Is usenet etc throttled? Not getting line speed.

[#1]

Hi there,
When I use usenet or torrents my download speeds hover around 1600-1700 kilobytes per second but when I use speedtest.net I get 2200-2300
I recently changed my router and got a significantly better sync speed but using usenet etc has stayed the same. At first I thought it might be that my profile was stuck but the results I get from speedtest.net are much better now than before. It's strange because the usenet speeds seem to be exactly the same as when I had my old router, almost as if something is "stuck" but my profile appears to to be right and my speedtest results are what I expect them to be.

Sometimes if I reconnect to plusnet there is a temporary surge up to 2300 but this is very hit and miss.
Any ideas?

[#2]

What Plusnet broadband product are you on ?

[#3]

Hi, I'm on the unlimited package.

[#4]

Hi fatdeeman,
Looks like there's a fair bit of streaming going on on your connection, if that's happening while you're downloading that could explain the slowdowns - indeed if anyone else was using the connection at the time. If not though perhaps wireless issues if you use that?
If it's neither of those please let us know and we'll see if there's anything we can do.

[#5]

Hi there,
I don't think it's either of those things as I can easily get a 2300KB speedtest result and then only get around 1700KB usenet speeds on the same computer moments later, when there's no streaming etc going on. Every time I do a speedtest it is around the same speed and every time I use usenet it is around the same speed, always roughly 600KB short,  I can repeat the pattern all day.

[#6]

Here's the speedtest I just did

However usenet is stuck firmly around 1700KB

[#7]

Guessing that's the same regardless of the number of threads you have open to the server? If so, any chance you could run a wireshark capture of the usenet traffic for us so we can look into it and get it sorted for you?
If so, you'd need to start the capture before you set the download going, and leave it until the speed has reduced - that might mean you end up with a fairly large .pcap file I'm afraid.

[#8]

Yeah I've tried all variations of threads etc, using the usenet account at a friends house maxed out their cable connection so it's not the usenet server.
I also should probably clarify that when I said sometimes it speeds up if I reconnect I mean if I reconnect my router to plusnet, not reconnect to the nzb server.
It usually hits the speed ceiling right away, it doesn't start fast and then slow down, would it still need to be a large capture?

[#9]

This is probably going to sound silly, but does your usenet software have a speed limiter that you've set and forgotten about?
Fwiw, no usenet speed issues here.

[#10]

It has a limiter but I've never turned it on, I tried a different client as well but the same thing, it just hits a ceiling at around 1700Kbps. This was the exact speed I was getting before I got a new router but my speedtest results have increased so I can't see how it could be a stuck profile or anything otherwise everything I did would be stuck at the old speed.
I know my usenet provider has both a speed limited and an unlimited service and I have the unlimited, I wonder if it's worth enquiring if I am somehow on the wrong product?

[#11]

Quote from: fatdeeman

I know my usenet provider has both a speed limited and an unlimited service and I have the unlimited, I wonder if it's worth enquiring if I am somehow on the wrong product?

I just realised there's no point doing that as I get better speeds with the same account round a friends house.

[#12]

What provider are you using?
Astraweb does a good job of mostly saturating my line here at around 8.5MB/s
It does occasionally drop down to 6-7MB/s though 😕
I'm not fussed enough to try and figure out whether it's plusnet or Astraweb, though (although I suspect it's Plusnet).

[#13]

I use astraweb too!
The only thing that jumps out at me is that I changed my router and got a much better sync speed, my browsing and browser downloads have seen a significant speed boost but usenet remains the same as it was when I had my old router, it almost seems as though something is "stuck" but it's not my profile because browser downloads and speed tests etc show the improved speed.

[#14]

Your usenet will naturally drop off if you do something else of higher priority on your line, but what fatdeeman is doing really doesn't sound like that 😕

[#15]

I still haven't had a chance to run wireshark but I thought I would mention this, I just turned on my laptop and began a download, the speed rises sharply to 1700KBPS and then stays there. I disconnected my router from plusnet and reconnected, leaving the alt.biz open all the while, when the download resumed the speed went up to over 2200KBPS for about a minute and then very abruptly lowered again to 1700KBPS.
I tried this again three more times, the first time the speed stayed the same, the second time it rose once again to around 2200KBPS before coming back down and the third time it kept the same speed on resuming.
I'm totally baffled.