Northern California - Who's your internet provider, it takes forever to load BF sometimes!

I didn't know where to ask this but since my issue effects me getting onto BF I'm hoping it's okay to post my question here...

I live in Daly City and have AT&T DSL. The speeds are horrible most of the time. Currently I am downloading at 475 kbs and uploading at 143 kbs. At it's best I usually hit 1.3mbs downloading speeds but that's rare.

We were told by AT&T something like we are just outside the general range of the tower or whatever. I don't recall exactly what the tech guy said. But basically we'll never get the top download speed we're paying for.

To make it worse, one minute it can be fast and the very next I can be running slower than dial-up!

So, I was wondering, for those in and around Daly City, what internet provider besides AT&T are you using to connect to BF and the rest of the 'net? I want to know what other options I have. I know there's Comcast but since I already have Dish I'd have to pay $99 to install Comcast cable internet, which I may end up doing...

Is Hughes Net any good?

I'm just so frustrated at the intermittent speeds, or lack thereof!

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

Gary

That's the problem with DSL, the farthest you are from the tower/central the slower it is. With cable such as Comcast speed is the same regardless of your location, however it gets slower if too many users in your area are on the web at the same time (rare occurrence).

Speed accessing website may also be affected by other factors such as site server capacity and number of users accessing the same site as the same time.

I have been using Comcast for many years and have been generally quite satisfied.
BikeForums.net has its own problems, it is not unusual for it to be very slow so I won't judge your provider speed on BikeForums alone.

Thanks qpelpel... I may end up with Comcast. I had it while I was in Texas and only have AT&T because my mom gets a retired employee discount.

I only used BF as a reference so I could keep it Bf/forum related. ;)

But before i switch to Comcast are there any other reliable high speed internet options?

Thanks!

It's likely the forums, not your connection. The BF server is unstable and craps out on a regular basis (though not as often as it used to). It's been acting up tonight.

A way to test if it's your connection or the server is to try to load something from another site, something that's always fast, like Google. If Google pops right up, it's BF, if Google lags along as well, it's your connection.

I have Pacific Bell/SBC/AT&T/whatever-the-hell DSL, and I've been very happy with it for the last nine years or so.

Some people with DSL connections don't realize that they pay for high speed Internet and only get a speed barely faster than Dial-Up. Like in real estate, it's location-location with DSL.
When I set my Mom for an high speed connection last year she had the options for both DSL or Cable. In France the provider is obligated to tell you the speed you are actually getting at your location. DSL was barely twice as fast as Dial-Up because she was at the "end of the line". Cable on the other end was as advertised, high speed. The best thing is that she is only paying 25 euros per month for the combo (TV-Phone-Internet) including unlimited calls in France and to the US. I wish I had this kind of rate here in California.

We hopefully will be getting satellite internet installed tomorrow, I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Gee,

I use sonic.net. I like 'em cuz they're a local company and they're small. And if you look on dslreports.com, their ratings rock. Been with them for quite a few years now and I'm pretty happy.

However, though their service may be great you will only get what you get depending on your distance from the CO.

I'm not a big fan of cable so I try not to use 'em but I can see it if you're not getting the bandwidth you need from DSL.

Call up sonic.. I think they will see how far you are from the CO once you give them your phone number. There's probably a tool out on the NEt to give that info if you don't want to call.

Anyway, good luck!

Gee,

I use sonic.net. I like 'em cuz they're a local company and they're small. And if you look on dslreports.com, their ratings rock. Been with them for quite a few years now and I'm pretty happy.

However, though their service may be great you will only get what you get depending on your distance from the CO.

I'm not a big fan of cable so I try not to use 'em but I can see it if you're not getting the bandwidth you need from DSL.

Call up sonic.. I think they will see how far you are from the CO once you give them your phone number. There's probably a tool out on the NEt to give that info if you don't want to call.

Anyway, good luck!

Cool! I'll check them out. Thanks!

Paula, please do let us know how the satellite works out. Which company are you going through?

Gary

Sometimes it isn't BFs fault, it's whoever is serving up the ads. At times they are slow, the site loads slowly.

I'm on comcast now and http://www.speedtest.net reports:

Download: 13.6 Mbits/s
Upload: 2.2 Mbit/s

But I am scheduled to switch to AT&T U-Verse in early March.

Sometimes it isn't BFs fault, it's whoever is serving up the ads. At times they are slow, the site loads slowly.

+1

Although I don't see those ads (anymore)
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

We hopefully will be getting satellite internet installed tomorrow, I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Satellite communications used to have a lot of latency issues - dunno if that's still the case. The distance to the satellite is fixed, and so is the speed. Every time you send data up and wait for a response, it is ~100 miles each way. Many Point Of Sale systems are satellite based - credit card gas pumps, for example. Chevron actually has their own bird up there somewhere, and it connects their store/user distribution network. That's why simple credit card authorizations take so long....

I'm happy with Comcast. Plus if you get the whole shebang, (internet, TV and phone) you pay a lot less. Currently I have three people using their computers in this house....so I would be faster if I was the only one on.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/414565714.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Two and a half megs down, half a meg up here, with Pacific Bell DSL. People always say "Oh, that's so slow."

It's plenty damn fast when you remember surfing the internet at a blistering 14.4kbps, and dialing up to BBSes before that at 1200 baud... Get off my lawn.

Way faster than me.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/414568867.png

However to be fair..I don't pay for access, I just antenna access so I guess I can't complain.

On Comcast:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/414576111.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I have Surewest. We're on FTTH (Fiber To The Home) with 10 mb/s up and down.

IMO the load time issues are actually related to the site itself. The code could be loading slowly, issues with the hosting servers, etc.

On Comcast:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/414576111.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Yowza! That's an amazing upload speed. Have you hacked your DOCSIS modem? Or know someone?

Here's my San Bruno Cable.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/414602349.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Pretty funny that I'm further away from the San Francisco server than any of you, but my ping time is the best so far, at 25ms. :)

When I saw SpeedTest.Net on the post above I rushed to test my Comcast connection. Results were: 5811 download and 938 upload.
It seemed low from what they advertise so I called them to check what I was paying for. I was paying for 16 mb/s and only getting 6 mb/s so I ask for some explanation.
First they refunded me for the difference between their basic and updated service since the start of my signing up to the updated service (16mb/s) then a technician did her magic. Now I am up to 13.3 mb/s download and 1.8 mb/s upload.
So make sure you get what you pay for, otherwise give them a ring.

Hmm.. haven't done this in awhile. Here's mine.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/414609890.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Just tried it again - a little faster this time:

From SF:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/414618766.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

From San Jose (10ms ping!):
http://www.speedtest.net/result/414619794.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

From Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/414620663.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Commie Cast for me
http://speedtest.ookla.com/result/461704160.png

http://www.speedtest.net/result/414620862.png

Gary i use to work for SBC errrr AT&T and now they're my client, :crash: , give me a buzz maybe I can have someone do a line check on your number and see just how far your place to the CO / central office is...

Paual, please od let us know how the satellite works out. Which company are you going through?

Well, WildBlue told us yesterday we had too many trees in the way. :mad:

We are trying HughesNet next, have better hopes there.


Satellite communications used to have a lot of latency issues - dunno if that's still the case. The distance to the satellite is fixed, and so is the speed. Every time you send data up and wait for a response, it is ~100 miles each way. Many Point Of Sale systems are satellite based - credit card gas pumps, for example. Chevron actually has their own bird up there somewhere, and it connects their store/user distribution network. That's why simple credit card authorizations take so long....

I've heard satellite has improved a lot in the last few years, but there is still a short delay each time. Still, it's gotta be better than dial-up, which is our only other option.

Holy &^*& , O_o :eek:


Did you tap into the comcast hub or something?? That's freaking cool.....


I don't have cable so I'm not it's cost effective to switch. But those of you on comcast, how do you like the service? Does your bandwidth stay pretty consistent overall?

Just wondering if I should switch a friend of mine onto comcast...

Still, it's gotta be better than dial-up, which is our only other option.

I hope you don't have to use dialup Paula. :(

Well, WildBlue told us yesterday we had too many trees in the way. :mad:

We are trying HughesNet next, have better hopes there.

yeah - that's the other thing with satellite... line of sight.

DirecTV is coming with Internet service via satellite. You will need a clear view to the East/South-East about 100-110 degrees from North.

Still, it's gotta be better than dial-up, which is our only other option.Ouch.

Is ISDN still around? Not much faster, but surely more reliable than dialup. I bet it fell by the wayside once consumer broadband came about, though.

iDSL. 144Kbps up/down. At least it can go much further than ADSL.

There's a local area with wireless high speed. That might be worth looking for...

As for me, I'm in the same boat as Gee3-at the very edge of DSL distance from the local hub. It was better than dial-up, but still sucked. Then internet cable came to my community and life was good.

iDSL. 144Kbps up/down. At least it can go much further than ADSL.Ooh, that's neat. I haven't heard of that, or at least not in a long time.

"internet provider?" i just close my eyes and surf..

http://www.speedtest.net/result/414645904.png

http://www.speedtest.net/result/414647317.png

yeah, comcast no fun.. but at least the speeds are decent