understanding the events that impact your Internet connection along with the consistency of service delivered for your applications is vitally important for the problems to be resolved. In our highway example, if the consistency of the highway service was to be measured by its users, it would be a measure of the highway’s ability to deliver you to your destination in a time that closely matches the time it would take if you were able to sustain the maximum allowed speed. In other words, assuming you are driving as fast as allowed by the legal limit, the calculation of highway consistency would be:
Highway consistency % = Your Speed/maximum allowed highway speed x 100

Slow Downloads and Connection to Content Servers

Is your download actually slow?

  • Comparing Steam download speeds to your Internet connection speed:

    Internet and other network connection speeds are typically measured in multiples of bits per second. However, Steam downloads, like many other file downloads, are measured in multiples of bytes per second. A byte is a group of 8 bits.
    To compare your Steam download speed to your connection speed, multiply your Steam download speed by 8. For example, if you are getting 768KB/s (kilobytes per second) as your Steam download speed, you are getting 6144Kb/s (kilobits per second) or 6 megabits per second download speed according to most Internet service providers.
    Example download speed conversions

    Advertised Connection Speed Est. Max Steam Download Speed
    3 megabits/second 384 KB/S
    5 megabits/second 640 KB/S
    15 megabits/second 1.9 MB/S
    20 megabits/second 2.5 MB/S
    30 megabits/second 3.75 MB/S
    50 megabits/second 6.25 MB/S
  • What is your actual Internet connection speed?

    The speed displayed in your System Tray or network connection properties is typically the speed you are connected to your local area network (LAN) and does not represent the speed you are connected to the Internet at. Please refer to the materials for your connection plan or contact your Internet service provider (ISP) for information on your connection speed. You can also use one of the numerous speed testing sites available online such as SpeedTest or DSLReports to test your connection speed.

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Your Broadband Company May Be Holding Your Internet Access Hostage

One of the biggest Internet backbone companies in the world, Level 3, claimed this week that five of the major American consumer broadband providers have been abusing their near-monopoly access to American homes and offices to pad their profits, raise consumer costs and delay enhancements to the high speed lines.
The charge comes just as Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are considering a merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable that would make the new company the largest broadband provider in the country.
The big broadband providers “are deliberately harming the service they deliver to their paying customers,” writes Mark Taylor, Level 3′s VP of Content and Media, in a blog post on Monday, who argued that their near-monopoly in local markets was the main factor allowing them to get away with it. “They are not allowing us to fulfill the requests their customers make for content.”
While Taylor did not name the Internet Service Providers at issue in his post, he dropped some hints. “Five of those congested peers are in the United States and one is in Europe,” he writes. “There are none in any other part of the world. All six are large Broadband consumer networks with a dominant or exclusive market share in their local market. In countries or markets where consumers have multiple Broadband choices (like the UK) there are no congested peers.”

How Can I Make Sure I'm Getting the Download Speeds I'm Paying For?

How Can I Make Sure I'm Getting the Download Speeds I'm Paying For?
As I understand it, most internet service plans require you to pay for specific upload and download speeds. How can I ensure my internet provider is delivering on the speeds I'm paying for?
Sincerely,
Double Downloading
Dear DD,
Great (and timely) question, and one I'm sure we're all thinking a little bit about now that Google Fiber's insanely fast internet has us all a little jealous. Just last week the FCC revealed that most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) usually meet their advertised speed rates. Of course, just because most ISPs are delivering what they're advertising doesn't mean yours is. The basic process to test your download speeds is something anyone can do. The first step: we need to verify how much you're actually paying for.

Find Out the Speed You're Paying For

The first thing to do is check in with your ISP and see what speed you're paying for (if you don't already

How fast should my Internet connection be to watch streaming HD movies?


Netflix recommends a minimum Internet connection speed of 500kbps if you want to stream movies.
Image courtesy of Netflix
If you checked a dozen different video streaming information Web sites, you'd probably get 12 different suggestions as to how fast your Internet download speed needs to be to watch high definition (HD) video. So what's the correct speed? Let's take a look at the data out there and discover a little more about how your Internet speed relates to streaming HD movies.
First, consider what it means for video to be HD. For a single still image on your screen, high definition refers to having at least 720 lines of pixels on the screen, from top to bottom, making up the image. The upper end of HD is 1,080 lines of pixels. The more pixels you can cram into the same physical space, the more detailed an image you can see on the screen. That increased detail means higher definition.

How fast is my broadband? A guide to upload speed, download speed and how to check it

Were you looking for our home broadband speed test or mobile broadband speed test?
Alongside price, speed is one of the key factors people talk about when it comes to choosing broadband. All of the internet service providers (ISPs) quote the broadband download speed as a key part of their advertising. And then there are upload speeds, megabits and speed tests - but what does it all mean?

Megabits and megabytes

Broadband speed is measured in megabits per second, commonly written as Mb or Mbps (as in 24Mb, or 24Mbps). Make sure you don't get confused between megabits and megabytes (which tends to be written as MB, or GB when referring to gigabytes) - these terms denote memory capacity, not speed.
There are eight bits in a byte, so, if your download speed is eight megabits per second (8Mb), then that's actually shifting 1 megabyte per second (1MB).
It's an important distinction, because file sizes (such as songs, pictures and movie clips) are described in megabytes, as are download allowances. So to recap; its megabits per second (Mb) when talking about broadband speed, and megabytes (MB) - or gigabytes (GB) for large files - when talking about file sizes and download caps.
You may also come across Kb and KB - kilobits and kilobytes - there are 1,024KB in a MB, and 1,024MB in a GB - the same goes for Kb/Mb/Gb. In today's terms though, these are tiny files or very slow speeds!

Download speed

When you connect to the internet, the download speed is the pace at which data (websites, programmes, music etc) is transferred from another source to your device.

Currently, when it comes to home broadband, advertised download speeds range from 8Mb to over 100Mb, but this is rising at a pretty quick rate - you can expect a broadband download speed of between 120Mb and 200Mb to become commonplace in the next few years.
Pretty impressive, as a 2Mb download speed was the common UK standard just a few years ago.
However, broadband download speed doesn't have to be a big factor in your decision on which broadband deal to choose. If you're simply going to be leisurely checking your email and surfing around a few web pages, the slowest packages available through Broadband Genie will comfortably suffice.
That said, if you're going to be sharing the connection between a lot of simultaneous connections, downloading a lot of files, especially large ones, gaming, or listening and watching a lot of streamed content (watching the likes of BBC iPlayer, especially in HD) it will be more of a concern.
A slow internet download speed can become very annoying if your downloads take forever and the video clip you're trying to watch keeps stalling. As a general rule, if you're going to rely on downloading a lot of content, or play a lot of online games, it is definitely worth looking at getting the fastest connection you can comfortably budget for.

How to Maximize the Speed of Your Internet Connection

Are web pages taking longer to load than they used to? Are your download speeds not matching the speed you should be getting? There are a lot of factors involved when it comes to your internet connection. Luckily there's a lot you can do to try to improve your performance, and you could see improvements in just a few minutes.

Part 1 of 3: Checking Your Hardware, Network and Connection

    • Run a speed test. Before you get down and dirty with your hardware and computer settings, check to see what kind of speeds you are getting and compare that to the advertised speeds for your service. There are a variety of speed test sites on the net, just search for "speed test" in Google and pick the top few results.
    • Different tests will give you different results. Even the same test may give you different results between tests. This is due to the location of test servers and the number of people sharing your connection.
    • Take multiple tests and find the average speed you are getting.
    • You may need to download plugins in order to run the tests.
    • If given the option, pick the test server closest to your physical location. This will help get you the most accurate results.
    • Compare your results against what you're paying for. Check with your service provider to see what speeds you "should" be getting. Keep in mind that speeds advertised by your provider are "best case" speeds, and you may not be able to actually get that number on a regular basis.
    • If you haven't upgraded your internet in a long time, you may be able to get better speeds for less money. Companies aren't usually keen to inform you of better deals, so check to see if new services are available that weren't when you signed up. Check with all the providers in your area.
    • Be aware of the megabyte/megabit difference. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) advertise in megabits, not megabytes. There are 8 megabits (Mb) in a megabyte (MB), so if you are paying for 25 megabits per second (Mbps), then that's just over 3 megabytes per second (MBps) of actual maximum transfer speed.

Should my Internet service be faster?

Should my Internet Service be Faster?

In our recent post, “Am I getting what I’m paying for?”, we discussed ways to discover if you receive the broadband service that you pay for each month and is advertised by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). In this article, we will take the conversation one step further and explore the question many consumers ask themselves, but don’t know how to answer: “Should my Internet service be faster?” Read on as we discuss some of the reasonable gaps between the service level promised by ISPs and the service you experience, how to perform the most accurate speed tests, how to eliminate barriers between you and your maximum speeds and other techniques that can help you evaluate if your current broadband speeds could be – and should be – faster.
Verify your Speedtest.net Server
When testing your speed, Speedtest.net initially recommends a testing location based on what it thinks is the shortest physical distance between you and one of the servers. However, because the Internet does not operate in direct geographic paths, this recommendation may not be ideal. To get your most accurate result try to find the server that provides the fastest and most consistent results. Pay attention to the latency, or ping time, as a low number is an indicator of a short network distance. More details regarding how to best use Speedtest.net can be found in the help section.
Speedtest.net
Accounting for Overhead
Aside from network congestion and your personal CPU load, there is also a natural amount of overhead that may account for slower than expected speeds with your broadband service. When data is being transferred across a network, some of it is information required for routing the message and describing the content. This extra data is referred to as overhead and acts like an envelope,

Monday, 19 May 2014

Top 5 Ways to Troubleshoot Your Broadband Internet Connection

There are few things in life as frustrating as an "Address Not Found" message in your Web browser. Timed-out connections, a little red X in your network connection icon, or an "Internet Explorer cannot display the Web page" error screen all add up to the same dismal problem -- something's wrong with your Internet connection.Finding and fixing the problem is never easy, mainly because there are so many places where something can go wrong. We're going to walk you through five relatively easy steps that will solve the majority of broadband Internet connection problems, no matter what kind of Internet service you use. We'll have you up and running, reading celebrity gossip and updating your Facebook status in no time.
 Check the Wires
If you see a red x in your network icon in Windows Vista, your computer might be able to diagnose the problem for you.
Screenshot by Ed Grabianowski
There are few things in life as frustrating as an "Address Not Found" message in your Web browser. Timed-out connections, a little red X in your network connection icon, or an "Internet Explorer cannot display the Web page" error screen all add up to the same dismal problem -- something's wrong with your Internet connection.
Finding and fixing the problem is never easy, mainly because there are so many places where something can go wrong. We're going to walk you through five relatively easy steps that will solve the majority of broadband Internet connection problems, no matter what kind of Internet service you use. We'll have you up and running, reading celebrity gossip and updating your Facebook status in no time.

Why Is My Internet Suddenly So Slow?


Why Is My Internet Suddenly So Slow?
Dear Lifehacker,
I have a fast internet connection, but it doesn't always earn the title. Sometimes I get half the speed I pay for during certain times of the day. Other times my upstream connection barely works. I've done all the usual modem resetting tech support always requires but I still have the problem. Any ideas?
Sincerely,
Sporadically Sluggish
Dear SS,
Yes, I have a lot of ideas! Internet connections slow down for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the fault belongs to your internet service provider (ISP) and sometimes you're the culprit. It may be a little bit of both. Let's take a look at some common causes of internet slowdown and get to the bottom of this.

It's Not Your Connection, It's Your Wi-Fi

You have a fast connection, but Wi-Fi can degrade that speed in all sorts of ways. Most people won't enjoy all their bandwidth because Wi-Fi reception usually sucks. There are numerous ways to improve it, but they'll only take you so far. When using the internet wirelessly, you often have to lower your expectations a little bit.
Let's take a look at what you can expect under ideal circumstances (not the maximum theoretical speeds each wireless technology can provide):

Speed Issues


We are available to help diagnose speed issues by phone.  Since slow Internet speeds can be caused by many factors, we recommend you review the list of factors and suggestions below prior to calling our Customer Care group. Please note that many of these steps may only apply to Windows-basedcomputers, and the steps listed may differ depending on the individual operating system (Windows, Apple) you are using.
  1. Please be aware of our Traffic Management Policies as it relates to your service. Xplornet has implemented Traffic Management Policies to try to ensure that each Xplornet customer receives fair and consistent access to the Internet.  For some of our platforms, the Traffic Management Policy includes reductions in speeds if you exceed a certain bandwidth allowance.  Our traffic management policies can be viewed at www.xplornet.com/traffic-management. 
  2. Sometimes what seems like slow Internet service is really a slow computer problem. Does your computer need some basic maintenance? Run your disk defragmentation utility, and a virus/malware scan, and empty your recycle bin. An unusually slow Internet connection is often the only sign that your computer is infected with viruses or other issues. Never allow the free space on your C: drive to be less than 10% of the total size. Ensure that programs which you no longer use are uninstalled, particularly an old anti-virus or firewall program. A local computer repair store should be able to help you with this kind of maintenance if you require assistance.

Saturday, 17 May 2014

Author: When It Comes To High-Speed Internet, U.S. 'Falling Way Behind'

For an increasing number of Americans, access to high-speed Internet has become an essential part of our lives. We do work, email friends, find restaurants, watch videos and movies, and check the weather. And the Internet is increasingly used for important services, like video medical consults and online education, and is relied upon by businesses for critical operations.
Susan Crawford says that in cities like Seoul and Stockholm, high-speed, high-capacity networks are taken for granted. "It really is astonishing what's going on in America," she says. "We're falling way behind in the pack of developed nations when it comes to high-speed Internet access, capacity and prices."Under a recent court decision, Internet service providers, primarily cable companies, aren't required to treat all websites equally. They can make deals to provide faster service to some, or slow down sites that refuse to pay them extra fees. Law professor Susan Crawford says you may be experiencing the effects of this — without realizing it.
Why, for example, do you have to wait for YouTube videos to buffer? Crawford explains: "You may think it's the YouTube application. You may think there is something wrong with your computer. It's probably the network provider making life unpleasant for YouTube because YouTube has refused to pay in order to cross its wires to reach you. And we'll be seeing much more of that kind of activity in the future."
Crawford, author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the Gilded Age, explains how we got to this point. "The [Federal Communications Commission] in the early 2000s really thought that competition would do the job of regulatory oversight — that that would protect Americans," she tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies. The idea was that cable, telephone and wireless companies would battle it out, which would yield low prices for American consumers. "As it turns out, they were wrong and we've come into an era where these markets have consolidated and for most Americans, their only choice for high-speed, high-capacity Internet connection is their local cable monopoly."

FCC approves plan to consider paid priority on Internet

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted in favor of advancing a proposal that could dramatically reshape the way consumers experience the Internet, opening the possibility of Internet service providers charging Web sites for higher-quality delivery of their content to American consumers.
The plan, approved in a three-to-two vote along party lines, could unleash a new economy on the Web where an Internet service provider such as Verizon would charge a Web site such as Netflix for faster video streaming. The proposal would, though, prohibit telecom firms from outright blocking Web sites.
The plan is not a final rule, but the vote on Thursday is a significant step forward on a controversial idea that has invited fierce opposition from consumer advocates, Silicon Valley heavyweights, and Democratic lawmakers. The FCC will now open the proposal to a total 120 days of public comment. Final rules, aimed for the end of the year, could be rewritten after the agency reviews the public comments.
Critics of the plan, as it stands now, worry that it would mark the end of net neutrality, the principle that says that all content online should be treated equally by Internet service providers.

Download Speed: 10 Ways to Increase Your Internet Speed Today

download speed
So you want to learn how to increase your download speed? Who wouldn’t?
Recently my area got upgraded to ADSL2+ and with it my speeds increased quite a lot. And you know what else increased? My productivity.
I was really surprised at how much the speed of my internet increased the amount of work I could get through; whether it was sending files, downloading and uploading images to blogs, or just loading new pages to read.
And more importantly, I was shocked at how much extra speed I could get through my line by tweaking a few things around my house.
In this post I am going to show you a few ways you can increase your internet speed. These are things you might not know about.

Friday, 16 May 2014

How to Choose the Best Internet Speed


Decisions, Decisions

With so many high-speed Internet options out there, sometimes it's hard to find figure out what plan is fast enough for you without overpaying. WhiteFence offers a wide variety of different plans from all of the most trusted nationwide Internet providers, helping you find the best Internet speed possible for your home.
Whether you spend your time on the Internet sending e-mail, downloading music, playing online games or streaming videos, there are all kinds of plans out there to ensure you're connected to the Web with an Internet plan that meets both your speed and budget needs.

How much Internet speed is right for you?

Internet speed - or a lack thereof - could influence the quality of experience you have with everything from emailing and web browsing to online gaming and video conferencing.
So, to help you figure out what speed is right for you, you should first understand that connection speeds are calibrated in megabits per second (Mb or Mbps), a number referring to how many bits of data - in millions - can be moved in a second.
The other factor for measuring speeds is bandwidth, or the "size of the conduit in which the data is traveling," says David Salway, director of the Broadband Program Office for New York State.
Do you want to get up to speed on Internet speeds? Keep reading to find out how much Internet speed is right for you...

Download Speed: 1-4 Mbps

When you purchase Internet service, you might be offered packages grouped by speeds in various tiers. The 1-4 Mbps tier is at the lowest end of today's connection speeds, thus accounting for a lower price range, according to Salway.
What can you expect at this tier? "There will be buffering as videos catch up," Salway explains, referring to delays in the streaming, or delivery, of media content. He adds that "If you have a shared connection with three people using [the Internet] at the same time, it's going to be a lower speed."
However, if only one person is using the Internet connection, they should be able to enjoy most basic applications without bothersome delays or buffering.
What You Can Do: Basic email, web browsing, music streaming, standard definition video (SD), remote surveillance, telecommuting*

All About Internet Speed Requirements for Hulu, Netflix, and Vudu Movie Viewing

When you stream movies on your network media player/media streamer, Smart TV, or Networked Blu-ray Disc player, from online sites like Netflix, Hulu or Vudu, you don't want to have to wait while the movie loads, or buffers. You certainly don't want the movie to stop every few minutes to load again. In order to have smooth standard definition video, you need a connection that is more than 2 Mb/s. For HD or 3D, you need higher speeds.
Vudu Speed Test

You Need Fast Internet Speeds for Streaming Video

When streaming from your Netflix Instant Que, the Netflix service will adjust the quality of video to its assessment of your internet speed. If Netflix determines that you have a slower speed, it will not stream high definition quality video to you, even if the movie or TV show is available in HD.
Other video streaming services, such as Vudu, let you run a test to see if the higher quality video will play on your media streamer. If a video halts and buffers repeatedly while you are watching it, a message will appear asking if you would rather stream a lower quality version.

What Internet Speeds Are Available?

While there are many rural communities that cannot even reach the 2 Mb/s speed, more of the larger cities, suburbs and urban areas have speeds available of 10 Mb/s and above.  It is not limited to broadband/cable internet. On a recent visit to Southern California, I experienced internet speeds nearing 20 Mb/s from a DSL internet connection.
Some providers offer DSL speeds of 24 Mb/s and above, while some cable providers offer 30 mpbs or higher.   Google Fiber (if you are lucky to live in a community that has access to it) offers 1 Gb/s (one gigabite per second) speeds. These ultra-high speed connections can handle just about any video we have available now and much more.

How Fast Must Your Internet Be?

Many internet providers charge a premium for faster speeds. To get an idea of your internet speed plan, look at your internet provider bill or check under internet services on your cable or phone bill.
You can also test your current internet speed using the speedtest websites. If you want to upload and view your photos or watch online videos, consider opting for a faster internet package.

What internet speed should you choose to watch movies?

With Netflix, while you can stream at internet speeds of 1 Mb/s, the quality will be grainy on your big screen TV — as if you were watching a VHS movie.
After scouring the Netflix website, I spoke with Steve Swasey, Vice President of Communications for Netflix.
As a guideline, Swasey suggested the following minimum internet speeds for Netflix:
1 Mb/s for viewing on a laptop computer
2 Mb/s for viewing standard definition video on a TV
4 Mb/s for viewing High Definition video
5 Mb/s or more for the best audio and video experience
The Netflix streaming service can determine the speed that a video is streaming and will adjust the video quality to match that speed. As a result, you don't experience interruptions and buffering of the video but the picture quality may also suffer.

Vudu Suggested Streaming Speed 

When you rent a movie from Vudu, you are able to choose the quality of your video. Vudu's better quality audio and video "HDX" format costs more to rent than HD or standard definition videos.
To be sure the video will play smoothly, you can watch a two-minute preview test before making your final rental quality decision.
When you click on a movie, you can find a speed requirement chart under the "more info" menu tab. This chart will give you an idea how fast you need for each quality of video.
1.0 - 2.3 Mb/s for SD — Standard definition video
2.3 Mb/s - 4.5 Mbs for HD — High definition 720p resolution video
4.5 Mb/s - 9 Mb/s for HDX — Full high definition 1080p resolution video and high definition audio
Over 9 Mb/s for 3-D HD movies

The 4K Factor

With the introduction of 4K Ultra HD TVs, there is move to provide 4K resolution content via internet streaming. Producing content and providing options to access it through the current internet broadband infrastructure are only two aspects of the issue. 4K streaming also puts added pressure on the internet streaming speeds needed to provide stable access. Current estimates (as of the 2014/2015 time frame), put the minimum required streaming speed at about 15 mbps. For more details, read the report from BGR.com.

Connecting Your Network Media Player to Your Home Network Must Also Be Fast

Remember that the speeds are measured at the device.  This means that if you test your speed at the device and it is significantly lower than your internet speed plan, the problem could be in how you connect from the device to your home network router.
Connecting to your home network wirelessly can often be slower than connecting using a powerline adapter.  Directly connecting your network media player to your router using an Ethernet cable is your best choice.
For the best high definition streaming video experience, use a power-line adapter or router that is labeled as an "AV" model.  Expect new technologies to improve in-home connection speeds in the near future.
Network Media Player Basics
  • What is a Network Media Player?
  • What is a Media Streamer?
  • The Difference Between "Streaming" and "Downloading" Media
Internet Home Theater
  • Six Ways to Incorporate the Internet Into Your Home Theater
  • Pros and Cons of Accessing the Internet on a Home Theater
  • Best Network Media Players
Media File Basics
  • Digital Media File Format Basics
  • What You Need to Play Media on a Network Media Player
  • All About Firmware Updates
Source:  http://hometheater.about.com/od/internethometheater2/a/Internet-Speed-for-Netflix-Vudu.htm

What speeds do I need for Skype, Netflix, video games, etc.?

Here are the recommended connection speeds for many popular Internet activities. If you are doing multiple things at once online or sharing a connection with multiple computers, then these recommended speeds may not be enough. All speeds are provided in the Speedtest.net default of Mbps (megabits per second).

Skype (source: Skype Support)

  • For voice calls: 0.1 Mbps download / 0.1 Mbps upload
  • For video calls: 0.5 Mbps download / 0.5 Mbps upload
  • For HD video calls: 1.5 Mbps download / 1.5 Mbps upload
An important note: these connection speed requirements include downloading and uploading at the same time. Since Speedtest.net tests download and upload separately for accuracy, your results will need to be higher than the the numbers provided above. For example, your upload speed may be 2 Mbps in the Speedtest.net result, but may go down to 1 Mbps while your connection is downloading something at the same time.

What Internet Speed Do You Need to Watch Streaming Video Online Without Breaks?


If you've ever streamed a video online, chances are you've felt the frustration of slow buffering and choppy playback. This is usually caused by a poor Internet connection with bandwidth too low to stream the video smoothly. Although most streaming video sites offer a minimum suggested speed, these figures often differ by site and video quality.

Choppy playback can quickly make video time into nap time.

Conventions

Before getting into the actual speed, it's crucial to know what the numbers and letters associated with Internet speed mean. Your Internet speed is typically presented with two figures representing bandwidth -- basically meaning speed. The first is your download speed, which determines how fast your computer receives data from the Internet. The second is upload speed, or how fast your computer sends information through the Internet. For streaming video to your computer, the download speed is the important information. Figures are typically presented in megabits per second, abbreviated as Mbps. This is not to be confused with megabytes per second, represented with the similar MBps.

Speed Requirements

Varying video sites require varying speeds. While YouTube's bandwidth system requirement is just 0.5Mbps, Hulu recommends three times that, with 1.5Mbps. Roku's support site suggests 3Mbps. Netflix also suggests 3Mbps for DVD-quality video. Three Mbps should be enough for standard-definition video and audio streaming. Higher quality requires higher bandwidth. For example, Netflix suggests a 5Mbps connection for high-definition video and a whopping 12Mbps for 3-D content.

Considerations

Meeting the minimum required bandwidth for a site doesn't necessarily guarantee smooth, uninterrupted playback. If other computers are connected to the same Internet connection you're using, you're sharing the bandwidth with them. So your 2Mbps connection doesn't mean you'll see 2Mbps of download speed. Another factor is your Wi-Fi signal speed. Unless you're using a wired connection, chances are you're losing at least a bit of potential bandwidth. Even programs that use the Internet or other Internet tabs can affect playback, according to YouTube's system requirements page.

Test Your Speed

Using a speed test website, you can test your connection speed at any time (see Resources). Running one speed test might not provide an accurate answer though, so run the test multiple times or try different speed test sites. To get a clearer picture of your typical speeds, run a test daily for a week, testing at the same time each day. Consider testing close to when you normally watch videos online. For example, if you typically watch a streaming movie when you get home from work, run your tests then instead of in the early morning.

Source:  http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/internet-speed-need-watch-streaming-video-online-breaks-37232.html

Thursday, 15 May 2014

Why is my Internet connection so slow?

This information applies to Windows Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Internet Explorer 8.
No matter how fast your Internet connection is, there are times when things will slow down to a crawl. This article will help you sort out what kinds of things can go wrong, learn what you can do about them, and discover how to get the most from your Internet connection.

The type of connection you have makes a difference

The type of Internet connection you use is the most important factor in determining your connection speed. The three most common ways to connect to the Internet from home are dial-up, DSL, and cable. If you have a choice, cable is usually the fastest, but both DSL and cable are faster than dial-up.
Many Internet providers also offer Fiber Optic Service (FiOS), which connects to the Internet using light over an optical network. In your home, you still connect your computer through copper wiring. The advantage of FiOS is that it can provide higher speeds than traditional copper wire connections such as DSL or cable. Some Internet providers offer multiple options, depending on the area you are in. More populated areas are more likely to have FiOS available. Check with your phone company or Internet provider for more information.

Troubleshooting Speed Issues

This article will explain how to troubleshoot speed issues for an ADSL, ADSL2+ or Naked DSL internet connection.
Click one of these links to skip down:
  • Symptoms
  • Things to check
  • Troubleshooting
  • If your speeds improve during the troubleshooting
  • More information

Symptoms

  • Speed test run on a cable-connected computer shows speed slower than 1.5Mbps (1500kbps)
  • Connection speed much slower than it used to be
  • Files take a long time to download despite being small in size
  • Some websites don’t load properly or suffer lag

Things to check

Check that your slow speeds aren’t caused by the following before proceeding with the troubleshooting:
Potential cause Try this:
Call dropouts or line noise on your home phone Always troubleshoot phone issues before focusing on any internet issues. Slow speeds may just be a side-affect from a phone problem.
Weak wireless signal Test your speed on a computer connected to your modem with an Ethernet cable.
Virus or malware infection Run an antivirus/anti-malware scan using your antivirus software. Please contact your security software’s Customer Support if you need a hand with this.
Firewalls or other antivirus software negatively affecting internet performance Test your speed while firewall/antivirus software is temporarily disabled. Please contact your security software’s Customer Support if you need a hand with this.
Data congestion Disconnect any additional devices from your home network.
Network congestion Test your speed at multiple times of the day, particularly if speed only slows around 5-8PM.

An Overview of Troubleshooting Slow Internet Speeds

Summary

Are you having trouble with your Internet speeds, or do things appear to be moving slower than they used to on your computer? We are happy to help you learn what could be causing the problem and how to fix it.

Solution

Many things can cause slow Internet speeds. These easy steps will help identify what might be causing your slow Internet speeds and how to fix the issue.
1

Run a speed test.

Use our Accessing the Internet Speed Check Tool article to access and run a speed test. The Cox Internet Speed Test site will tell you exactly what Internet speeds you are getting in your home. Keeping your computer and network settings the same as you always have them will give you the most accurate results. If you are using a router, keep using it.
After running the test, if you are getting close to your Internet tier maximum speed, then it is safe to say the complication is not in your network or Internet settings.
You can view the Limitations of Service page to see the limits and allowances for your Internet package. 
2

Check your connections. 

Use the Checking for Loose or Damaged Internet Wiring article to check your connections.
USB connections are limited in the Internet speed they provide. Cox recommends using an Ethernet cable for the best Internet experience, and the fastest speeds.
USB Connector             Ethernet Connector
                                               USB                                                                                           Ethernet
3

Check your modem.

Fixing the local only internet access issue in Windows Vista

Details

2011-03-14 – Update: Please make sure to first try the automated fix provided by Microsoft in the knowledge base article (look for the “Fix it” icon).
Local Access onlyRecently I had issues with Windows Vista where it would get on a network, but would only have local access (i.e. “Access: Local only” in the Network and Sharing Center). After spending about an hour and a half I finally stumbled across the solution. Once again, the solution was hidden in a forum, and the Microsoft knowledge base article was fairly hard to follow. So, here are the steps summarized for quickly fixing this1.
  1. First we have to find the name of network adapter that you are using to connect, you can skip this if you know the name of your network adapter.
    1. Open Network and Sharing Center (Start > Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center)
    2. Click on “Manage network connections” under “Tasks” on the left side.
    3. Note the name of the device in “Device Name” column for the connection that you are using (e.g. Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection)

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Optimizing Your Wireless or Low-Speed Internet Connection

Select your operating system below and follow the steps to optimize your internet connection.
Windows

    Use a wired connection to optimize your connection to the game.
        Unplug the power to your modem.
        Follow the Ethernet cable from the modem to the router.
        Unplug it from the router.
        Plug this end into your computer.
        Plug the power back into your modem and let it start up.
        Restart your computer.
        Attempt to connect to the game.

    If this succeeds, your wireless connection is unable to maintain the connections mentioned above. Your router may need a firmware update or replacement. For information on updating your router's firmware, contact your router's manufacturer.

Akamai: Global average Internet speed grew 27% year-over-year to 3.8 Mbps, mobile traffic jumped by 70%

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Global average connection speeds have hit a new high, rising 27 percent year-over-year to 3.8 Mbps. At the same time, the demands of the mobile world continue to grow, with data traffic increasing by 70 percent in the last year. The latest figures come from Akamai, which today published its quarterly State of the Internet report for Q4 2013.
The firm listed 133 markets as experiencing an increase in average connection speeds year-over-year, ranging from 0.7 percent in Lebanon (to 1.3 Mbps) to a 164 percent rise in Réunion (to 6.4 Mbps). Only seven countries saw their average connection speeds decrease quarter-over-quarter, with losses of more than 20 percent in Lesotho, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates (to 1.4 Mbps, 1.4 Mbps, and 4.2 Mbps respectively.)
As you can see below, all of the top 10 countries/regions saw double-digit percentage growth year-over-year, but only six saw growth quarter-over-quarter:q4 2013 internet speed Akamai: Global average Internet speed grew 27% year over year to 3.8 Mbps, mobile traffic jumped by 70%
“We’ve reached a significant milestone in the improvement of average connection speeds,” said David Belson, editor of the State of the Internet Report. “The fact that all of the top 10 countries/regions’ average connection speeds are now at or exceeding the high broadband threshold – and continued

Google's Titan drone deal is about more than Internet access

Google has confirmed its acquisition of drone maker Titan Aerospace and hinted that the technology could be used for a lot more than providing Internet access to remote parts of the world.
Titan makes unmanned, solar-powered aircraft that can fly at 65,000 feet and act as "atmospheric satellites," beaming Internet access to parts of the world that are underserved today by wired and cellular networks.
Titan Aerospace
Titan's Solara 50 unmanned, solar powered aircraft.
That fits in with Google's Project Loon, which is experimenting with high-altitude balloons as another way it can bring Internet access to remote areas.

Internet Access Is Not a Human Right

FROM the streets of Tunis to Tahrir Square and beyond, protests around the world last year were built on the Internet and the many devices that interact with it. Though the demonstrations thrived because thousands of people turned out to participate, they could never have happened as they did without the ability that the Internet offers to communicate, organize and publicize everywhere, instantaneously.
It is no surprise, then, that the protests have raised questions about whether Internet access is or should be a civil or human right. The issue is particularly acute in countries whose governments clamped down on Internet access in an attempt to quell the protesters. In June, citing the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, a report by the United Nations’ special rapporteur went so far as to declare that the Internet had “become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights.” Over the past few years, courts and parliaments in countries like France and Estonia have pronounced Internet access a human right.

Monday, 12 May 2014

Internet speed is not as advertised

Internet speeds cannot be guaranteed

It is impossible for an internet service provider (isp) to guarantee you a specific internet speed. This is because the speed is influenced and changed by a number of factors outside the control of the provider. These factors are:
  • how many people are online at the same time as you. The more people who are using the internet at the same time, the slower your speed will be
  • electrical interference
  • the technology you are using to access the internet
  • how far your property is from the exchange if you receive internet through the phone line.

How accurate does the advertised speed have to be?

Most isps advertise the speed with the words up to, for example, up to 8MB per second. This means the speed could be anything between 0 and 8 MB. However, the Advertising Standards Agency has said that speeds should be close to the advertised maximum.

Speed Problems



Sorry you are having problems with the speed of the VPN.

We usually find that most (but certainly not all) speed issues are down to the overall Internet link between our customers and our servers. We have had thousands of customers use our service over the years and you can usually predict the speed of a users connection based on their local broadband speed and their geographical proximity to our servers. So for example, a user in France on a 20Mb cable connection, connecting to our UK servers will usually get around 15Mb, the same would be true for most of Northern Europe. However a user in Singapore on a 100Mb cable connection, connected to the same UK server, would most likely get between 2 and 4Mb. This disparity is down to the speed of the overall Internet link between the users location and our server locations.

If you are having speed problems, the first thing to do is to try and quantify the problem and to do this we recommend that you use a speed test utility, our favorite one is www.speedtest.net

Go to the www.speedtest.net site and run a test without the VPN connected.

Problems bonding internet connections decreased speeds

I'm having a problem here and I'm not 100% sure what it is. Here is what I have setup so far:
I have 1 DSL line.
I have 1 WIMAX modem connected
I have 1 3g usb adapater
All 3 internet pipes work individually though none of them are very fast and the DSL is intermittent while the 3g is just plain slow. But what the heck 3 crappy lines should be 1 semi decent line in the end but it isnt so in my case. Looks like the nearest server geographically is the SG server. Here are some stats I've taken on pretty much default settings:
Wimax (full signal strength on wireless modem) w/out switchboard performed 230kbps down avg on a single torrent file after it normalized and was steady. After connecting through SG (no other connections in use) it performed at 200kbps avg.
DSL: performed at 125kbps down avg on the same torrent file. After connecting through SG (again other connections were disabled) it performed at 200kbps. *This connection is intermittent so it jumped i did the best i could to average it but it did seem a lot faster after utilizing the SG server*

Connection problems, no Internet access

1. Rebooting your DSL router

Reboot your DSL router by switching the toggle switch on the back of the router off and on again. Then wait at least 30 seconds and check if your Internet access works again and the problem has been rectified.

2. Checking your DSL router in detail

Is the “Power” LED on your DSL router lit?

No -> Check the power supply and the power connection.

Is the “DSL” LED on your DSL router lit?


No -> Remove the cable between the router and the telephone socket and reconnect it.

Is a micro filter connected to all telephones in your household?

PLDT Explains Internet Speed Problems in the Philippines From March 28 Onwards

The Philippine internet users experienced a dismal internet speed for the past few days because of the problem faced by telecom giant, Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) starting from March 28, 2014.
The country’s largest broadband Internet Service Provider (ISP), PLDT, is currently hit by a slow-down internet connection that affected many of its subscribers nationwide.
According to some reports posted by TechinAsia.com, the two internet fiber lines in the Asia Pacific Cable Network (APCN) was reportedly broken since last week.

Internet connection problems

Having internet connection problems? Here are a few pointers to help you identify the source of your broadband connection problems and get back online.
Solving your internet problems means understanding how it works. There are three parts to a home broadband connection – the line, the router and your computer. Some providers can charge you a lot if they send someone over and the fault turns out to be with you, so it’s important to diagnose the problem and stick to your guns.

Internet problems troubleshooting steps

This guide will work for all internet connection problems of all types. For 3G or 4G (USB) connections stop at Step 3. If you connect with cable or a fibre-optic package stop at step 5. For ADSL connections continue all the way to the bottom!
1. Make sure it’s definitely broken
Try some other web pages, if possible using another browser like FireFox or Chrome. If you use Outlook or a mail client, try sending yourself an email. If any of these work, your internet is okay. If none of them work, you have a problem.

Troubleshoot XFINITY Internet Connectivity Issues

Introduction

If you're having problems connecting or staying connected to XFINITY Internet service or the wireless gateway, there are some solutions you can try.

Connectivity Troubleshooting

If you haven’t already, check for reported outages before trying any fixes. If there is an outage in your area, your XFINITY Internet service will not work. To learn how to check for outages, please see What to Do if Your Cable or Internet is Out.


Check the power, connections, and installation status

  • Make sure the plugs for the devices haven’t come loose, the outlets are working, and a fuse hasn't blown.
  • Check that all the connections are secure.
  • Try to access more than one website to be sure that the problem is not related to a specific site.
  • Confirm that your account is up to date on payments. Late payments can cause an interruption of service.
  • If you were recently installing software, make sure the installation successfully finished.
  • If you have not been keeping your computer’s software up-to-date, check for and install any recommended updates.

How to improve broadband speed

 Internet speed depends upon many factors. One of the main aspect to be considered is your own PC. Download speed may vary based on the settings of the computer. If it is an old PC, the upgrade of hardware may be necessary to improve the speed. There is no point in going for a fast Internet connection unless your PC is ready to match with the provider’s options. A few suggestions given in this article will be of use to those who are frustrated with slow connection speed. It is worth trying these tricks to see if you can speed up your existing connection before making attempts to switch to a faster, more expensive broadband package.
Browser settings:
Microsoft’s latest browser is ‘Internet Explorer 7’. Even now people use the Version 6 of the Internet Explorer. Downloading pages using older versions of Internet Explorer will cause sufficient delay in loading pages with more pictures. Therefore by upgrading to the latest version one could reduce the time it takes to download a page. There are also other browsers like Mozilla Firefox or Opera which provide faster downloads. It is essential to adjust your browser settings. But one should be extremely careful while going for changing the browser settings. It is always better to visit sites like TweakXp.com and get more information on such aspects.

Fixing Internet Connection Problems

Solution
Can't get on the Internet? Can't get web pages to open or display? A home network can provide Internet access to your computer, laptop, iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, Android, printer, telephone, and gaming console. If any of those devices can no longer connect to the Internet from inside your home, try the easy fixes below to get up and running again.

Fix #1

Unplug the modem, then plug it back in

If you were able to surf the web but now you can’t, this fix is for you.
  1. Close the Internet Explorer browser if it’s open.
  2. Unplug the modem’s power cord. Not sure which is the power cord? Look here.

  3. Count to 15, which lets the modem power down.
  4. Plug it back in.

  5. Wait two minutes for the modem to initialize the connection.

How to Diagnose and Fix your Slow Internet Connection

Let’s say you have subscribed to a fast broadband Internet connection at home and you are getting the expected download speeds that were initially promised by the ISP.
However, sometimes it may happen that the speed of the same Internet connection slows down and then even simple websites may take forever to load on your machine.

Troubleshooting your Slow Internet Connection

There can be several reasons why you may be getting slower-than-usual Internet connection speeds. For instance, you could be accessing the web during peak hours. Or your download manager could be downloading files in the background thus consuming all the bandwidth. Or, if you are accessing the Internet over Wi-Fi, maybe you’re too far off from the wireless router.

Resolving Broadband Internet Connection Problems (Windows 7)

This document applies to HP computers with Windows 7.
This document contains solutions for most common broadband issues. Connection issues might result from poor line quality over the DSL phone line or coaxial cable line, bad cable connections (bent cables or pins), the Internet Service is experiencing problems, or software is missing or incorrectly configured.
Connection issues with a broadband connection can cause the following messages to be displayed in Windows 7 and Internet Explorer:
  • Internet Explorer cannot display the Web page.
  • Work Offline: No connection to the Internet is currently available.
  • Not connected: You are currently not connected to any networks.
This document can help resolve most of the issues that cause these messages.

Before beginning

Check the following items before troubleshooting a broadband connection issue, make sure that an account is setup with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The ISP should have provided critical information and hardware needed to setup your account:

12 Tips for Troubleshooting Your Internet Connection

10 Tips for Troubleshooting Your Internet Connection"My Internet is so slow." "I can't stream video from my laptop to my phone." "My tablet won't connect to my router." These are just a few of the many common problems users experience with their home networks and wireless connections. Why? Because even though your router is one of the most useful tech devices you own, it can also be one of the most troublesome. Setting up a home router—and keeping it running—is still more complicated and requires more tech knowledge than the average user could wish. Fortunately, we can help.
The first step is understanding what your router is and how it works. A router performs two primary functions. First, it routes data packets between networks. Second, it serves as a wireless access point, sharing the inbound Internet connection with all

Use SpeedTest to help diagnose Internet problems


For the past week or so, I've been trying to pinpoint a problem with my Internet connection.
Usually I blame Comcast, my ISP, but a typical Comcast outage is exactly that: a total interruption of service. I can tell from looking at the System Tray network icon that there's no connection.
This time, however, the problem was intermittent. Sometimes my connection would slow to a crawl, other times it would disappear altogether for a few minutes. But the network icon didn't indicate a loss of service.
Time for some detective work. Sherlock Holmes has a magnifying glass; I use SpeedTest. This free service runs a quick, well, speed test on your Internet connection. It's a handy way to pinpoint the source of an Internet slowdown

Top 10 Ways to Deal With a Slow Internet Connection

Top 10 Ways to Deal With a Slow Internet ConnectionSometimes, slow internet is the universe's way of telling you to go play outside. Other times, it's the universe's cruel joke to destroy your productivity. Here are 10 ways to troubleshoot, fix, or just survive a slow internet connection.Top 10 Ways to Deal With a Slow Internet Connection

10. Check Your Speeds (and Your Plan)

Sometimes, your internet is slow because you're only paying for slow internet. Log onto your provider's web site (or give them a call) and find out what plan you have. Then, head on over to Speedtest.net and run a speed test. If the numbers match up to what you're paying for, then your network is working fine and you're just paying for slow internet—and the best way to speed it up will be to upgrade

How to Speed up a Slow Internet Connection

A slow internet connection wastes time, turns streamed videos into bad slideshows, and puts your computer in real danger of being lobbed out the window. Here are some steps you can take to fix or improve your connection.

Method 1 of 4: Optimize your browser

Speed up a Slow Internet Connection Step 1.jpgSwitch to a different browser. Some people use Internet Explorer, which, while a decent browser, does use a lot of resources. Moreover, as web pages become more advanced, the number of processes necessary to load them grows, meaning you’re usually better off with a browser that can be customized to cut back on ads and other non-essentials.

  • Firefox has many extensions that allow for the ability to block elements such as JavaScript,

Reasons Why Highspeed Internet Can Become Sluggish

Question: Reasons Why Highspeed Internet Can Become Sluggish
Businessman working on laptopAnswer: Slow internet connections happen for various reasons, even when you pay for a 'highspeed connection' like DSL or cable. Because the internet (and World Wide Web) is built on hundreds of different technologies trying to talk to each other, there are many places where data can slow down before its reaches your computer screen. Your ISP might be at fault, certainly, but there are many other factors to look at before assigning blame. Some of these slow points are within your control, and can be quickly fixed with a little do-it-yourself effort.

Common reasons why highspeed internet connections perform more slowly than claimed:
  1. You might have poor hardware connecting your machine to the wall.
  2. Maybe your modem-router is not configured correctly.

Why is my Internet connection so slow?

This information applies to Windows Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Internet Explorer 8.
No matter how fast your Internet connection is, there are times when things will slow down to a crawl. This article will help you sort out what kinds of things can go wrong, learn what you can do about them, and discover how to get the most from your Internet connection.

The type of connection you have makes a difference

The type of Internet connection you use is the most important factor in determining your connection speed. The three most common ways to connect to the Internet from home are dial-up, DSL, and cable. If you have a choice, cable is usually the fastest, but both DSL and cable are faster than dial-up.
Many Internet providers also offer Fiber Optic Service (FiOS), which connects to the Internet using light over an optical network. In your home, you still connect your computer through copper wiring. The advantage of FiOS is that it can provide higher speeds than traditional copper wire connections such as DSL or cable. Some Internet providers offer multiple options, depending on the area you are in. More populated areas are more likely to have FiOS available. Check with your phone company or Internet provider for more information.

Friday, 9 May 2014

The Importance of a Broadband Speed Test When Deciding on an Internet Provider

Computers these days are pretty much capable of anything, well almost anything. They can store music, home videos, and photographs; treasured possessions, the like of which can take a lifetime to acquire. It provides a medium for mass communication across cities and even continents, whilst hosting a never-ending amount of games to occupy oneself with in times of boredom.
Whilst not particularly cheap to buy, the prices of computers are gradually coming down as they become more accepted as a vital and integral part of our daily lives. However, for all of their uses, if the area in which you live does not receive adequate coverage, you may find that the expensive computer you just bought, with all of its features and capabilities, is as of much use to you as an over-sized paperweight.

How to Carefully Choose a Suitable Internet Speed Test

The most suitable and accurate online tool to perform an internet speed test will be one hosted in the same country and if possible using the user's same connection. Since during the test, files are uploaded and downloaded, you can only see maximum statistics this way. Otherwise if users need to check connection speed with other countries, websites hosted in such countries should be used.
There are various things that the site for a broadband test can do in aiding Internet connection. One obvious thing is that it is capable of running a test on the broadband speed to gauge the throughput and determine whether the Internet speed is suitable. There are various reliable websites with freely available speed tests as well as several broadband tests other than the speed tests.