Slow Broadband Speed USB v Ethernet

[adrian69]

I've done a search on this subject without really finding a precise answer....so here goes

I'm in the UK with a broadband connection previously running at 150k. I was downloading from various sites at a regular speed of 13kb/sec. Recently NTL have upgraded the speed to 300k but I am still downloading at the same speed. After trying a few different speed tests of the broadband, the results showed the speed was running at 112-113kb.....which wouldn't have been that bad if I was still on a 150k service.
I've done all the obvious things like clearing cache etc but without any improvement. I've also tried the test without my firewall etc and again little difference.
My external modem is connected via a USB connection. Now I understand this will provide a bottleneck and slow things down........but how much are we talking about........and could this be the only prob......or is the 433mhz processor and 193mg memory more to with it???
The PC currently has Windows 98SE.

[TwoRails]

I've hooked up only one USB 256K broadband and it runs at the rated speed. I'm no broadband guru, but often when the speed is upped, it requires a new modem to match. I had to "fight" to get the right modem when I updated as some of the techs were not aware it was required. Have you contacted to your supplier and talked to different techs?

[glc]

When Comcast doubled the speed here, we had to shut the power to the cable modem off for 1 hour to get the new speed.

You should be getting a lot closer to the rated speed, in spite of the USB, slow machine, and Win98.

You may need to do some broadband speed tweaks - http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks

[adrian69]

When Comcast doubled the speed here, we had to shut the power to the cable modem off for 1 hour to get the new speed.

Tried this the other night......thought I'd nothingthing to lose. Guess what when I rebooted in the morning......the net seemed quicker. So I did a test and suprise suprise....the speed has more than doubled and is donwloading at 304k with overheads.

Cheers.

[bailey]

I was under the impression that reguardless what your connection speed was, the download speed would be dependent of the speed that the download was being sent at, in other words, if there server was very busy, the download speed world be slower than if the server was not heavyly loaded, and would have no bearing on how fast your connection speed was.
excluding a dial-up

[adrian69]

I agree with you in most circumstances. But in this case......I wasn't receiving the full speed in the 1st place. I was running on the previous speed due to the modem not been reset.

[PMich]

Originally Posted by bailey I was under the impression that reguardless what your connection speed was, the download speed would be dependent of the speed that the download was being sent at,...

I think this is generally true as far as maximum download speed, but any time the download can be or is being sent at a faster speed than you can download then your connection speed would be the bottleneck. I'm no expert on the topic but it makes logical sense to me.