BSNL limiting 2.4 Mbits/s connection at 200 Kbits/s?

[IamJAX]

I am from Trivandrum, Kerala. Today morning I took BSNL's EVDO connection. I couldn't test it properly in the morning as I was too busy with my work. Even then, I managed to view a video on Youtube and the result was disappointing. The video buffered every 10 seconds, like any other connection.

In the evening at around 6, I resumed the testing. First I tested by downloading a movie trailer from Apple.com via Flashget download manager. Initially the speeds crossed 190 KB/s but almost immediately it dropped to 16 KB/s. I tried another download, this time from Nvidia's server. This time it never went above 16 KB/s. I wonder if they are capping the speeds, at least during peak hours.

Anyway after 10 pm, I resumed the test. This time I tried a torrent and the result was much better. I got an average of 60 to 70 KB/s. So I thought of giving manual download another try. Again I tried the movie trailer with Flashget. This time the speed was around 25 to 35 KB/s.

I still can't explain how the download speed dropped all of a sudden from 190 KB/s to 16 KB/s. Are BSNL guys really limiting speeds? These are the links I used to test the speed.

http://movies.apple.com/movies/independent/backseat/backseat_h640w.mov
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/169.21/169.21_forceware_winxp_32bit_english_whql.exe
http://jaist.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/azureus/Azureus_3.0.4.2_windows.exe

Other EVDO users, please try downloading the above links and post your situation here.

 

[appus]

Hi friend...
May be the problem with the pipeline we see in all tv's and news !! hopefully everything will be alright soon. check some servers which are hosted in india.. !

since you said you are getting torrents at good speed, hopefully it will be working soon !!
Internet access in India and large parts of West Asia including the UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia has been hit following breakdown of two undersea cables in the Mediterranean Sea.

The disruption was caused by an anchoring ship that accidentally damaged Indian-owned Flag cable and SEA-ME-WE after being diverted from the Egyptian port of Alexandria due to bad weather.

Repair teams have already set sail for the location but the disruption that started yesterday hasn't yet been resolved. Reportedly, it will take a week to a fortnight to restore services back to normal.

 

[John7777]

I am from Trivandrum, Kerala. Today morning I took BSNL's EVDO connection. I couldn't test it properly in the morning as I was too busy with my work. Even then, I managed to view a video on Youtube and the result was disappointing. The video buffered every 10 seconds, like any other connection.

In the evening at around 6, I resumed the testing. First I tested by downloading a movie trailer from Apple.com via Flashget download manager. Initially the speeds crossed 190 KB/s but almost immediately it dropped to 16 KB/s. I tried another download, this time from Nvidia's server. This time it never went above 16 KB/s. I wonder if they are capping the speeds, at least during peak hours.

Anyway after 10 pm, I resumed the test. This time I tried a torrent and the result was much better. I got an average of 60 to 70 KB/s. So I thought of giving manual download another try. Again I tried the movie trailer with Flashget. This time the speed was around 25 to 35 KB/s.

I still can't explain how the download speed dropped all of a sudden from 190 KB/s to 16 KB/s. Are BSNL guys really limiting speeds? These are the links I used to test the speed.

http://movies.apple.com/movies/independent/backseat/backseat_h640w.mov
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/169.21/169.21_forceware_winxp_32bit_english_whql.exe
http://jaist.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/azureus/Azureus_3.0.4.2_windows.exe

Other EVDO users, please try downloading the above links and post your situation here.

I'm taking a guess here .... my guess is that you are ping-pong ing between EVDO (upto 2.4Mbps) and CDMA 1x (upto 144kbps) networks. It happens when you are on the edge of the EVDO coverage area far from the city centre just check with BSNL and let us also know what you happen to hear back form them. Also It could be attributed to the recent internet undersea cable issues in the atlantic.

 

[arnold991]

1) It maybe due to breakdown of cable lying between India and Egypt.2) EVDO speed depends upon number of users connected to the CDMA Tower.3) And 2mbps connection never means that download, webpage loading, video streaming, whatever will run at a constant or at 2mbps, never.Speed doesn't only depend upon the speed of your connection but largely and mostly on the server from where you download anything. Torrents can't always give full speed because it depends upon the number of users, their geographical location, share ratio, their own upload speed, and on many things.If you really want to test constant speed of your connection then download any file, setup from Microsoft's website.But I am sure that even downloading from the conxion server you won't get the constant speed, it will vary, though not by a large margin like other websites.You can download DU Meter and keep it constantly on and see how the speed varies when you surf the internet.

 

[jaskaran]

my guess is on the breakdown of the cable...BSNL has started their downgraded service(i liked it much better when some sites wouldn't open,at least i could download at full speed via torrents back then),my connection has dropped down to 110-195kbps(originally 256kbps) and my friends connection has gone down to 140-240kbps(originally 2mbps)

 

[RedBull]

Hey IAMJAX, me from Kollam, Kerala..........I took the EV-DO yesterday and is experiencing ur same probs, just 10-20KBPS max.I think the tower nearest to me is NOT EV-DO enabled and so am getting just CDMA speeds?

 

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[charly555]

@im jax.. surely the bsnl evdo is limitin speeds.. but u get to download torrents at 70 KBs.. but i get only 20 KB s , but when 25 max.. but when i use limewire i get around 150 KBs.. i m very dissappionted as i m not able to download torrents at good speeds.. did u forward the ports in u torrent to get such speeds... what al softwares did u install for the evdo.. did u tweak any settings... please reply..

 

[icar]

Did u try after 10pm?

 

[RedBull]

I called someone at higher up the BSNL ladder and he said to check if the ZTE EV-DO dialer shows 1X or EVDO after the tower symbol.When its 1X , the network u get will be CDMA and max speeds will be 144kbps.Once its shown as EVDO, it shud go higher upto 2mbps.When i told him that my exchange said they were giving EVDO signal, he looked up the exchange name and said everyone will go full EVDO only towards Feb end.They are still having "microwave" only towers he said.btw, when was on EVDO, I managed to get upto 1060kbps and an average speed of 600kbps for 2 hours.Was fully on 1X since Sunday.So I think they are testing it out.

 

[greendesert]

well, this clears the thing here. I got info from the local bsnl office that the evdo service would commence after one week but I will get only 256 kbps. Dunno if he meant that while downloading 🙂 that would be awesome. Can somebody tell me the aerial coverage strength of evdo tower ?thanks.

 

[nex]

BSNL EVDO subscribers nees to understand this.You are neither connected to an evdo nor to a CDMA. You are connected to a WLL exchange( Wireless in local loop), which is like a wireless extention to a landline exchange. You have limited mobility within your city coveraga. The exchange is currently patched up to provide decent speeds at WLL links. The speeds go upto 240 kbps which gives a max of 25 KBPS download speed. You are having a dedicated connection which is synchronous like a dsl and it is a dial-up connection. The WLL networks can give speeds that depend on the internal network of the exchange you are connected to. if the exchange is using latest equipment with no conjestion they can push speeds beyond the 2mbps and like its done in north america upto 8-9 mbps. But you see..Most of the exchanges are getting old and the proposal to upgrade them was passed recently (If my sources are correct) and it will take atleast 3 to 6 months to upgrade the exchange networks and even then you may be restricted to a max of 2 mbps since the load will be high as u all know how fast bsnl connections are taken. A lot of new connections mean more conjestion and that means less speed.Good news is that the reliability of downloaded data is high and since its cheap and unlimited, we can cope up with the slow speed easily.wellchao

 

[John7777]

BSNL EVDO subscribers nees to understand this.
You are neither connected to an evdo nor to a CDMA. You are connected to a WLL exchange( Wireless in local loop), which is like a wireless extention to a landline exchange. You have limited mobility within your city coveraga. The exchange is currently patched up to provide decent speeds at WLL links. The speeds go upto 240 kbps which gives a max of 25 KBPS download speed. You are having a dedicated connection which is synchronous like a dsl and it is a dial-up connection.
The WLL networks can give speeds that depend on the internal network of the exchange you are connected to. if the exchange is using latest equipment with no conjestion they can push speeds beyond the 2mbps and like its done in north america upto 8-9 mbps. But you see..
Most of the exchanges are getting old and the proposal to upgrade them was passed recently (If my sources are correct) and it will take atleast 3 to 6 months to upgrade the exchange networks and even then you may be restricted to a max of 2 mbps since the load will be high as u all know how fast bsnl connections are taken. A lot of new connections mean more conjestion and that means less speed.
Good news is that the reliability of downloaded data is high and since its cheap and unlimited, we can cope up with the slow speed easily.

well
chao

The above comments are not completely correct.
First thing is that WLL is a terminology used to denote the exchange in a wireless network, more generally called the MSC. CDMA/EVDO is the access technology, ie the technology used between the end user terminal (mobile phone or a data card) and the Base station ( typically called tower). BSNL uses CDMA 1x for providing the voice and data upto 144kbps on handsets,Fixed wireless phones, USB modems and PCMCIA cards and they use EVDO to provide data upto 2.4/3.1 Mbps. For data cards BSNL donot limit the connectivity to the WLL exchange coverage area. I have been able to use the EVDO service in many major towns of Kerala. In short it is not the exchange which typically limit the speed at the end user premises, rather its the access technology