Internet

[JackOfClubs]

Ok. I have 10MB broadband from Insight Communications in Northern Ky. There are 3 laptops, a PS3, a PSP, my iPod Touch wirelessly connected to it, and one desktop wired to the router. Up until about Thursday, I was actually getting that speed, actually around 10.22MB. But since then, every night around 9PM, it drops drastically to less than 1MB, down to about .5MB actually. It is this speed on everything....except my PS3, but it is the same slow speed everywhere in the house, whether the PS3 is on or not. This is driving me mad, as Youtube is slow, EVERYTHING takes ages to load. I've reset the router, reinstalled my wireless card, pretty much everything.

I'm narrowing it down to the fact that Insight is getting ready to release 30MB broadband. But is there anything else that could be creating this problem?

[XxHaViiK]

I have this problem all the time. In Colorado with Bresnan Communications. They just say it's from the server being packed like crazy every night... The problem has gone on for years, and they seem to refuse to put in a second server. When Comcast Fiber Optics is available here, I'm switching to that.

[IowaBoy]

if it is a cable internet provider it could be due to the hubs being overloaded.

[Eagle1]

sounds like an overload

[enzenzz]

you're speed may not be a guaranteed speed so it fluctuates with the demand of others on you ISP.

[Commander Thor]

Ok. I have 10MB broadband from Insight Communications in Northern Ky. There are 3 laptops, a PS3, a PSP, my iPod Touch wirelessly connected to it, and one desktop wired to the router. Up until about Thursday, I was actually getting that speed, actually around 10.22MB. But since then, every night around 9PM, it drops drastically to less than 1MB, down to about .5MB actually. It is this speed on everything....except my PS3, but it is the same slow speed everywhere in the house, whether the PS3 is on or not. This is driving me mad, as Youtube is slow, EVERYTHING takes ages to load. I've reset the router, reinstalled my wireless card, pretty much everything.

I'm narrowing it down to the fact that Insight is getting ready to release 30MB broadband. But is there anything else that could be creating this problem?

I see that Insight Communications is a cable company. The way cable internet works, is that an entire neighborhood gets a hub. This hub gets a fixed amount of bandwidth available to it (Lets say, 500MB/s). So if say, the hub serves 100 people, and all 100 hop on, and they all have a 10MB/s connection, and they're all maxing our their connections, that's only 5MB/s available to each user now.

So basically, around 9PM, everyone in your area is getting the same idea of getting on the internet, and there simply isn't enough bandwidth to go around.

The only way to get around this issue is to either:
Get DSL. It's a dedicated line direct from your ISP's internet connection to you, there's no added hub that feeds an area.
Or.
Get Fiber-Optic. This is also a dedicated line, direct from your ISP's internet connection. The only difference is, it's speeds can reach up to 100MB/s (For residential lines)

[JackOfClubs]

Thanks guys. It probably is overloaded hubs by the sound of it. Hopefully they'll get it fixed.

Get Fiber-Optic. This is also a dedicated line, direct from your ISP's internet connection. The only difference is, it's speeds can reach up to 100MB/s (For residential lines)

Yeah, Cincinnati Bell is offering FiOS soon, and we already have landline, and cell phones from them, so I might try and convince my parents to get that.... 100Meg would be awesome on COD4 haha :P