Speed this morning

[iago]

So I noticed that the speed of the server this morning was rather slow. Also, we had a good dump of snow last night (~a foot, by my estimation, which involved measuring the tallest drift I can find).

I don't think it's a coincidence that for both big snowfalls this year we've had speed issue. At the same time, the roadinfo page (which details road conditions) for the government of manitoba has been hammered big time. I suspect that the speed issue is all the people checking on roads and weather.

I think I'm going to move back to DSL rather than Cable, since I never had this kind of problem back then. Cable hasn't been good to me in the last ~1.5 months.

[Blaze]

I blame the schools!

Cables always been good to me. 

[Chavo]

Cable seems to be affected by the weather more often around here as well.  As far as the technology goes there isn't any reason that I know of that this should be true so perhaps telcos that have had their lines in the ground longer have done a better job of weatherproofing.  Meh, if there is water on the line it should be easy to find and protect.

[Joe]

Cable seems to be affected by the weather more often around here as well.  As far as the technology goes there isn't any reason that I know of that this should be true so perhaps telcos that have had their lines in the ground longer have done a better job of weatherproofing.  Meh, if there is water on the line it should be easy to find and protect.

That sounds like a deal or no deal situation. If theres water on the line I would expect absolutely nothing to get through, unless you're lucky and it didn't short.

[Armin]

Cable seems to be affected by the weather more often around here as well.  As far as the technology goes there isn't any reason that I know of that this should be true so perhaps telcos that have had their lines in the ground longer have done a better job of weatherproofing.  Meh, if there is water on the line it should be easy to find and protect.

iago's not blaming it one the weather itself, yet the fact that people are more apt to check weather forecasts in times of bad weather. I can't remember exactly why this is true, but IIRC, the same cable line is spread out across an area and it's a shared pool, while DSL is a single line dedicated to you.

[Chavo]

I think you need to take physics.

[iago]

Cable seems to be affected by the weather more often around here as well.  As far as the technology goes there isn't any reason that I know of that this should be true so perhaps telcos that have had their lines in the ground longer have done a better job of weatherproofing.  Meh, if there is water on the line it should be easy to find and protect.

iago's not blaming it one the weather itself, yet the fact that people are more apt to check weather forecasts in times of bad weather. I can't remember exactly why this is true, but IIRC, the same cable line is spread out across an area and it's a shared pool, while DSL is a single line dedicated to you.

From what I understand, that's more or less the case. Even in practice, I've found that at times of high internet usage (dinner time, after bad weather, etc.), my cable lines slows down significantly, whereas my DSL line would stay reasonably fast (depending on the sites I'm visiting). It may be because less people in my area are on DSL or because cable lines are shared more, I'm not entirely sure, I just know that it's almost certainly the case.

[Armin]

I think you need to take physics.

I never said you were wrong, I was only pointing out that you and iago did not share the same beliefs as to why a cable line is slow in times of bad weather. I could leave you with an insulting line, such as, "I think you need to make less assumptions," but that's all it is, an insulting line that most likely isn't accurate.

[Chavo]

I'm sorry, I was referring to Joe.  I don't know why SMF didn't warn me like it usually does when there is a new reply.

[iago]

I'm sorry, I was referring to Joe.  I don't know why SMF didn't warn me like it usually does when there is a new reply.

There's a reason I quote people, even when it's the bottom post. Helps avoid misunderstandings.

[Joe]

I'm sorry, I was referring to Joe.  I don't know why SMF didn't warn me like it usually does when there is a new reply.

I've taken physical science and learned that electricity will take the shortest path. And if that means jumping through water and reversing back before the signal gets anywhere, that's what it'll do. Where am I wrong?

[Chavo]

There's a reason I quote people, even when it's the bottom post. Helps avoid misunderstandings.

I don't like to add unnecessary clutter, so I only quote when it is not the most recent.  SMF usually informs me when this might cause a problem.

I've taken physical science and learned that electricity will take the shortest path. And if that means jumping through water and reversing back before the signal gets anywhere, that's what it'll do. Where am I wrong?

Did you forget what defines the "shortest" path or did they just not teach you?

[Joe]

I guess now that I think about it, the shortest path would be to the other machine since it's not necessarily opposite the other wires..

[Chavo]

The path of least resistance defines the shortest path.  Since rain water is relatively pure, it has very high resistance in comparison with the (usually) copper wire.  Therefore it only introduces some extra resistance rather than completely shorting the signal.  This usually alters the frequency of the analog signal slightly (distortion) which can cause corrupted data when it is converted/extrapolated to the digital portion that a cable modem listens to.  Corrupted data is dropped.  Dropped packets yield slowdowns in a variety of ways.

[topaz~]

I'm sorry, I was referring to Joe.  I don't know why SMF didn't warn me like it usually does when there is a new reply.

I've taken physical science and learned that electricity will take the shortest path. And if that means jumping through water and reversing back before the signal gets anywhere, that's what it'll do. Where am I wrong?

Lol 

[Joe]

I'm sorry, I was referring to Joe.  I don't know why SMF didn't warn me like it usually does when there is a new reply.

I've taken physical science and learned that electricity will take the shortest path. And if that means jumping through water and reversing back before the signal gets anywhere, that's what it'll do. Where am I wrong?

Lol 

Thanks! That post was totally informative!

[iago]

The path of least resistance defines the shortest path.  Since rain water is relatively pure, it has very high resistance in comparison with the (usually) copper wire.  Therefore it only introduces some extra resistance rather than completely shorting the signal.  This usually alters the frequency of the analog signal slightly (distortion) which can cause corrupted data when it is converted/extrapolated to the digital portion that a cable modem listens to.  Corrupted data is dropped.  Dropped packets yield slowdowns in a variety of ways.

However, when ice is about, they put salt on the roads to melt it. So it's not pure water, it's salt water, which can be a relatively good conductor.

[Chavo]

Water on the line usually exists at the connections in the cable box, which shouldn't be anywhere near a salted road.

[iago]

Water on the line usually exists at the connections in the cable box, which shouldn't be anywhere near a salted road.

Ah, I was thinking underground cabling.

[MyndFyre]

SOOOOOOO SLLLLLOOOOOOWWWWWW ALLLLLLL THE TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMME!

[iago]

SOOOOOOO SLLLLLOOOOOOWWWWWW ALLLLLLL THE TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMME!

Stop holding down the letters, that should speed things up.

But seriously, yeah, I'm going to verify that this isn't a server issue, then look into signing up with a different ISP in the new year. The previous one worked much better than this!

[Skywing]

If you think that it is a signal issue, check the CM status page.  Most of those have signal data available via the http status site, or perhaps via SNMP.

Regardless, cable and DSL both share bandwidth at the CSO/MSO, so don't think that DSL magically grants dedicated bandwidth simply by being DSL.

- S

[Ender]

Oh, I thought you were talking about the drug. Way to let me down, iago.

[iago]

You realize that this thread is like 5 months old? Way to waste my time for nothing.