# slow 256k Cable Connection
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 7, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796 "2003-03-07T21:10:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796/1 "2003-03-07T21:10:55Z")
I just connected my laptop to CableNet with a 256k connection. It is extremely slow. The Local Area Connection Speed is showing 10.0 Mbps. Shouldn’t that be showing a faster connection speed? My network card is a Realtek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC. In the Advanced section of this card in Device Manager, I have the LinkSpeed/Duplex Mode set to Automatic. It won’t function when set at 100 Full Mode. Does anyone know what I should do to speed up my Internet speed?
Many thanks to anyone who knows.
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796/2 "2003-03-07T21:33:46Z")
Could you clarify that up a bit?
Cablenet is high speed cable internet company?
What is the connection speed they promised you?
How exactly is the computer connected (physically) to the internet?
What equipment (other then nic) are you using?
Router, hub, etc
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### Author:  [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796/3 "2003-03-07T21:38:56Z")
That 10Mbps is the speed at which your ethernet card is talking to your cable modem. That is probably the max speed your cable modem will support. Even if you could increase it, it wouldn’t do you any good because your internet connection is nowhere close to 10Mbps.
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796/4 "2003-03-07T22:34:34Z")
I’m just confused as to where the 256k is coming from. I have my lan hooked up to a dslrouter, but I figure I should still be able to give some advice.
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### Author:  [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796/5 "2003-03-07T22:46:05Z")
CableNET is a company affiliated with TV Cable here in Bogota, Colombia. They offer a 128k and a 256k connection. I had the 128k connection last October, but the 256k connection isn’t any faster. My settings are:
MaxMTU = 1500
TCP Rec Win = 64240
TTL = 64
MTU Discovery = Yes
Connection is through the RealTek Ethernet Nic card that I mentioned above. Modem is a 256k Cable modem: SURFboard SB3100.
My brother-in-law who lives upstairs has the same connection which is quite fast.
I am not using any Router, hub, etc
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796/6 "2003-03-07T23:47:40Z")
I would go to [www.dslreports.com](http://www.dslreports.com) and run a speed test, and then go upstairs and do the same thing. Let us know what the results are.
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### Author:  [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796/7 "2003-03-08T03:10:05Z")
I had better luck using [http://www.pcpitstop.com/](http://www.pcpitstop.com/) and their software to up my speed than I did with [dslreports.com](http://dslreports.com). I love [dslreports.com](http://dslreports.com) but not with their recomendations.
Anyhow, I have a connection UP TO 640K down and 256K up…I went from (after [dslreports.com](http://dslreports.com)) 250-300K to averaging 500K down and 250 up.
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### Author:  [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-256k-cable-connection/159796/8 "2003-03-09T03:57:34Z")
Well, 256K probably refers to either 256KBytes/second maximum bandwidth or 256Kbits/second maximum bandwidth. 10Mbps == 10 Megabits/second = 1.25 MegaBYTES/second == 1280 KBytes/second.
(256Kbits/second = 32 KBytes/second, 8 bits in a byte). So the connection between your computer and the cable modem is up to 40 times faster, and at least 4 times faster, than the connection between your cable modem and the internet. This is normal.
Next, how are you judging how “fast” your connection is? A connection is a two-way street, the server has to have a big enough pipe to feed you data. [boards.straightdope.com](http://boards.straightdope.com), for instance, will never send you anything faster than a few KB/second, and often won’t send you anything faster than a few bytes/second when it’s under heavy load.
So to test your connection speed, you should be using a website devoted to such tests, like [http://www.dslreports.com/stest](http://www.dslreports.com/stest). (google for “internet speed tests” to find servers that are potentially closer to you). If your connection to other servers is slower than the speed reported by such sites indicate, then the bottleneck is the server you’re connecting to, and no amount of spare bandwidth on your connection is going to make the site load any faster.
Once you have real numbers, and you can be sure you really have a problem, you can start using tools like ‘tracert’ to tell where the bottleneck is.
-lv