No sooner had I reported that my broadband had settled down and the speed drops from the 1.4Mbps that I normally get to 0.67Mbps on Sunday night. It was like that all day yesterday until this morning when it dropped still further to 0,175Mbs
To say I am not happy is an understatement. Looks like trading will be limited again today.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Broadband Settling Down
At the risk of tempting fate, my broadband speed issue seems to have resolved itself. I'm at least getting the sort of speed I normally get, not that that's any great shakes.
This week has illustrated something I didn't appreciate, and, as an engineer, I find a bit dumb.
BT have a mechanism in place where they reduce the speed available on your ADSL connection in order to provide a stable link. If they detect drop outs on your line, they will reduce the speed.
Hang on a minute! That means that the ever decreasing speeds I saw during the week, may well have been cause by the test I had to do in order to identify what might be causing the slowdown I was experiencing! What prat ever thought that was a good idea?
Why can't the system simply behave like old fashioned analog modems? When one dials the other, the go through a handshake process whereby the negotiate the fasted speed available. They do that on every new connection.
So, by continually rebooting my router, change filters, trying new routers, the BT systems were assuming my line was unstable and reducing my speed.
Some of the responsibility of this must lie with my ISP because they assumed I had connection issues and were treating my initial support request as such. Yet at no point did I tell them that my broadband connection kept dropping. It was only ever a problem with reduced speed.
Although the speed seems to be back to normal, I cannot say the issue has been resolved as I am no further forward in identifying what caused the initial slowdown in the first place. I'll keep monitoring it this week.
Interestingly, I had my two best days during the slowdown. On Tuesday and Thursday, I put in £50+ performances. It is making me wonder if my trading style would suit a slower refresh rate on my software. Unfortunately, I am unable to adjust it in Binarysoft in order to test such a theory.
Although this week has been much better than the rest of the month, it has still been very poor. The most frustrating aspect has been the the soccer trading. I've tried various strategies, but always seem to have to employ my exit strategy just before the match turns in the way I wanted it to go. I'll keep bashing on with it though.
I'll finish this post with a sad goodbye...
'B-Selective', one of the stalwarts of the chat room, has decided to pack in trading/gambling after a prolonged poor run. He has decided to concentrate his efforts on Forex trading. I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.
This week has illustrated something I didn't appreciate, and, as an engineer, I find a bit dumb.
BT have a mechanism in place where they reduce the speed available on your ADSL connection in order to provide a stable link. If they detect drop outs on your line, they will reduce the speed.
Hang on a minute! That means that the ever decreasing speeds I saw during the week, may well have been cause by the test I had to do in order to identify what might be causing the slowdown I was experiencing! What prat ever thought that was a good idea?
Why can't the system simply behave like old fashioned analog modems? When one dials the other, the go through a handshake process whereby the negotiate the fasted speed available. They do that on every new connection.
So, by continually rebooting my router, change filters, trying new routers, the BT systems were assuming my line was unstable and reducing my speed.
Some of the responsibility of this must lie with my ISP because they assumed I had connection issues and were treating my initial support request as such. Yet at no point did I tell them that my broadband connection kept dropping. It was only ever a problem with reduced speed.
Although the speed seems to be back to normal, I cannot say the issue has been resolved as I am no further forward in identifying what caused the initial slowdown in the first place. I'll keep monitoring it this week.
Interestingly, I had my two best days during the slowdown. On Tuesday and Thursday, I put in £50+ performances. It is making me wonder if my trading style would suit a slower refresh rate on my software. Unfortunately, I am unable to adjust it in Binarysoft in order to test such a theory.
Although this week has been much better than the rest of the month, it has still been very poor. The most frustrating aspect has been the the soccer trading. I've tried various strategies, but always seem to have to employ my exit strategy just before the match turns in the way I wanted it to go. I'll keep bashing on with it though.
I'll finish this post with a sad goodbye...
'B-Selective', one of the stalwarts of the chat room, has decided to pack in trading/gambling after a prolonged poor run. He has decided to concentrate his efforts on Forex trading. I wish him all the best in his future endeavours.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
How Much?!!!!???
That should really be "how little?".
As you know, I've been having broadband problems all this week. Because I had reason to do multiple reboots of my router recently, my ISP have asked me leave it on for 72 hours and see if it settles down.
When they said "settles down", I'm sure they didn't mean the ever decreasing rate in broadband speed.
For a general indicator, I use mybroadbandspeed.co.uk, but my ISP insists on me using the BT speed tester at speedtester.bt.com. The trouble with that one is it will only allow a test to be done once every three hours. However, I've found the mybroadbandspeed.co.uk figure ties in very well (within a few Mbps) with those given by the BT one.
The graph below is provided by mybroadbandspeed.co.uk and I've just used that to do another test and confirmed it with the BT one. Take a look at the graph. That last measurement is right. 128Kbps! Dial up speed! There is clearly something very wrong with this broadband connection.
With speeds like that, I don't think I'll be doing much trading tomorrow.
As you know, I've been having broadband problems all this week. Because I had reason to do multiple reboots of my router recently, my ISP have asked me leave it on for 72 hours and see if it settles down.
When they said "settles down", I'm sure they didn't mean the ever decreasing rate in broadband speed.
For a general indicator, I use mybroadbandspeed.co.uk, but my ISP insists on me using the BT speed tester at speedtester.bt.com. The trouble with that one is it will only allow a test to be done once every three hours. However, I've found the mybroadbandspeed.co.uk figure ties in very well (within a few Mbps) with those given by the BT one.
The graph below is provided by mybroadbandspeed.co.uk and I've just used that to do another test and confirmed it with the BT one. Take a look at the graph. That last measurement is right. 128Kbps! Dial up speed! There is clearly something very wrong with this broadband connection.
With speeds like that, I don't think I'll be doing much trading tomorrow.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Not Before Time
Finally, a decent days trading...
Thanks in no small part to the £41 I earned on the greyhounds, I pocketed over £58 today. It is three weeks since I had a £58+ return and comes something of a relief. Here's hoping it wasn't a flash in the pan.
I had intended on trading the Stevenage v Port Vale match this evening, but I couldn't really find any angle other than a Stevenage win due to Port Vale missing some first choice defenders. However, by the time I looked at the market, that news had already brought the home side's price down quite significantly, so I didn't think there was any value left.
This, coupled with the fact that there was a Sky televised greyhound meeting on persuaded me to leave it alone. A good decision as it turns out with Port Vale scoring the only goal midway through the first half.
Managing a decent profit today was all the more pleasing as I hadn't intended to do a lot of trading today.
Over recent days, my broadband has been sluggish to say the least, and getting worse. It ain't great at the best of times, barely getting past 1.4Mbs on a good day.
As long as I was just trading, I was generally OK, suffering only a little delay. However, my daughter was getting it in the neck whenever she went online as the delays in BinarySoft were horrendous. I just assumed she was downloading crap again, or visiting YouTube - something she knows to avoid when I'm trading.
Yesterday however, while she was still at school, it was particularly slow and a quick speed test showed it was under 0.3Mbs! I was getting faster upload speeds!
Rather than immediately report it to my ISP, I set aside this morning to do the tests and gather the information I just knew they'd ask me - like they always do. You know the thing - treat the customer like a complete pillock and get them to check the filters, change the router, connect to the main telephone socket and not an extension, check the internal wiring, make sure there aren't any birds sitting on the telephone line causing the cable to stretch under the weight thereby increasing the distance to the exchange and finally, confirm that the wind was blowing in the right direction.
Before starting off, I rebooted my router for the umpteenth time and did a speed test in order to set a baseline before moving things around. Blow me, was it not up to speed again! Indeed, it was the fastest I have ever seen it. Over 1.7Mbs. So I just left it as it freed me up to do some trading today.
I checked it periodically throughout the day and at times it went over 2.0Mbs! Oh the joys.
Unfortunately, I've just done another test as I write this and the sodding thing is down to 0.67Mbs. Clearly, there is something afoot that I need to get to the bottom of.
Thanks in no small part to the £41 I earned on the greyhounds, I pocketed over £58 today. It is three weeks since I had a £58+ return and comes something of a relief. Here's hoping it wasn't a flash in the pan.
I had intended on trading the Stevenage v Port Vale match this evening, but I couldn't really find any angle other than a Stevenage win due to Port Vale missing some first choice defenders. However, by the time I looked at the market, that news had already brought the home side's price down quite significantly, so I didn't think there was any value left.
This, coupled with the fact that there was a Sky televised greyhound meeting on persuaded me to leave it alone. A good decision as it turns out with Port Vale scoring the only goal midway through the first half.
Managing a decent profit today was all the more pleasing as I hadn't intended to do a lot of trading today.
Over recent days, my broadband has been sluggish to say the least, and getting worse. It ain't great at the best of times, barely getting past 1.4Mbs on a good day.
As long as I was just trading, I was generally OK, suffering only a little delay. However, my daughter was getting it in the neck whenever she went online as the delays in BinarySoft were horrendous. I just assumed she was downloading crap again, or visiting YouTube - something she knows to avoid when I'm trading.
Yesterday however, while she was still at school, it was particularly slow and a quick speed test showed it was under 0.3Mbs! I was getting faster upload speeds!
Rather than immediately report it to my ISP, I set aside this morning to do the tests and gather the information I just knew they'd ask me - like they always do. You know the thing - treat the customer like a complete pillock and get them to check the filters, change the router, connect to the main telephone socket and not an extension, check the internal wiring, make sure there aren't any birds sitting on the telephone line causing the cable to stretch under the weight thereby increasing the distance to the exchange and finally, confirm that the wind was blowing in the right direction.
Before starting off, I rebooted my router for the umpteenth time and did a speed test in order to set a baseline before moving things around. Blow me, was it not up to speed again! Indeed, it was the fastest I have ever seen it. Over 1.7Mbs. So I just left it as it freed me up to do some trading today.
I checked it periodically throughout the day and at times it went over 2.0Mbs! Oh the joys.
Unfortunately, I've just done another test as I write this and the sodding thing is down to 0.67Mbs. Clearly, there is something afoot that I need to get to the bottom of.
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