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Cable Modem Tweaks


Ruin

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I've been told that you can "tweak" your modem to increase your transfer speeds.

I've been looking at some websites but really don't care to mess up my modem or computer.

I do own the modem, and want to know what can be done.

Does anyone have any advice or maybe some websites that work well?

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I so HIGHLY DO NOT recommend you do anything to tweak your cable modem ! !

It wont hurt the modem or your PC.

But it more likely than not will get you banned from your ISP ! !

You will be violating your license agreement by using a modem config file to get you bandwidth that they arent giving you. And the cable company will ban you. They do it everyday. They do not guarantee how much bandwidth you get, and they only allow up to 1.5 down, 256 up for residential service.

By forcing more than what they are giving you, it is considered piracy, and unlike cable TV, it is strictly monitored, as they look for people using web servers and stuff that will hog bandwidth from other customers. You need to get the cable guys out there, and remember that the bandwidth on cable internet isnt yours, but shared with everyone on the node, up to 120 people. Whse bandwidth you will drag into the toilet, along with yours. They will complain about it, hence the cable company will start looking for the cause, and BAM ! ! Your banned. Call the cable company, and have some speed test results to show the tech. A node switch or a repeater is proly going bad, or there is a splitter in the line somewhere.

To tweak your OS means some registry tweaks. The easiest, safest way to do this is to go to http://www.dslreports.com, goto our tolls, speed test, and run it. Then go back to the left, back to our tools, and rweaks. They have a very simple to use tool there to do it for you. And what all the Windows OS's can be tweaked to. there is a maximum, before it becomes a hinderance and you start experiencing severe packet loss.

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Wow, thanks for the info Phantom, I had no idea. lol.

I'll keep that in mind. So you can't tweak the modem its self if I'm reading this right. But what about your OS? I'd assume that's oaky.

Like to go from 150KBS to 400KBS (for example)

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You wont get that much of a difference, Im sorry to say. The only real thing to change in Windows is the MTU, and the RC Window size, and these settings just determine the maximum packet size Winblows can handle.

Winblows, compared to some OS's is very whimpy in this department.

The first link is telling you what you knew already. Your connection blows chunks right now. You arent going to get really any noticeable improvement out of Windows tweaking for this. This is a line or a connection problem.

They need to make sure that you have a correct config file, configged for 1.5/128 at the very least. Anf they need to check your lines and filters. This looks to me like a line problem.

Try 25728 for the TCP Recieve window, and 1500 for the MTU. These settings are for XP only ! ! Each Winblows version is different. Dont use these as generic settings. Download the DR. TCP tool and use it, but back your registry up first. I cant stress this enough. Once you modify the registry, Sys Restore will not work until you create a new restore point.

In the notes and recommendations corner, are the settings to use, and a very valuable FAQ underneath that explains what is happening and what each setting is.

These things help with DL'ing, and packet loss, but wont affect speed so much, outside of the effects of packet loss on speed. You are only getting roughly 1/8th, or about 12/13% of the speed you should be. Only about 3 times faster than a 56K modem. They need to fix that for you, and I sure as heck wouldnt settle for what you are getting.

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BI so HIGHLY DO NOT recommend you do anything to tweak your cable modem ! !

It wont hurt the modem or your PC.

But it more likely than not will get you banned from your ISP ! !

You will be violating your license agreement by using a modem config file to get you bandwidth that they arent giving you. And the cable company will ban you. They do it everyday. They do not guarantee how much bandwidth you get, and they only allow up to 1.5 down, 256 up for residential service.

TW

It can also lead to criminal charges. Not too long ago a group of guys was arrested for jacking their modems to increase their bandwith.

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@Stinger, I've NEVER seen my modem go above 80KBS.

It may be worth mentioning that the home office for our provider is about 40Mi away from here. Which means I live WAY out in no where.

Could this just be because of limited availibility?

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Actually Stinger, in Ruin's case, it is his ISP. That is his overall average. He has a cable problem or a hardware problem, or a problem with his config file. He may also be too far from the node, and they need to put a repeater in for him to strengthen the signal, if he is on a long trunk run.

Servers do affect DL speed, but he is averaging that at every site.

The cable company needs to fix this for him.

Distance from a CO doesnt matter with cable, because with cable you can usein line amplifiers, and repeaters. The node also has an amplifier in it.

Ruin, call the cable company. They need to fix this. And having worked for them doing this very thing for 2 years, I know whereof I speak.

Stinger is right in one sense, but about your problem, he is off the mark. What he said will rarely happen, and when it does, it would only be at a very few servers.

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Comcast and ATTBI/ATT are who I worked for for 2 years. That is Ruins overall speed, not just certain DL sites. Servers do cap, depending on the # of users, but that is his average line speed, and has nothing to do with specific servers. Im very well aware of how Comcast/ATT/ATTBI work. He isnt just experiencing problems at certain sites, where the cap would come in.

Ruin even posted his line speeds which dont have anything to do with specific servers.

So in this case, you're off the mark.

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Ruin, if you wouldn't mind you could post a link to something you dload and tell me how fast the transfer rate is for you and I could compare it to my own. I just dloaded a movie at 36.7kbps. Phantom, you are being overly arrogant by assuming you know what is and isn't his problem. I'm not saying I know what it is nor that you are wrong but you are just shooting down all but your own ideas. Ruin you should have me on aim so we can talk and do the comparison over that sometime tomorrow if you want.

Ruin even posted his line speeds which dont have anything to do with specific servers.
I went to toast.net and dslreports and both put me as WAY over a T1 lines rated speed. You can't put much faith in those. When we were on 56K wit AOL it reported is as Cable/DSL :blink:

Comcast and ATTBI/ATT are who I worked for for 2 years
Unless you worked there this year then you no longer know how they work, times change man and so does technology. Some may stay the same but more and more less. Where do you work now may I ask?
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I am real close to locking this thread.

Allow me.

Thanks for the help. I'll give my ISP a call later on, when I have time to deal with it.

Stinger, you're REALLY pushing the personal attacks. Let it go, it's a machine, not your life line.

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