Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 8:28 AM, Lloyd Kvam pyt...@venix.com wrote: Which was fine, until DSL came along. DSL works by putting equipment in the CO and connecting that to the existing loops. The DSL equipment overlays a digital signal onto analog phone service. That doesn't work when there's no local loop connection in the CO. FairPoint will serve DSL from the RT. Ah, I neglected to mention that part of it. It's certainly possible to put DSL equipment in a Remote Terminal. But DSL equipment is expensive. Plus, space in RTs is much more limited, and so costs more to rent, when it's available at all. If an independent provider like G4 is only going to get one or two subscribers on a given RT, it would cost more than they'd make. So it's much less likely to happen. There's also the possibility of a independent provider reselling the ILEC's DSL. Sometimes this is still worth it for customers, because the ISP will have experience dealing with the ILEC, and spare the customer some of the pain. But you're still beholden to the telco, and inherit most of their limitations. I have no idea if G4 does this. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
On Wed, 2014-07-09 at 20:08 -0400, Ben Scott wrote: Which was fine, until DSL came along. DSL works by putting equipment in the CO and connecting that to the existing loops. The DSL equipment overlays a digital signal onto analog phone service. That doesn't work when there's no local loop connection in the CO. Just to expand on that a little bit. Verizon refused to put DSL equipment in the RT (Remote Terminal -- I've also heard them called SLIC: Subscriber Line Interface Cabinet). FairPoint will serve DSL from the RT. That's how I'm getting my service. I'm too far from the CO, but the RT is only 100 yards or so down the road. Comcast would provide more bandwidth, but they were harder for me to deal with, and the DSL is good enough. -- Lloyd Kvam 5 Foliage View Lebanon, NH 03766 802-448-0836 ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 5:28 AM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: However it looks like your connection goes through FairPoint equipment that our connections do not go through. Sorry we couldn't help you. Does anyone have more information about this? Does Milford have two parallel sets of equipment only one of which G4 can use? Or do they mean they just don't serve Milford? It could be they just don't serve Milford. This would mean G4 doesn't have equipment at the local CO (Central Office (building that houses the telephone switching equipment for your area)). But I'm guessing you are behind a pair gain system. Also called an SLC (Subscriber Loop Carrier). Traditionally, every telephone line runs on a dedicated pair of wires, AKA local loop. That pair goes all the way back to the CO, where it is connected to the switch (equipment that generates dial tone, processes dialed digits, connects telephone calls, etc.). There is nothing on the poles except wire. There's no intelligence in the terminal (telephone), either. Dumb terminal, dumb local loop, intelligent core. Now, the ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (the telco that owns the wires (FairPoint in NH))) has a limited number of pairs on the poles. Sometimes, to add capacity, they put equipment in the field, outside the CO. They put a small enclosure on the side of the road somewhere, called an RT (Remote Terminal). They grab some existing pairs and put digital signals on them, capable of carrying many voice channels at once. Then they fan out new pairs from there. Which was fine, until DSL came along. DSL works by putting equipment in the CO and connecting that to the existing loops. The DSL equipment overlays a digital signal onto analog phone service. That doesn't work when there's no local loop connection in the CO. Are there any other options in Milford? Or is this equipment thing limiting me? There's always cable, but my vague perception is that cable internet sucks for several reasons. Maybe I'm behind the times. I'm guessing the several reasons are mostly inaccurate or incomplete. Most of the time, coax beats DSL. Fiber beats coax, but there isn't much fiber around here. Terrestrial fixed wireless is great, but if you're not within radio line-of-sight to an ISP, it's no good. Satellite Internet is horrible; I'd almost prefer dialup modem. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
On Sun, Jul 6, 2014 at 1:14 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: I think FairPoint does have some service in NH that's analogous to FiOS ... FairPoint inherited Verizon's FiOS system when they bought NH. For at least a few years, FairPoint was contracting Verizon to operate and maintain the fiber; they didn't have the capability in-house. The Verizon-FairPoint transaction is a great example of No matter how bad things are, they can always get worse. Never thought I'd see the day where I was missing Verizon. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
On Sun, Jul 6, 2014 at 2:05 PM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: It's sounding like the upshot is that I should try comcast. Of those two, I'd much rather have Comcast than FairPoint. What does the cable modem consist of? From a black-box POV, I assume it's basically identical to a DSL modem. Magic on one side, CAT5 ethernet on the other. Plug my tomato-powered wireless router into that side and away I go. Pretty much. Gory details: Most DSL systems function like a high-speed serial line, and run PPP. The CPE (Customer Premises Equipment (the so-called modem)) may act as a router, terminating the PPP link, and providing an IP interface on the Ethernet port. They'll often force NAT in this mode, since that way the ISP doesn't have to give you valuable public IP address space. Alternatively, the CPE will forward the PPP frames over Ethernet (PPPoE), and it's up to the customer to to provide a router to terminate the PPP feed. This lets the customer have access to the public IP at the end of the PPP link, which is nice for geeks who want to run their own router anyway. Coax operates more like old-school 10BASE2 Ethernet, with a bunch of nodes on a shared bus. The CPE (cable modem) functions like a bridge. Customer plugs into the Ethernet port, does DHCP, and gets an IP address that way. Rather like plugging into your home LAN, except it's Comcast's DHCP server, instead of yours. Most cable operators limit the customer to one MAC address, so if you want more than one node, you need to provide your own router, and do NAT. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
On Mon, Jul 7, 2014 at 8:48 AM, Derek Atkins warl...@mit.edu wrote: Video buffering is not necessarily a latency-based complaint. It can be latency, but it can also be pure throughput constraint. Or packet loss, or jitter, or... -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org writes: Susan Cragin susancra...@earthlink.net writes: I find that latency is a bigger issue than I thought, especially when watching real-time video like the Red Sox games. This is one of the many reasons I don't watch streaming video, other than YT. Basically, I have 3-4 computers (distributed among 7 people) all using the internet at once and it's a frequent case that 2 or more of them are trying to DL something large at the same time. That sounds more like a bufferbloat problem than a latency issue. -derek -- Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board (SIPB) URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/PP-ASEL-IA N1NWH warl...@mit.eduPGP key available ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
John Abreau j...@blu.org writes: When I talk to actual non-technical people who tell me their Internet connection is too slow, I almost always find that they're complaining about slow browser response, or video that keeps buffering during play, or other latency issues. The number of complains I hear about large files taking too long to download is only a tiny fraction of the latency-based complaints. This is based on my direct first-hand experience, not on untested assumptions. Video buffering is not necessarily a latency-based complaint. It can be latency, but it can also be pure throughput constraint. Usually it's an issue at the sending site or intermediaries and not necessarily the last mile. Or it could be an issue at the local network (e.g. going to a wifi connection with marginal S/N that reduces your pipe significantly from what's available on wireline). For example, on my 22/6 Comcast service I can regularly see 30/8 when using ethernet and rsync and/or bittorrent.. But when I use my wifi I rarely see more than 8-10mbps pulling down the pipe (e.g. watching something on HBOGO). I'm 99% sure the issue is my wifi, although sometimes it's the upstream server being unable to service the requests reasonably. Rarely is it my Comcast last mile (except perhaps in the case of buffer bloat when my network is saturated). -derek -- Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board (SIPB) URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/PP-ASEL-IA N1NWH warl...@mit.eduPGP key available ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
Where are you that you even have FiOS as an option? Last I heard, Verizon wasn't doing business in NH anymore (except for Verizon Wireless) -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. On July 4, 2014 8:04:16 AM EDT, Mark Komarinski mkomarin...@wayga.org wrote: My FIOS is advertised 50Mbps up and down. When downloading games via steam I'm regularly peaking at 7MBps. Latency for things like audio and video chat is quite acceptable. I'm too far away from the CO to get anything other than ISDN so I'm kinda stuck with cable/FIOS. On Jul 4, 2014 7:41 AM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: John Abreau j...@blu.org writes: Internet speed is a conflation of two different things: bandwidth and latency. Merely increasing your bandwidth won't do anything to address problems with latency. If you combine both of these in your head and call it speed, then you're setting yourself up for expensive disappointment. I'm specifically looking for speed. Downloads, uploads, videos, etc. We don't do any gaming or anything where latency is a big issue. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
I live in MA. Got it probably 4 years ago when they did my town which was one of the last ones they did around here. On Jul 6, 2014 9:26 AM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote:Where are you that you even have FiOS as an option? Last I heard, Verizon wasnt doing business in NH anymore (except for Verizon Wireless) -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.On July 4, 2014 8:04:16 AM EDT, Mark Komarinski mkomarin...@wayga.org wrote: My FIOS is advertised 50Mbps up and down. When downloading games via steam I'm regularly peaking at 7MBps. Latency for things like audio and video chat is quite acceptable.I'm too far away from the CO to get anything other than ISDN so I'm kinda stuck with cable/FIOS.On Jul 4, 2014 7:41 AM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: John Abreau j...@blu.org writes: Internet "speed" is a conflation of two different things: bandwidth and latency. Merely increasing your bandwidth won't do anything to address problems with latency. If you combine both of these in your head and call it "speed", then you're setting yourself up for expensive disappointment. I'm specifically looking for speed. Downloads, uploads, videos, etc. We don't do any gaming or anything where latency is a big issue. gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ gnhlug-discuss mailing listgnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.orghttp://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
I think FairPoint does have some service in NH that's analogous to FiOS, but I don't see any way to find out from their website how much it costs or whether it's even available in a given area. Their phone robot says to go check the website or call back during normal business hours. -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. On July 6, 2014 9:33:09 AM EDT, Mark Komarinski mkomarin...@wayga.org wrote: I live in MA. Got it probably 4 years ago when they did my town which was one of the last ones they did around here. On Jul 6, 2014 9:26 AM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: Where are you that you even have FiOS as an option? Last I heard, Verizon wasn't doing business in NH anymore (except for Verizon Wireless) -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. On July 4, 2014 8:04:16 AM EDT, Mark Komarinski mkomarin...@wayga.org wrote: My FIOS is advertised 50Mbps up and down. When downloading games via steam I'm regularly peaking at 7MBps. Latency for things like audio and video chat is quite acceptable. I'm too far away from the CO to get anything other than ISDN so I'm kinda stuck with cable/FIOS. On Jul 4, 2014 7:41 AM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: John Abreau j...@blu.org writes: Internet speed is a conflation of two different things: bandwidth and latency. Merely increasing your bandwidth won't do anything to address problems with latency. If you combine both of these in your head and call it speed, then you're setting yourself up for expensive disappointment. I'm specifically looking for speed. Downloads, uploads, videos, etc. We don't do any gaming or anything where latency is a big issue. _ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ _ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com writes: I think FairPoint does have some service in NH that's analogous to FiOS, but I don't see any way to find out from their website how much it costs or whether it's even available in a given area. Yep. I know they have some kind of high speed service, but there's no indication of how fast, how much or where. The website is a riddle wrapped in an enigma. It's sounding like the upshot is that I should try comcast. It actually might not be that annoying to try, since I can leave my DSL alone until I get the comcast working. What does the cable modem consist of? From a black-box POV, I assume it's basically identical to a DSL modem. Magic on one side, CAT5 ethernet on the other. Plug my tomato-powered wireless router into that side and away I go. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
On Sun, Jul 6, 2014 at 1:14 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: I think FairPoint does have some service in NH that's analogous to FiOS, but I don't see any way to find out from their website how much it costs or whether it's even available in a given area. Their phone robot says to go check the website or call back during normal business hours. It is actually FIOS. The lines were installed by Verizon, but only partially lit up. When they sold their business in NH (and Maine?) to FairPoint, FairPoint took it over and as far as I know, they have not installed anything new (and have no plans to). So, you either already have it or you're not going to get it. I have a friend who lives in Hudson and he has it. He says the speed is good, but their customer service is terrible. Where I am in Amherst, my only option is Comcast. I'm too far from a CO for decent DSL speeds and I definitely don't have have FIOS available. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
-- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. On July 6, 2014 2:05:27 PM EDT, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com writes: I think FairPoint does have some service in NH that's analogous to FiOS, but I don't see any way to find out from their website how much it costs or whether it's even available in a given area. Yep. I know they have some kind of high speed service, but there's no indication of how fast, how much or where. The website is a riddle wrapped in an enigma. http://www.fairpoint.com/residential/internet/ After you give them you zip code or phone number, it at least shows you a list of options that may be available to you, along with the upper bound for speed on each, and a description that at least indicates whether each is fiber or copper--under the heading Now choose one of the following:. Though I'm confused by that, because there doesn't seem to actually be a way to choose one and proceed to pricing or any other next step. I'd say that reduces it to just a plain mystery (no enigma wrapping). And of course there are still the service caveats that everyone's described ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
On 7/4/2014 9:52 PM, Chris Linstid wrote: No problems at all. I'm all Linux and OS X at home. No special software required. They definitely don't block port 22 for ssh. I'm pretty sure they block 25 and maybe 80. Port 25 is usually blocked. It comes goes. I use DynDNS to bring in email via an alternate port to our Linux email server. Ports 80, 443, 143, 873 and 22 are all open. No problems with our servers: web, IMAP, SSH, Rsync, Vonage, etc. (I have switched to running SSH on an alternate port just to cut down on the random probes, but not because of any blocking.) I think some Windows ports are blocked, as they should be, if anyone cares. Nothing else is blocked to my knowledge. As much as I've heard complaints about them, Comcast has been fine for us, and for most of our clients, for the last 15 years: reliable and fast. Now that I finally got a DOCSIS 3 cable modem, I get 30/5 Mbps, 10 ms ping to Boston. On older cable modem, which I fished out of someone's trash :-), it was 12/3, if I recollect. I don't use their DNS or email, however, I do send via their authenticated SMTP from our Linux email server. SMTP is limited to 50 recipients per email and throttles to about 30 emails per minute. Emails faster than that just queue and go in a minute or so. I only discovered the limits in testing, since they don't t affect me normally. Generally, I've been quite happy with their service. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
I'm on Fairpoint DSL in Milford. My measured down/up speed is about 3Mbps/.6Mbps. I remember hearing good things about G4 from this mailing list, but they said: At 12000 feet from the CO, we would normally estimate speeds in the 5-6Mb. However it looks like your connection goes through FairPoint equipment that our connections do not go through. Sorry we couldn't help you. Does anyone have more information about this? Does Milford have two parallel sets of equipment only one of which G4 can use? Or do they mean they just don't serve Milford? I've been on Fairpoint's site to try to glean anything about anything and there's basically no information there. They don't even say what speeds or prices their existing products are at, let alone what potential upgrades there are or anything about equipment. The bill just says HSI - Standard which I assume means High Speed Internet. Are there any other options in Milford? Or is this equipment thing limiting me? There's always cable, but my vague perception is that cable internet sucks for several reasons. Maybe I'm behind the times. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
Internet speed is a conflation of two different things: bandwidth and latency. Merely increasing your bandwidth won't do anything to address problems with latency. If you combine both of these in your head and call it speed, then you're setting yourself up for expensive disappointment. On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 5:28 AM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: I'm on Fairpoint DSL in Milford. My measured down/up speed is about 3Mbps/.6Mbps. I remember hearing good things about G4 from this mailing list, but they said: At 12000 feet from the CO, we would normally estimate speeds in the 5-6Mb. However it looks like your connection goes through FairPoint equipment that our connections do not go through. Sorry we couldn't help you. Does anyone have more information about this? Does Milford have two parallel sets of equipment only one of which G4 can use? Or do they mean they just don't serve Milford? I've been on Fairpoint's site to try to glean anything about anything and there's basically no information there. They don't even say what speeds or prices their existing products are at, let alone what potential upgrades there are or anything about equipment. The bill just says HSI - Standard which I assume means High Speed Internet. Are there any other options in Milford? Or is this equipment thing limiting me? There's always cable, but my vague perception is that cable internet sucks for several reasons. Maybe I'm behind the times. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ -- John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux Unix Email j...@blu.org / WWW http://www.abreau.net / 2013 PGP-Key-ID 0x920063C6 2013 / ID 0x920063C6 / FP A5AD 6BE1 FEFE 8E4F 5C23 C2D0 E885 E17C 9200 63C6 2011 / ID 0x32A492D8 / FP 7834 AEC2 EFA3 565C A4B6 9BA4 0ACB AD85 32A4 92D8 ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
John Abreau j...@blu.org writes: Internet speed is a conflation of two different things: bandwidth and latency. Merely increasing your bandwidth won't do anything to address problems with latency. If you combine both of these in your head and call it speed, then you're setting yourself up for expensive disappointment. I'm specifically looking for speed. Downloads, uploads, videos, etc. We don't do any gaming or anything where latency is a big issue. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
My FIOS is advertised 50Mbps up and down. When downloading games via steam I'm regularly peaking at 7MBps. Latency for things like audio and video chat is quite acceptable. I'm too far away from the CO to get anything other than ISDN so I'm kinda stuck with cable/FIOS. On Jul 4, 2014 7:41 AM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: John Abreau j...@blu.org writes: Internet speed is a conflation of two different things: bandwidth and latency. Merely increasing your bandwidth won't do anything to address problems with latency. If you combine both of these in your head and call it speed, then you're setting yourself up for expensive disappointment. I'm specifically looking for speed. Downloads, uploads, videos, etc. We don't do any gaming or anything where latency is a big issue. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
I find that latency is a bigger issue than I thought, especially when watching real-time video like the Red Sox games. Also a problem probably if you use one of the online speech rec engines. Susan ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
Susan Cragin susancra...@earthlink.net writes: I find that latency is a bigger issue than I thought, especially when watching real-time video like the Red Sox games. This is one of the many reasons I don't watch streaming video, other than YT. Basically, I have 3-4 computers (distributed among 7 people) all using the internet at once and it's a frequent case that 2 or more of them are trying to DL something large at the same time. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
Maybe *I'm* behind the times: I just assumed the reason anyone wants faster Internet is for downloading ISOs-- which obviously makes the issue bandwidth, not latency, unless your 'connection' is something like USPS -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. On July 4, 2014 7:41:36 AM EDT, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: John Abreau j...@blu.org writes: Internet speed is a conflation of two different things: bandwidth and latency. Merely increasing your bandwidth won't do anything to address problems with latency. If you combine both of these in your head and call it speed, then you're setting yourself up for expensive disappointment. I'm specifically looking for speed. Downloads, uploads, videos, etc. We don't do any gaming or anything where latency is a big issue. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com writes: Maybe *I'm* behind the times: I just assumed the reason anyone wants faster Internet is for downloading ISOs-- which obviously makes the issue bandwidth, not latency, unless your 'connection' is something like USPS This is my category of usage too, although not ISOs particularly. I dl a couple Debian disks a year. But quite a few torrents, flash games (often a big dl at the beginning, then small packets if any afterwards), YT videos, new versions of Minecraft, phone apps (during installation), etc. Some streaming *music*, but latency is less of an issue there, esp. since it isn't real-time. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
-- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. On July 4, 2014 8:20:12 AM EDT, Susan Cragin susancra...@earthlink.net wrote: I find that latency is a bigger issue than I thought, especially when watching real-time video like the Red Sox games. Howso? I remember channel-surfing being negatively impacted by latency when cable TV went digital...; but once you pick something to watch, why is latency an issue at all? Unless you're, say, on the phone with someone who's actually at the event and they keep getting their reactions to things before you see them on your screen That's the only problem I remember having with VCR latency ;) ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
When I talk to actual non-technical people who tell me their Internet connection is too slow, I almost always find that they're complaining about slow browser response, or video that keeps buffering during play, or other latency issues. The number of complains I hear about large files taking too long to download is only a tiny fraction of the latency-based complaints. This is based on my direct first-hand experience, not on untested assumptions. On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 8:43 AM, Joshua Judson Rosen roz...@geekspace.com wrote: Maybe *I'm* behind the times: I just assumed the reason anyone wants faster Internet is for downloading ISOs-- which obviously makes the issue bandwidth, not latency, unless your 'connection' is something like USPS -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. On July 4, 2014 7:41:36 AM EDT, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: John Abreau j...@blu.org writes: Internet speed is a conflation of two different things: bandwidth and latency. Merely increasing your bandwidth won't do anything to address problems with latency. If you combine both of these in your head and call it speed, then you're setting yourself up for expensive disappointment. I'm specifically looking for speed. Downloads, uploads, videos, etc. We don't do any gaming or anything where latency is a big issue. -- gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ -- John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux Unix Email j...@blu.org / WWW http://www.abreau.net / 2013 PGP-Key-ID 0x920063C6 2013 / ID 0x920063C6 / FP A5AD 6BE1 FEFE 8E4F 5C23 C2D0 E885 E17C 9200 63C6 2011 / ID 0x32A492D8 / FP 7834 AEC2 EFA3 565C A4B6 9BA4 0ACB AD85 32A4 92D8 ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
When you watch Xfinity live streaming, they start (approx.) a 3-minute buffer before the picture starts. That's the best option. But then something like www.strikeout.co (watch for popups and don't download the suggested player because it's full of bad stuff) oh, and use Google Chrome because it depends on Flash. Sometimes the picture is really good, almost all real-time. Other times it's really bad. We don't have TV, but I do like to watch the occasional baseball game. -Snip- Howso? I remember channel-surfing being negatively impacted by latency when cable TV went digital...; but once you pick something to watch, why is latency an issue at all? Unless you're, say, on the phone with someone who's actually at the event and they keep getting their reactions to things before you see them on your screen That's the only problem I remember having with VCR latency ;) ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
As I understand it, third-party ISPs have to rent the lines they want to provide service on from the owners of the lines. They must not have a deal with FairPoint for your area. :( I'm in Amherst and use Comcast. I love to hate Comcast, but to be honest, I have had very few problems with them and I get 30 Mbps/5 Mbps for advertised bandwidth and I actually get that bandwidth most of the time. My latency is generally really low unless there's a strange route. My example of that was when I worked at Dell in Nashua who used Verizon for their ISP and I was routed down through NYC and then back up again. But even then, I was getting ~80-90ms pings. Good enough for most things, but now that I work at Dyn who is using Comcast for their ISP, I'm much happier. I generally get sub-30ms pings. :) So, I'm not sure if Milford has Comcast (pretty sure they do), but from a technical standpoint I generally recommend them. - Chris On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 5:28 AM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: I'm on Fairpoint DSL in Milford. My measured down/up speed is about 3Mbps/.6Mbps. I remember hearing good things about G4 from this mailing list, but they said: At 12000 feet from the CO, we would normally estimate speeds in the 5-6Mb. However it looks like your connection goes through FairPoint equipment that our connections do not go through. Sorry we couldn't help you. Does anyone have more information about this? Does Milford have two parallel sets of equipment only one of which G4 can use? Or do they mean they just don't serve Milford? I've been on Fairpoint's site to try to glean anything about anything and there's basically no information there. They don't even say what speeds or prices their existing products are at, let alone what potential upgrades there are or anything about equipment. The bill just says HSI - Standard which I assume means High Speed Internet. Are there any other options in Milford? Or is this equipment thing limiting me? There's always cable, but my vague perception is that cable internet sucks for several reasons. Maybe I'm behind the times. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
Chris Linstid clins...@gmail.com writes: So, I'm not sure if Milford has Comcast (pretty sure they do), but from a technical standpoint I generally recommend them. No problem with a Linux-only home network? How about ssh tunneling in via a dyndns-like service? ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: time for the annual Internet Speed Quest
No problems at all. I'm all Linux and OS X at home. No special software required. They definitely don't block port 22 for ssh. I'm pretty sure they block 25 and maybe 80. - Chris On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 8:53 PM, David Rysdam da...@rysdam.org wrote: Chris Linstid clins...@gmail.com writes: So, I'm not sure if Milford has Comcast (pretty sure they do), but from a technical standpoint I generally recommend them. No problem with a Linux-only home network? How about ssh tunneling in via a dyndns-like service? ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
