Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

    According to this article,Hawaii's Internet connections are the second slowest in the nation.It seems that this survey can be corroborated by this survey.Overall, it seems we are rapidly falling behind the rest of the world speed wise.
    Last edited by Konaguy; December 4, 2008, 06:37 PM.
    Check out my blog on Kona issues :
    The Kona Blog

  • #2
    Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

    So the question is... "Why???"

    What's wrong? What will it take to 'fix' it?
    Life is either an adventure... or you're not doing it right!!!

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

      Originally posted by Menehune Man View Post
      So the question is... "Why???"

      What's wrong? What will it take to 'fix' it?
      Until HT clear up their bankruptcy problem, don't expect them to improve their infrastructure anytime soon.

      RR (aka The Wave in Molokai) have a chance to improve their infrastructure to accommodate both high-speed internet and streaming HD content.
      Beijing 8-08-08 to 8-24-08

      Tiananmen Square 4-15-89 to 6-04-89

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

        Originally posted by Konaguy View Post
        According to this article,Hawaii's Internet connections are the second slowest in the nation.It seems that this survey can be corroborated by this survey.Overall, it seems we are rapidly falling behind the rest of the world speed wise.
        I'd like to see those surveys again comparing prices along with the speeds.

        Maybe we're getting what we're paying for.
        Youth may be wasted on the young, but retirement is wasted on the old.
        Live like you're dying, invest like you're immortal.
        We grow old if we stop playing, but it's never too late to have a happy childhood.
        Forget about who you were-- discover who you are.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

          I recall only 25% of all Hawaiian Telcom's customers can qualify for 11Mbps service and 33% qualify for 7Mbps service. In short their telephone loops
          are too long for most customers to qualify for these higher speed tiers.

          Which is something they'll have to address if they want to roll out their IPTV service. But since they are over leveraged they couldn't address these infrastructure woes. Hence why they applied for USF subsidies to reduce the loop lengths.
          Check out my blog on Kona issues :
          The Kona Blog

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

            Both of those surveys raise more questions then answers. In the first one the numbers seem incredibly low. Granted, it's not just raw bandwidth but "web surfing" speed which probably puts more emphasis on latency then other tests. I'd be curious to know just what factors are at play. I suspect one possibility is the number of routers between us and the servers being tested. It's unclear what servers are used - or for that matter how many data points they had in testing Hawaii. I wanted to run the speed test, but found I'd have to disclose name, address, how many people are employed by my company, job function, job title, etc. No doubt being Ziff-Davis I'd get spammed into subscribing to their magazines. No thanks.

            The second one is also curious - I ran the speed test and got almost 4Mbit/sec on a RR & WiFi connection. But that put me way ahead of the state average and even country average. Somehow I think the results are getting skewed by people with issues - like running speed tests while other family members are web surfing. Or using infected machines, etc. Or maybe those who never called in for the free upgrade on their DSL and is still getting 768Kbs.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

              Originally posted by GeckoGeek View Post
              Or maybe those who never called in for the free upgrade on their DSL and is still getting 768Kbs.
              Did I miss a memo? What is this and where do I find it?
              Youth may be wasted on the young, but retirement is wasted on the old.
              Live like you're dying, invest like you're immortal.
              We grow old if we stop playing, but it's never too late to have a happy childhood.
              Forget about who you were-- discover who you are.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

                Originally posted by Nords View Post
                Did I miss a memo? What is this and where do I find it?
                Well, here's my experience: When I signed up with Verizon, DSL was 1.5Mbit. Later they offered 3Mbit for the same price. But the speed upgrade was not automatic. I was still getting 1.5. So I called in. They told me it would take about a day and there's be a brief service interruption (it happened in a few minutes and only lasted a few minutes) but then I was getting speeds more consistent with 3Mbit.

                Bottom line: you get what you signed up for. If the newer plan looks more attractive, call.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

                  Originally posted by GeckoGeek View Post
                  Bottom line: you get what you signed up for. If the newer plan looks more attractive, call.
                  I'm paying $31.24/month for what should be 3 Mbps/786 kbps but what appears to be more like 430 kbps/380 kbps. Not good.

                  Of course I didn't notice it until I tested it. Without something like SpeedTest.net, I wonder if I'll be able to see the difference between what I have and what HT should be providing.
                  Youth may be wasted on the young, but retirement is wasted on the old.
                  Live like you're dying, invest like you're immortal.
                  We grow old if we stop playing, but it's never too late to have a happy childhood.
                  Forget about who you were-- discover who you are.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

                    Just now on my DSL line from SpeedMatters.org: 2740/709

                    I think you should call HT's tech support.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

                      SpeedMatters.org gave us 459 kbps up, 388 kbps down. This is not moving in the right direction...

                      We have our case ID number and they're getting us a new modem. Apparently it's available as either a straight DSL modem or as a combined DSL modem/wireless router. Don't know that I care either way but I guess a spare router is nice to have.

                      We reset our current DSL modem, a Westel 2100, and it's working OK. They say that our neighborhood network was upgraded to 3 Mbps last July and they pinged on the modem to see if there were any other issues, but they claim it's just the modem. It was manufactured April 04, which the customer service rep seemed to feel is from the Pleistocene Era.

                      I have a whole routine that I'm ready to use when I call customer service reps, but I was pleasantly surprised at the speed & courtesy of their guy. I don't know if it's a side effect of the bankruptcy-- and I don't have the modem yet-- but this is encouraging.
                      Last edited by Nords; December 9, 2008, 02:52 AM.
                      Youth may be wasted on the young, but retirement is wasted on the old.
                      Live like you're dying, invest like you're immortal.
                      We grow old if we stop playing, but it's never too late to have a happy childhood.
                      Forget about who you were-- discover who you are.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

                        Originally posted by Nords View Post
                        SpeedMatters.org gave us 459 kbps up, 388 kbps down. This is not moving in the right direction...
                        My HT DSL download/upload is 3712/483 kbps. And I got $20 3Mbps plan.
                        Beijing 8-08-08 to 8-24-08

                        Tiananmen Square 4-15-89 to 6-04-89

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

                          Originally posted by Nords View Post
                          It was manufactured April 04, which the customer service rep seemed to feel is from the Pleistocene Era.
                          Only two months before my home modem. The one I've got in another place is an even older model.

                          Well, let's see what the new modem does.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

                            Originally posted by GeckoGeek View Post
                            Well, let's see what the new modem does.
                            I complained on Monday 8 Dec and the new modem arrived Friday by UPS. The return address was HT's Kikowaena Place address in town, although it was probably dropshipped from a Mainland Westell supplier. However four days by UPS is great bankruptcy fodder.

                            Anyhow it's a 90-610010-06 "DSL2+ router" made a year ago. I ran SpeedMatters.org and SpeedTest.net before & after (Saturday around 1:30 PM). Let me know if there are more realistic tests/websites.

                            Essentially the old modem downloaded at 2.06 Mbps and uploaded at 480 Mbps while the new one, a few minutes later, "only" achieved 2.04 Mbps down and 478 Mbps. In other words, no difference.

                            I'll have to compare the two again on Sunday & Monday to see if it's a traffic issue. I can't help wondering if, after my trouble ticket was opened, the HT tech guys rebooted a server or reconfigured something that really solved the problem. But it's easier to send a shiny new modem to the customers so that they feel rewarded for their complaint.

                            The new modem is a quarter of the old one's volume, much less than half the weight, and noticeably cooler. I bet it uses a few watts less.

                            It turns out that I can't visually tell the difference between 400 kbps & 2 Mpbs, either. The limiting factor is probably RAM or the graphics card.
                            Youth may be wasted on the young, but retirement is wasted on the old.
                            Live like you're dying, invest like you're immortal.
                            We grow old if we stop playing, but it's never too late to have a happy childhood.
                            Forget about who you were-- discover who you are.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Hawaii Has The Second Slowest Internet Speeds

                              Originally posted by Nords View Post
                              Let me know if there are more realistic tests/websites.
                              Hawaiian Tell offers this site. I don't know as it's any better, but I suspect it will give the best indication of your link speed (not your overall Internet speed).

                              There was a time when my speed fell to close to half so I called up to crab about it. The guy I talked to said he switched me to a different circuit and that seemed to do the trick.

                              Getting back to the starting issue, the Internet speed in the US., browsing around Speedtest's results page is interesting. The US is the fastest country in North America with an average speed of 6094Kbs (now that's a number I can believe). In Asia we'd be about 4th place being edged out by Singapore but being trounced by Korea (13506Kb/s) and Japan (16692Kb/s). Over in Europe, I don't think we'd make the top 10.

                              So, we're not the best, but I don't think we're 2nd world much less 3rd world in terms of speed.

                              As for Speedmatters.org, I got this in a email "Believe it or not, you had one of fastest connection speeds in the country – and you're probably paying a pretty penny for it. The majority of people who took the test didn't come close to scoring as high as you did." Gee, and that's all with HT's basic DSL I think something is screwy with their tests. It's also clear they have a political agenda. Now I don't mind more speed for less cost, but if they can't get more accurate numbers or figure out what's wrong, then I don't want to be associated with them.


                              Originally posted by Nords View Post
                              It turns out that I can't visually tell the difference between 400 kbps & 2 Mpbs, either. The limiting factor is probably RAM or the graphics card.
                              That's possible. But then I don't really notice anything above 1.5Mb/s when web surfing either. If PCMag's article is to be believed, I think it's because either the servers or the Internet itself is too slow.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X