New comp not utilizing full DSL capability...

Hey hey...

So I used to have an old 550mhz pIII with Win2000 installed on it, and the 256kbit DSL that my provider hooked up usually downloaded a max of 30kbs/sec.

Apparently, something has to be done to access this full potential, though, because just plugging in the DSL modem to my new Acer Aspire 5672's LAN card just isn't working. I've done a few bandwidth tests and everything says that I'm running on 53.3kbps, like a dialup modem would be. Obviously that's not the case.

What I'm wondering is... what do I have to change to get my LAN card to recognize that I'm on a 256kbps connection?

(When I plug it in to my LAN card, it says that I'm connected to a 10.0mbps LAN, when I'm actually just plugging into my DSL Modem.)

Normally I'd go straight to my provider about this, and I tried to, but they haven't gotten back to me, and honestly, it would be nice to get this working so I don't have to keep using my old computer for internet over the weekend.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

(edit: I'm using XP Home Edition for now.)

 

Does it feel slow? Perhaps updating your drivers will help.

 

Yeah it's definitely feeling slow. I feel like I'm back on 28.8.

I'll try updating the drivers for the ethernet card.

Edit:

Drivers were up to date, and I ran another bandwidth test... this time it placed me at 13.3kbps. Ugh.

I've been looking thru all my settings in any network screen I can find and comparing them to my other comp which works fine. I can't find a single thing different. Maybe I'm just out of luck until they start work on Monday again.

 

This is normal. It just means that the ethernet jack on the DSL modem is a standard 10baseT jack. Technically, information goes between your modem and PC at 10 Mbps, but your DSL is obviously slower than that, so it makes no difference.

Also, make sure you are using the right abreviations. 256 kbps is kilobits per second. The 30 kbps you mention is kiloBYTES per second, and should be KBps (or Kbps). With that in mind, are you sure the 53.3 number you're seeing is not kiloBYTES per second? (in which case you're getting better than you should)

Go here- http://www.testmy.net/ and run the download test.
You should close all programs and disable any firewall programs before testing.
Copy and paste the results here so we can see them.
Such as this-

:::.. Download Stats ..:::
Download Connection is:: 4912 Kbps about 4.91 Mbps (tested with 7458 kB)
Download Speed is:: 600 kB/s
Tested From:: http://insanepwning.net
Test Time:: 2006/07/29 - 12:42am
Bottom Line:: 86X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 1.71 sec
Tested from a 7458 kB file and took 12.438 seconds to complete
Download Diagnosis:: Looks Great : 2.48 % faster than the average for host (rr.com)
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-T946ERN2A
User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.5) Gecko/20060719 Firefox/1.5.0.5 [!]

 

Yeah, I know the difference between the two, just never bothered to learn the correct abbreviations. Anyway, after about 5 straight hours of trying to figure out what the problem was, I realized that my ISP probably set up my DSL specifically for the network card installed in my junker comp. Meaning that they calibrated it only to work for that specific MAC Address.

I downloaded a quick and easy MAC address spoofing program for my new Acer, copied over the MAC Address from my junker's network card and voila! Everything works as it should now.

MAC Spoofer 2006

Thanks for the help!

 

Ahh....
That is very common for DSL providers for some reason. It's pretty stupid if you ask me. Basically it gaurantees you have to call them for help. And they probably hope you have them come out and "fix" it so that they can charge you.

If you're only using one PC, then the spoofer you're using should work just fine if they won't tell you or help you to reconfigure the modem. If you get a router, they all have that ability built in.