Recommended Tests

 
In reply to the question of getting advertised speeds, I don't come close during peak hours!

The only time I get the advertised speeds is after midnight or during the day, when people are in bed or at work/school.  At 3 AM my speed is awesome!  Too bad I can't afford to be up then!

I can't imagine they will be offering Boost where I am anytime soon, as they seem unable to provide regular service here!

P.S.  The Optimum Online Tech I called about this went routing around in my computer, found my settings were fine, then suggested I switch to my USB connection instead of my network card.  Which would mean reinstalling the software.  I asked him "if it's my problem, and not Optimum Online's, why does the problem go away at midnight?"  He shut up and went away, fortunately!

RAINMAKA... Damn nice avatar man. I love that. I have seen that stupid pic a million ways but that one made me giggle. Like Resop does when he talks to me.

Hmmm, maybe he wasn't as dumb as I thought? 

I'll tweak it some more, and I'm very paranoid about security, everything's patched, I run about 5 different antispyware and antivirus programs, have both hardware and software firewalls.

Re: what I mean about speed problems, I was getting nearly 56k speeds at 8 PM, here's what I get at 12:45 AM:

First try

Connection is:: 7474 Kbps about 7.5 Mbps (tested with 12160 kB)
Download Speed is:: 912 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (server2)
Test Time:: Tue Jan 03 2006 00:44:09 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
Bottom Line:: 133X faster than 56K 1MB download in 1.12 sec
Diagnosis: Looks Great : 12.54 % faster than the average for host (optonline.net)
Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-0WF2ZHSQL

Second try

::::::::::.. Download Stats ..::::::::::
Connection is:: 8422 Kbps about 8.4 Mbps (tested with 12160 kB)
Download Speed is:: 1028 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (server2)
Test Time:: Tue Jan 03 2006 00:45:29 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
Bottom Line:: 150X faster than 56K 1MB download in 1 sec
Diagnosis: Awesome! 20% + : 26.82 % faster than the average for host (optonline.net)
Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-AZK15RH9O

To me the above is a clear sign that they don't have sufficient capacity during peak hours!

It'll get even faster if I try it at 3 am!

Note that I live in a condo community with tons of kids, probably online gaming and downloading vids and music.  I bet it's a real test of a system's peak capacity.  Still, 56K speeds are not acceptable during the only hours I can use it! 

O.K., going to bed, but here's the speed at 1:30 AM:

::::::::::.. Download Stats ..::::::::::
Connection is:: 9120 Kbps about 9.1 Mbps (tested with 12160 kB)
Download Speed is:: 1113 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (server2)
Test Time:: Tue Jan 03 2006 01:29:09 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
Bottom Line:: 163X faster than 56K 1MB download in 0.92 sec
Diagnosis: Awesome! 20% + : 37.29 % faster than the average for host (optonline.net)
Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-FGN73Q5LY

I've gotten it up to about 85 Megs a minute, but not today!

Kind of doubt they'll offer 15/2 here soon, considering their problem with peak capacity.  Can you imagine them claiming you can achieve 15/2 here, when they are close to 56K at peak?

And it's not like they have to worry about Verizon competition anytime soon up here in the boonies, they can just say "be grateful for what we choose to give you"!

where do you live and what options do you have?

wow thats all you can get?  what cablenut setting do you have?  are you using the optimum online 1000/10000 file?