Slow-acting fast broadband.

ThisIsWeird

Thanks all. I think I've found the cure - post about it on MSE, and it starts working fine It's been fine since.

No additional anti-whatsits on my PC - just the MS Windows stuff. MalewareBytes is there, but only runs when I ask it to.

Cheers - I'll wait for the next weirdage, and runs the speed tests.

cajef

ThisIsWeird said:

 web page loads are hesitant at times, including MSE. Not all the time, but almost certainly at some points whenever I'm on the 'net.

The MSE site can take a few seconds to load from the bookmark, and then - when writing replies - it can fail to respond when I click on 'save draft' or even 'post' - nothing happens, and I may need to wait seconds before it does the task. Other times it freezes to the point I need to reload.

And other times it hums along just fine.

I have exactly the same for about the past three or four weeks all other sites working faultlessly, for some reason MSE appears to have suddenly developed an occasional glitch. 

ThisIsWeird

It doesn't appear to be a BB issue, as it just happened again on here when I tried to edit a post I'd just made - scroll...scroll...scroll... 'Reload'. Nowt. Close and reopen. Nowt. Ran a speed test by Ookla whilst MSE was failing to reload, and it returned the usual 12ms ping, 71 down and 18 up.

So it must be an intermittent site/provider glitch.

Hey-ho. Annoying first-world problem.

quartzz

I have zero practical advice to give, except for the fact that our internet (BT, 20Mbps download in this location) has been slightly duff recently (6-8 weeks) too. As you say, sometimes it hums along with torrent software that I'm sure I shouldn't talk about running along at 2MB/s constant downstream, and other times I'll click refresh. and wait. and wait.

If I was being non-technical it's almost like the computer+connection needs to "settle" into regular performance mode, then when you do something different with it (eg, brand new website), it has to "figure out" it's connection or handshake. I wish I had more technical info to back up this statement

Just as a random example. I try to load amazon, 2 browser tabs. I wait. 20 seconds. nothing. I give up. I load up google - it loads within 3 seconds. I reload amazon, and it loads within 3 seconds. tHe InTeRnEt

ThisIsWeird

Yes, it's completely inconsistent. And pretty clearly nothing to do with actual 'speed'.

booneruk

ThisIsWeird said:

It doesn't appear to be a BB issue, as it just happened again on here when I tried to edit a post I'd just made - scroll...scroll...scroll... 'Reload'. Nowt. Close and reopen. Nowt. Ran a speed test by Ookla whilst MSE was failing to reload, and it returned the usual 12ms ping, 71 down and 18 up.

So it must be an intermittent site/provider glitch.

Hey-ho. Annoying first-world problem.

MSE is suffering its own problems lately so shouldn't be used to judge your broadband connection. While you were having problems with MSE, were other websites similarly slow? (doesn't sound like it if you were able to run a speedtest on a website successfully)

quartzz

One thing I can say is that 2 months ago, in this actual room my net was more or less fine (actually it's Wifi in here not ethernet) - but apparently in a different room, on demand TV wasn't very good. Apparently we had some issue where the "master" socket was downstairs, but the router was plugged into a "non" master socket upstairs. The BT engineer came round 4 weeks ago and had to change the "master" into being one of the other plugs in the walls (that was the start of my recent Wifi not being very good). A BT tech themself would be able to give you more information about this, but as far as I gathered there was some adapter (a PCB or something) that sat behind one of the wall sockets that converted the wall socket into "master" or "not master". There was some issue about making sure the router was plugged into the best wall socket for the connection

FreeBear

prowla said:

phillw said:

Its like phoning Lamborghini and saying, I'm only able to drive at 30mph. Maybe there is other traffic, maybe there is a fault with the car.

The connection to your house might be 70mbs, but the you will quickly be on a line shared by 50 people and it won't be 50x70. It could be 50x7. By the time you get to MSE, you are on a line shared by thousands at peak times.

If you are using WiFi then router placement can make a huge difference. I fixed slow broadband at someone's house where they had the router under the stairs, surrounded by boxes.

It can help if there is a pattern, as you can just avoid those times. 

Bitrates are expressed in Mbps.

Most of the time, I might agree with you. But many years ago when i was (briefly) with Tiscali, i was getting around 64 bits per second for over a week - yes, just 64. You could count them coming down the line. Got to the point where I told them they were in breach of contract and jumped ship to another provider.

ThisIsWeird

FreeBear said:

prowla said:

phillw said:

Its like phoning Lamborghini and saying, I'm only able to drive at 30mph. Maybe there is other traffic, maybe there is a fault with the car.

The connection to your house might be 70mbs, but the you will quickly be on a line shared by 50 people and it won't be 50x70. It could be 50x7. By the time you get to MSE, you are on a line shared by thousands at peak times.

If you are using WiFi then router placement can make a huge difference. I fixed slow broadband at someone's house where they had the router under the stairs, surrounded by boxes.

It can help if there is a pattern, as you can just avoid those times. 

Bitrates are expressed in Mbps.

Most of the time, I might agree with you. But many years ago when i was (briefly) with Tiscali, i was getting around 64 bits per second for over a week - yes, just 64. You could count them coming down the line. Got to the point where I told them they were in breach of contract and jumped ship to another provider.

Thanks - that makes me feel a lot better :-)

ThisIsWeird

booneruk said:

ThisIsWeird said:

It doesn't appear to be a BB issue, as it just happened again on here when I tried to edit a post I'd just made - scroll...scroll...scroll... 'Reload'. Nowt. Close and reopen. Nowt. Ran a speed test by Ookla whilst MSE was failing to reload, and it returned the usual 12ms ping, 71 down and 18 up.

So it must be an intermittent site/provider glitch.

Hey-ho. Annoying first-world problem.

MSE is suffering its own problems lately so shouldn't be used to judge your broadband connection. While you were having problems with MSE, were other websites similarly slow? (doesn't sound like it if you were able to run a speedtest on a website successfully)

It does seem more obvious on MSE, as - for example - you post a reply and nothing happens. Sometimes it'll just do nothing, and other times - as this morning - it'll actually 'time out'.

But it also happens with Gmail, with logging-in being sluggish and hesitant. Sometimes the list of accounts won't pop down, or choosing one leads to nothing for a few seconds, so it's 'back' and try again, when it usually does work.

I can discount it being 'speed', as I always get consistent 12ms pings, and 75 up and 20 down. Also eliminate it being machine and OS, as my Android phone does it as well.

Irritating, that's all :-)