Problem Sharing DirecPC conection

[DarkManX]

I got everything setup and running, on the main computer the speeds are fine around what they should be, but I use ICS to share the connection the client speeds suck! pretty much like dial-up 4-5K's. Whats weird is I can download 5-6 things of napter or Internet and they will all be going at 4-5K's but not a single thing will go over 5. what can I do?

 

[ffwd]

The problem is with ICS. There is a bug in it where the MTU value is set too low. AnalogX has a free proxy server that should help. Remembered this from a Screensavers show.

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/shownotes/story/0,3656,2469322,00.html

http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network.htm

 

[DarkManX]

I know about the MTU bug and fixed it a while ago, speed went up from 3k to about 5k.

 

[freeway]

I just set up my direcpc a few hours ago and so far I am impressed. I use Sygate to share the connection over my network, currently 3 pcs and soon to be 5. The server downloads at ~45K and both clients get ~20K. It is much faster than I expected after reading the newsgroups - I hope it stays like this. In any case I want to speed up the clients. I tried many MTU settings and I have never gotten any faster than windows default settings. Let's keep this thread going

 

[DarkManX]

freeway can you tell me how you got sygate setup?

 

[freeway]

DarkManX, download the demo, install it on the server (must be on win 9x or Me for direcpc) with the server option. Then install it on each client choosing the client option. Put a floppy in the server, Go to Tools/create client setup floppy. Then put the floppy in each client and run the executable that is made on each client. On the server in the tools/configuration under outgoing connection setting, choose ethernet and select sattelite receiver. Go to internal network settings/ select manually and chose your network card. If you have a win2000 client, you need to put your ISP's DNS in gateway under control panel/ network on the win2000 client. Hope this works for you. I use a win me server, until direcpc comes out with win2000 drivers, a win me client and a win2000 client. It is all pretty easy, and the directions are good. I had this set up before I got the directpc. Hope this helps.

 

[DarkManX]

the reason I asked is because I thought that since its a 1 way connection there was some special steps to get it setup.

 

[freeway]

Not that I know of. I had Sygate set up for my multilinked modems, then I installed direcpc. I fired up direcpc through direcpc's dialing program and as soon as I connected, Sygate was up and running. The only change I made was to set it for the USB satellite modem. I was surprised because I expected some config problems. Now only if I could get the bandwidth up on the clients. Also it must be near peak time now, because my server has dropped to ~20 - ~30K.

 

[ffwd]

I have a question, have you noticed if your uploading speed is better seeing as it's the only job the modem has now? I have considered using direcpc, but upload speed matters just as much to me because I run a web design business.

 

[DarkManX]

I havent really uploaded much but im pretty sure it is faster since there is much less load on the modem since the dish takes care of the downloads.

 

[ffwd]

During the install of the dish, was it hard to line up? I have just installed a free directv dish and it only took 5 minutes to zero-in. I'm thinking of spending the 150.00 they are asking. Do you really need an install kit or does it come with all the wireing and a mount that I could use on the side of the house?

 

[DarkManX]

easy to install, if u have a best buy near you they sell the system for 150$ with free instalation.

 

[ffwd]

So I purchsed the system yesterday, not from Best Buy, (they didn't even know it was in their sales ad not to mention they didn't have any on the floor)I spend 1 1/2 hours setting up the hardware. I try finding the satelite and nada, nothing not even a beep to get started. I call up direcpc and they tell me my software is outdated, so I download the 13meg file and reinstall. Still nothing. Should I get a beep from the start when I line up ? The sat led on the usb modem is not on, they tell me it will come on when I find the satelite in the sky. Thinknig there is a problem with the modem now.

 

[freeway]

It took me less than a minute to find the satellite once I had the dish set up. The first thing I did was setup the USB modem with the software that came with it. I had to dial a 1800 number with the modem to finish registration and it updated a few files. The program took me to a step where I had to select the state and town I was in and it gave me a few numbers to use in lining it up. Then a high pitched noise came up and a bar that showed signal strength. I used a compass to find the general direction to point the dish, and set it at 40 degrees. I sent my brother to watch for a signal, and I moved the dish to the left less than an inch. It jumped to 148 signal strength and evened out at ~130. From what I have read, I'm really lucky because it can be hard to find the signal. I'm pretty sure that the lights on the modem flashed when I installed it and I did not even have the coax hooked on the back.
As for speed, I am still pretty impressed. I downloaded the new Monkey Island demo ~118 megs in 20 minutes using download accelerator. The program opens multiple connections and then joins the downloaded file. I'm still maxing out at ~20k on speed tests on my client machines, but with download accelerator I can hit over 100k sustained download rate. On the server the speed tests go ~50k and with download accelerator I can burst up to 200K. So far I have not been FAPed either.
I do not think you would see much of a difference with uploading than on a 56k modem. If you do a lot of uploading, this is not what you want - until 2 way comes out.

 

[ffwd]

Well I got it to work, after bugging the sales people to give me a few pointers on what my problems might be. ( He kept insisting that I would only succeed if he came out and did it for me $60.00 minimum) I had a questionable coax conection at the LNB, fixed that and got signal within a few minutes. 120 on the meter. Thing is now i am at the same point you were, my clients are downloading at 8kb while i get 40kb. I'm using winroute and it says to change the MTU to 1466. That didn't do much. I need to fix that soon! My wife isn't too happy seeing as she's a client. What MTU are you using for the clients?

 

[freeway]

Glad you got it working. I am using 1466 for my MTU settings also. The rest is windows default. I did a search on deja and found this:
>>>snip>>>>
The big problem i had was slow speed on the clients so i d/l a DUN tweaking program the one i used was SkyLam and went to Advance and set MTU to 1466 thats what DPC likes and Then to RWIN and set it as mutiple of 100 and last tab to 64 bit and now i get full speed on all 3 machines
>>>snip>>>>

Well, I tried this with the same program, and guess what, I dropped to around 15K.

 

[Toro 45]

Since you guys are trying tweaks go here check there speed test, then try the tweak test it will let you know the problems & offer a tweak(patch).

I'm using Sygate for my cable modem, just installed on sever as server setup, & installed program on clients (checked client box). That was it no floppy no settings to change what so ever.
Good Luck, Toro

 

[ffwd]

Found a little program on zdnet called Befaster V2.4. It has settings for Direcpc server also has settings for lans of all types. Tried it on one client but it's hard to tell right now. going to try on my laptop. Not sure if I want to change anything on the server, it's working pretty good. I'm wondering if I change the server could it help the clients?

 

[ffwd]

How are you measuring your download speeds on your clients?

 

[freeway]

I run the speed test from computing central

http://www.computingcentral.com/topics/bandwidth

Since I don't trust speed tests very much, I pick a file from hotfiles or ftp.cdrom.com and dl it. The dl speeds tend to be similar to the speed test.

Here is what I just got at the speed test:

client
27.3 K bytes/sec

Server
50.5 K bytes/sec

 

[ffwd]

Anologx has a small TCP/IP protocol monitor called NetStat, i bet if you try that you will be surprised on how much faster your are really downloading, it also gives instant results so you get a good idea of burst speed. Here's the link for the download if your interested.

http://www.analogx.com/files/nsli.exe

 

[DarkManX]

thanks guys.