Virgin 30mb superhub upgrade speed tests are random

sjpkgp

Sorry if this is a daft set of questions - I am not a complete technophobe but can't find the answers.

Got our new 30mb broadband superhub from virgin today and installed, and activated, and after a small teething problem it is loading web pages fine, and it "feels" much faster. I did a speed test (speedtest.net) and was delighted to see a 33mb download speed, but did another test 2 minutes later and it was down to 15. Did a test on son's PC, and we were getting 9mbs. We have 3 wired PCs on the net, and I haven't yet configured it for wireless (we use lappys on wireless).

Stupid Q no. 1 - the two other PCs were not being used at all when I did first speed test. Can I assume that if all 3 PCs were being used they "share" the speed. When we did speedtest on son's PC no other PCs were being used, but his PC is straight off the ark (think 17ghz processor emachine - spec from about 6 years ago) so onto Q2 ...

Stupid Q no. 2 - does the spec of the machine alter things from a speed test pov (I accept that our crap PCs with little RAM and low GHz won't perform like our best PC with a fast processor and high RAM, but surely the speed tests should yield similar results no ???)

Stupid Q no 3 - I have not yet attempted to do wireless (son says he can see the new router but cannot connect on his iphone). Our old belkin N router (a year old mind) used to have WPA with a passkey. Has anyone yet done the wireless thing ? any tips for set up (think I will attempt this first thing tomorrow)

Another small point, I upgraded to XL ages ago on Virgin and got a new router free. I didn't bother using it as I was sort of happy with the N router, I now think I was probably missing a trick (laziness I am afraid - the other router is still in its box in my techy graveyard). The new 30mb combined router/modem is defo loads faster. I suspect had I installed the XL router I would have had faster speeds - anyway - it is water under the bridge now, but for anyone who thinks they might get the 30mb without installing virgin's new piece of kit, might be worth taking heed.

Thanks for responses, and sorry if they are daft questions,
Sal xx

debitcardmayhem

You will not get consistent test results from aywhere to be honest.
TCP/IP will not get 100mbps on 100 rated networks, two signals on the wire means they both back off and try again. Add in the headers and it gets worse. Look at the RFCs for TCP/IP,802.xxx etc , get bored very quickly and then be thankful you have something above 20mbps on average(estimate of course), at least you will download the RFCs faster than us mere mortals with upto 8mbps. THen work your way up from the transport layer etc. Someone might come on and explain it better , but hey my dinners on and with your speeds you have more spare time than me

closed

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/22/virgin_media_superhub_fail/

speedtest sites can produce erratic results.

spec of the machine and software installed can have an effect. are they all connected at 100MB (ethernet), which antivirus/firewall is installed?

robt_2

Have you turned off IP Flood Protection in the Superhub settings?

John_Gray

closed wrote: »

speedtest sites can produce erratic results

You can say that again!
SpeedTest.net has told me my 10 Mbps cable line was running at 54 Mbps! (I didn't tell Virgin Media unless they charged me...)

GunJack

...and yes, the spec and the software config of each pc or lappy will have an effect on throughtput. Add in that VM are probably the worst ISP for traffic shaping and speed throttling, and if you see speedtest results of 30meg consistently, I'd be amazed.....

fiendishlyclever

GunJack wrote: »

...and yes, the spec and the software config of each pc or lappy will have an effect on throughtput. Add in that VM are probably the worst ISP for traffic shaping and speed throttling, and if you see speedtest results of 30meg consistently, I'd be amazed.....

I've got a SamKnows box monitoring my broadband connection for their reliability stats. This data is for the last few days. Be amazed!

robt_2

GunJack wrote: »

...and yes, the spec and the software config of each pc or lappy will have an effect on throughtput. Add in that VM are probably the worst ISP for traffic shaping and speed throttling, and if you see speedtest results of 30meg consistently, I'd be amazed.....

Sounds like someone has an axe to grind.

I get 31 down and 3.1 up 24/7.