slow speeds on Newsgroups.

[nick101181]

I recently installed a fresh copy of windows xp on a sata drive. Upon using Xnews ever since then, it's so slow like 15-30 kbps. Yes I'm running two other p2p progs at the same time, but I used to be able to run all 3 at once and still have my newsgroups going at 150 kbps. It's been like this for about 2 weeks now. I don't have any firewalls enabled or anything. First I thought it was peerguardian, so I disabled it but nope same thing. I still get the same speeds if I just have the newsgroups going also. Any ideas on how to fix this and get back to my old speeds? I did reinstall Xnews, but it's still doing the same thing. Thanks

[studtrooper]

First, you need to find out what is your maximum dl speed from your ISP. Cross-reference that with a bandwidth analyzer (Google "broadband test"... I prefer CNET's test) to see if you are getting what your ISP told you what you should be getting. If that turns out right then do some math. See how much your P2P programs are pulling down and add that to the 15-30KBps you are pulling down with your newsgroup.

Usually downloading applications spread out available bandwidth on the fly. If your newsgroup grabber is not utilizing your bandwidth to the fullest then it is either the program you are using or your newsgroup provider...

[nick101181]

Well I'm supposed to be getting the advertised 3 mbps down and 512 up. I Tested it lots and found out I was only getting 1 meg down and 384 up or something. I called and they did test on the line and they think it's something inside the house. what's bad about canada is, if you call them inside the house they cut any extra phone lines you got to extra outlets in your house and they also cut any cable tv wire going to any additonal rooms. so if you pay to have cable for one tv they will cut the rest and the same with the phone lines. Anyway with 3 programs running I still had the newsgroups DL'in at 150 - 160 kbps, so I dunno what's wrong with it.

[Soopafresh]

Doesn't SP2 have that maximum TCP connection limit ? Can't recall, but I think there's a microsoft fix for that.

[thevoelk]

If you have a router, do you have prot forwarding or port triggering set up? If not, I'd go to http://www.portforward.com and walk your way through it. On a private LAN, it dramatically increase P2P dl speed, if you set it up right.

[nick101181]

I have all the port forwarding set up right. Like I said it was a constant 150 kbps and hardly ever flinched, until 2 weeks ago. Ever since then the newsgroup has been slow. Maybe it's my ISP's Servers, I dunno. I would like to subscribe to giganews but it's 25 usd a month for unlimited downloading.

[BJ_M]

isps often throttle some ports -- you may want to look into that also ..

[studtrooper]

I have all the port forwarding set up right. Like I said it was a constant 150 kbps and hardly ever flinched, until 2 weeks ago. Ever since then the newsgroup has been slow. Maybe it's my ISP's Servers, I dunno. I would like to subscribe to giganews but it's 25 usd a month for unlimited downloading.

LoL. Nothing, NOTHING beats www.newshosting.com. ~45 days retention @ $15 unlimited. Rarely any incompletes too

[handyguy]

For more speed try Agent or NewsbinPro both of these open numerous connections so you can get several times the speed of one connection.

[studtrooper]

GrabIt is another great one that allows multiple connections, plus it is FREE!

[nick101181]

I've started using grabit and I've seen my speeds are acting a bit better. Never the constant 150kbps like xnews was, but still a lot better considering xnews is like 20kbps now. I just don't like that to get new headers you gotta select full update for the group and it takes a while. if you pick incremental it gets rid of the older threads and just shows the new ones with sucks sometimes. Also Grabit uses port 119 by default.

[studtrooper]

You should really look into something like www.newzbin.com . NZBs are where its at!

[handyguy]

Grabit takes ages to process a header set. All night, yet Agent or NewsBin, take no time at all. Put a file name you want in Newsbin & as soon as it shows up, you see it on your list.

[zak_swan]

if u have a cap some isp's don't enforce it but will slow your connection down when u exceed it.

[nick101181]

I don't got a Cap on my dsl, that's why I went with Primus Canada. Rogers Cable apparently has a 60 gig cap per month. If you go over it's something like 3 or 5 bucks a Gig or something, could be more.

[handyguy]

Some (most) cap your connection speed. Thus, thats why you use Agent or Newsbin to open numerous connections all at the capped speed.