Trouble downloading large File: DSL

I have really bad , DSL. I'm trying to download WAIK which is 1.34 GB and my current rate is only 190 KB/sec. I keep either losing connectivity or losing connection. My best attempt has gotten me to 50%.
Is there a better way to get this or is there a way to not lose my connection?
The windows dl site doesn't give any instructions on what to do if I lose the connection (such as some sites will put an icon on your desktopin case you lose connectivity)

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Comments

marco71

For DSL modem, try to reduce MTU size, from 1500 to 1492 or less ... and might consider also a firmware upgrade for your DSL equipment or a better splitter (filter) for your line, in case of noise...
for download, try to use a download manager which can resume, but not all sites support this facility

tomahawkeer

I would complain to your provider. Changing the MTU may work, but if there are issues with the provider, its kind of like chasing your tail. I had DSL for a really long time, and it was rare that it was ever down, but ive got a good friend who worked for verizon for several years, and the DSL service did go down a good bit, I was just lucky it wasn't my area a lot. Randomness is also something thats extremely hard to troubleshoot.

If you have the ability, swap out the router and see if that helps as well, if not maybe try the modem.

earweed

My problem, I've talked to my ISP, is that I'm so far from th ISP which means my dl speed is that much slower. Mna, I hate that I moved here from where I had cable internet.
Edit: I wish that ISP guy had been as smart as Marco. I lowered my MTU, eventually to 1250, and now some of those problem sites are even working better. The dl is now at 70% with just a little while to go. It's still slow but at least I drop less packets and don't lose the connection.

earweed

I gave you a rep bump for the help. The lowering the MTU fixed it and even helped my internet performance. I've also learned something new. Checked out several articles (googled MTU) and learned why setting it lower helps if you have a slow internet connection.
If you have a fast internet connection set it high (1500 usually) for efficiency and for a slower connection lower the MTU.
Cheers

tiersten

You're working around the problem in a bad way. You're going to get issues by messing with the MTU and especially lowering it that far down. There are plenty of routers and hosts out there which are badly configured and don't do PMTU properly and they won't like your MTU being 1250.

From your symptoms, it sounds like there is excessive packet loss somewhere on your line or at the ISP and this needs to be looked into first.

Get a download manager that lets you resume downloads :P

earweed

I used the following to find when packages quit fragmenting, then add 28 to what the XXXX is when packets are no longer fragmented.
ping ipaddress -f -l XXXX

putting in a number and decrimenting til no more fragmenting

Got instructions from here How do I find my optimum MTU setting? AT&T Southeast Forum FAQ - dslreports.com

tiersten

earweed wrote: »

I used the following to find when packages quit fragmenting, then add 28 to what the XXXX is when packets are no longer fragmented.
ping ipaddress -f -l XXXX

putting in a number and decrimenting til no more fragmenting

Got instructions from here How do I find my optimum MTU setting? AT&T Southeast Forum FAQ - dslreports.com

You do this for every single host you connect to on the internet?

earweed

I actually first did tracert and Pathping and found that my main problems come somewhere between my DSL modem and the ISP.
I tried several different hosts and they all came out the same once I had found an MTU setting where I wasn't fragmenting.

tiersten

earweed wrote: »

I actually first did tracert and Pathping and found that my main problems come somewhere between my DSL modem and the ISP.
I tried several different hosts and they all came out the same once I had found an MTU setting where I wasn't fragmenting.

You're working around the symptoms and not fixing the actual problem. If this counts as normal for your ISP then I'd start looking for another one...

earweed

My only other option where I live is satelite.

tiersten

earweed wrote: »

My only other option where I live is satelite.

Hmm. Ouch. I guess that you're already experiencing the odd problems caused by having a small than normal MTU though. It isn't just small unknown sites that have issues with it. Its been a few years since I've checked but back then really major websites had issues with PTMU. The issue is that they're firewalling nearly all ICMP packets and breaking PMTU along with the ability for the remote end to report that it requires fragmentation.

A similar problem occurred when ECN was implemented as a large number of firewalls just weren't happen with packets with the ECN bit set as it didn't know what it was.

L0gicB0mb508

Why don't you try to find the file on a torrent. They work well for large downloads.

earweed

Worried about virii. The dl's I'm doing are MS files and free anyway.

tiersten

earweed wrote: »

Worried about virii. The dl's I'm doing are MS files and free anyway.

If Microsoft supply a hash then you can torrent it and just confirm that hash + filesize matches afterward. I know they do for TechNet and MSDN downloads.

earweed

Good idea. How do I find out if a particular file is available via bit torrent?

tpatt100

My DSL speed recently dropped pretty low I went from 5.5 or so down to barely 1. I tried connecting directly to the DSL modem same slow speed. the manufacturer for the modem says go to ATT for a firmware update but ATT does not provide one. I am dreading calling this Friday and spending all day on the phone with tech support hearing what I heard last time where the tech tells me I cant trust internet speed tests or my doubled latency in WOW.

earweed

I have ATT DSL also. If you got a support tech who knew anything you were lucky. I got one once who didn't understand what I was doing when I pinged something..lol
Try tracert and pathping to see where the problem is.

earweed

I talked to someone who said part of my problem may be that my router and DSL modem are both NAT so I'm double natting which may be causing some of my problem. My setup is

---->DSL modem --->Wireless Trendnet router --->switch--->computers

How exactly do I fix this?

tiersten

earweed wrote: »

I talked to someone who said part of my problem may be that my router and DSL modem are both NAT so I'm double natting which may be causing some of my problem.

Probably not. You're not supposed to NAT something that is also NATing but it shouldn't cause the problems you're experiencing. Running a P2P application like BitTorrent may be a little quirky though since you may exhaust the translation tables.

earweed wrote: »

My setup is

---->DSL modem --->Wireless Trendnet router --->switch--->computers

How exactly do I fix this?

Turn off NAT in the modem or the AP.

earweed

Just turning off nat in either one causes lost internet connectivity

tiersten

earweed wrote: »

Just turning off nat in either one causes lost internet connectivity

You'd need to reconfigure it as well. Turn off NAT in the AP and set it into bridging mode. Make sure the wired subnet and the wireless subnet are using the same details and that you aren't running two DHCP servers.