[Elecraft] OT: Fixing Slow Internet

[Edward R Cole]

Since we all use the Internet this may be of interest:

I bought a new Dell desktop on cyber-monday to be used for general 
purpose Internet browsing, e-mail, and maintaining my 
website.  Figured the i5-6400 processor a good trade-off of speed vs 
cost and got 8GB memory and 1TB HD.  I intend to keep using my 2008 
Dell duo-core with XP32-SP3 for running all radio sw but unplugged 
from the Internet to isolate it from attack by maleware/virus and the 
OS would not require updates.  Installing a GPS dongle with 
BktTimeSync (Z2BKT) makes this possible.

So the new computer arrived overnight and I began loading my 
Internet-based programs and most files from the old computer.  But 
starting Friday the e-mail began having trouble connecting for 
download or uploading and Internet came to a screeching halt 
(almost).  I did some driver updates hoping maybe that was part of 
the problem.  But my other computers and my wife's laptop and Ipad 
also experienced the same problems?

A couple calls to the ISP discovered a mistake in a setup entry on my 
e-mail client but Internet still not able to find websites like 
msn.com, google or any site I entered.  I ran a speed test and it 
looked OK for my DSL 3.2MBs  for 3.5MBs service and 0.9MBs 
uploading?  So one more call to the ISP and the gal who answered from 
Tech-help said it looked like we had a bad or shorted cable to our 
DSL Modem.  She asked how long was the cable between phone jack and modem?

Well we have moved things over the years so some cables ended up kind 
of long (we had 25-foot of RJ11 phone wired wrapped up with a tiewrap 
where a couple feet would suffice.  I do not even recall it being so 
long but replacing it with a short 6-foot RJ11 jumper cured the slow 
Internet/e-mail issues.  Modem is connected with ethernet jumper to 
router with two cat5e cables running to two separate rooms in the 
house where my computers and my wife's computer are located.

I'm not a computer wonk; RF is my area of strength, so I figured the 
phone and Internet was kinda like audio stuff.  Guess not.  My guess 
with the cable folded into a bundle it had a lot of crosstalk or 
capacitive coupling which acted like a short at 3.5 MBs.

Hope this long story helps anyone who has puzzled why they're 
Internet acts constipated (of course there may be other issues that 
can cause these problems).

73, Ed - KL7UW
   http://www.kl7uw.com
Dubus-NA Business mail:
   dubususa at gmail.com