PC matching to internet capabilities

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BruceAWittmeier
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PC matching to internet capabilities

Post by BruceAWittmeier »

Is there a way to determine the best match of hardware for any given internet access?

We are on a Verizon Mifi and I can run http://www.speedtest.net/ (or Verizons https://www.verizon.com/speedtest/) but the numbers don't tell me if restriction is in the Mifi, internet or my PC.

I'm quite certain our speed issues are the internet. However, buying low budget, low memory PC's due to income makes me raise the question.

Just curious if anyone has any tips on how to determine the best match.
I often take a long windy road to my destination. Upon arrival, I wonder how I missed the shortcut.
allande
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Re: PC matching to internet capabilities

Post by allande »

It wouldn't be a perfect test since what slows down many pages is scripts and those wouldn't occur in a local copy, but you could save a few very large, graphic intensive web pages to disk and then disconnect from the internet and close the browser and open them from your saved file and try to scroll them up and down. If they are fast, that means internet could be your bottleneck, if they are still slow you could blame your computer or software configuration.
Another option if your computers are laptops, bring them to the local library or somewhere that has good free wifi and open some non-private pages and see if they feel fast.
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BruceAWittmeier
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Re: PC matching to internet capabilities

Post by BruceAWittmeier »

Thank you and that makes sense.

My wife plays games on Facebook and I was just wondering if a little more memory on her PC would improve performance a bit -- any bit. Hers only has 4GB with about 3 usable.
I often take a long windy road to my destination. Upon arrival, I wonder how I missed the shortcut.
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Grumpus
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Re: PC matching to internet capabilities

Post by Grumpus »

The Verizon mifi is like a lot of mifi setups. After an FCC ruling not long ago the main conspirators Verizon, Comcast, et al can legally throttle the speed according to traffic.
Although the mifi might be claiming 4-G it probably fluctuates between 4-G and 3-G. You also might want to look and see if there's any interference in your connection or network manager and check your connection settings.
Memory might help with things like cache but it would be more for things like TSR programming which stays resident until a re-boot.
You should be able to read the speed of your modem somehow and if there is any local restriction it would show there as most modems are read at a stable value.
If you have a system monitor or a traffic monitor you can see the load speeds and quantities.
If you are on a monthly pay/reload Gb you'll be thrown to the bottom of the available speed barrel, least income for Verizon lowest speed when available.
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BruceAWittmeier
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Re: PC matching to internet capabilities

Post by BruceAWittmeier »

Yes, Grumpus we have been told that we will be throttled down if/when we exceed our 10 GB limit. We have already seen that. The device normally operates on 4G when the signal strength is satisfactory and us being in New Castle (fringe of area) doesn't help. When the signal drops to some strength level it will automatically fall back to 3G. There is a setting in the Mifi to force 4G but if it falls to 3G you get disconnected. We have been told 3G is a stronger signal but 4G is faster...so this automatic back throttle may happen more frequently due to our location. We also hear that foliage will play a factor so in the Winter when trees are bare the signal may be better.

Thanks for replying.
I often take a long windy road to my destination. Upon arrival, I wonder how I missed the shortcut.
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Grumpus
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Re: PC matching to internet capabilities

Post by Grumpus »

You're welcome ;)
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postcd
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Re: PC matching to internet capabilities

Post by postcd »

You can open "Task Manager" (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and watch the Performance tab while the intensive task is running to see if you are hitting your CPU/RAM/HDD limits.
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