# Why is my internet so slow?



## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

I have no clue why my internet is so slow? I want to stream some videos on Twitch soon when I get my new computer but I don't think that my internet will help me at all if it is this slow. Can anyone help me??


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## MxPhenom 216 (May 17, 2013)

What is your actual internet speed.

http://www.speedtest.net/

Could just be you have a slow internet speed from your ISP, and youll need to upgrade to get a faster one.


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> What is your actual internet speed.
> 
> http://www.speedtest.net/
> 
> Could just be you have a slow internet speed from your ISP, and youll need to upgrade to get a faster one.



What is an ISP? I am not very savvy in computers/internet.


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## MxPhenom 216 (May 17, 2013)

Internet Service Provider.


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> Internet Service Provider.



I have AT&T U-Verse if that's what you mean.


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

And I'll post the internet speed when I get home but when I checked it last night, it was like 3 up, 3 down and like 86 PING. And I was told that that was horrible.


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## Lazermonkey (May 17, 2013)

What speed do you pay for?


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

Lazermonkey said:


> What speed do you pay for?



I think we have the Phone/Internet/TV package so I don't know what we pay for the Internet alone. But I'll check later.


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## ZetZet (May 17, 2013)

pb0004 said:


> And I'll post the internet speed when I get home but when I checked it last night, it was like 3 up, 3 down and like 86 PING. And I was told that that was horrible.



So, I looked up your provider, you probably have so called "pro" plan which is 3up 3down. And i noticed its wireless? Wireless for gaming/streaming is terrible. You will have to either upgrade your plan to higher speeds or just get fiber.


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## newtekie1 (May 17, 2013)

You probably won't be able to stream HD(720p), you definitely won't be able to steam 1080p content with that connection. Your upload is the important number and 3Mb/s generally the minimum for 720p and it has to be pretty consistent my 3Mb/s. U-Verse upload speeds totally suck, I have their highest package at work, the 24Mb/s one, and my upload is only 2Mb/s.


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## Lazermonkey (May 17, 2013)

pb0004 said:


> I think we have the Phone/Internet/TV package so I don't know what we pay for the Internet alone. But I'll check later.



What I mean is... what advertised speed are you supposed to be getting as opposed to your results you posted?


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## ZetZet (May 17, 2013)

newtekie1 said:


> You probably won't be able to stream HD(720p), you definitely won't be able to steam 1080p content with that connection. Your upload is the important number and 3Mb/s generally the minimum for 720p and it has to be pretty consistent my 3Mb/s. U-Verse upload speeds totally suck, I have their highest package at work, the 24Mb/s one, and my upload is only 2Mb/s.


And you pay so much for that


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

ZetZet said:


> So, I looked up your provider, you probably have so called "pro" plan which is 3up 3down. And i noticed its wireless? Wireless for gaming/streaming is terrible. You will have to either upgrade your plan to higher speeds or just get fiber.



Yes. It is wireless. My Xbox are going off of Wi-Fi. The gaming part of it isn't that bad but I can't host. I'll have to talk to my parents about upgrading when we move.


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

newtekie1 said:


> You probably won't be able to stream HD(720p), you definitely won't be able to steam 1080p content with that connection. Your upload is the important number and 3Mb/s generally the minimum for 720p and it has to be pretty consistent my 3Mb/s. U-Verse upload speeds totally suck, I have their highest package at work, the 24Mb/s one, and my upload is only 2Mb/s.



I'm fine with streaming in 480.


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## de.das.dude (May 17, 2013)

you need a proper internet package. your ping seems okay.  its just that your speed is slow.


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> you need a proper internet package. your ping seems okay.  its just that your speed is slow.



I thought that the PING should be real low. Or does the PING not matter when streaming?


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## de.das.dude (May 17, 2013)

doent matter as much as the bandwidth. ping is good for gaming mostly.

it only makes your internet snappier.


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## erocker (May 17, 2013)

3 megabit down is about 384 kilobytes a second. By today's standards, that is slow. Wireless will result in higher pings.. So what you need is:

A wired connection to your PC.

Faster internet.


That's it!


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

erocker said:


> 3 megabit down is about 384 kilobytes a second. By today's standards, that is slow. Wireless will result in higher pings.. So what you need is:
> 
> A wired connection to your PC.
> 
> ...



Is a good down the only thing you really need to stream?


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

Here is my Internet speed: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2714817529.png

A lot better than last night when I checked it.


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## erocker (May 17, 2013)

pb0004 said:


> Is a good down the only thing you really need to stream?



Since you're streaming up, upload is important. You're getting about 110 kilobytes per second. That's really not enough.


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

erocker said:


> Since you're streaming up, upload is important. You're getting about 110 kilobytes per second. That's really not enough.



We're moving in a month I think and we are probably getting a new internet package because I asked them to.


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## kn00tcn (May 17, 2013)

hah, your upload is still faster than regular dsl limits (i think? adsl, not vdsl)







what you should do for now is just see what kind of video quality comes out when streaming, you'll have to limit the total video+audio to 800kbit

& of course the other option is to capture videos locally, upload later, it wont be live but the quality would be as high as you want


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## pb0004 (May 17, 2013)

What is an ideal, not great, not bad internet Up, Down, and PING?


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## natr0n (May 17, 2013)

pb0004 said:


> What is an ideal, not great, not bad internet Up, Down, and PING?



Cable hardwired internet is what you want. pings are low on cable like 30's for example.

Comcast would be okay if you can get it.


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## erocker (May 17, 2013)

pb0004 said:


> What is an ideal, not great, not bad internet Up, Down, and PING?



See what kind of internet providers you can get where you're moving to. Just google search your new zip code/city with "internet service" and see what comes up. If you're in the States, the common ones are Time Warner, Charter, and AT&T. 

This is what I get through Time Warner for about $40 a month:


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## newtekie1 (May 17, 2013)

pb0004 said:


> Here is my Internet speed: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2714817529.png
> 
> A lot better than last night when I checked it.



Honestly, that upload speed is absolutely terrible.  You are going to have a hard timbe streaming even 480p content.  That translates to about 110KB/s, a decent 480p video bitrate is in the 300KB/s range, even 360p would be a stretch for your upload speed.  Unfortunately you won't be able to do any video streaming without making the quality basically unwatchable.



erocker said:


> If you're in the States, the common ones are Time Warner, Charter, and AT&T.



Don't forget Comcast and Verizon.


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## xxdozer322 (May 18, 2013)

that my test with the basic time warner package.


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## remixedcat (May 18, 2013)

Also having an older router with a weak processor can slow things down becuase it can't keep up with the networking commands/demands.


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