I find it odd that every time I click on a thread or even the back button on my browser it takes 10 - 15 seconds to re-download every little button, header, and graphic on RCU. Is there a way to speed things up or keep the top header from having to continuously redownload.

Another problem I see is to many buttons/Dots attaches in front of posts. These things are pretty but are slow to download.

All these problems and I am using a Cable Modem.

Hope something can be done. I like jumping from thread to thread.

It may be you are having network routing problems to our servers. Everything is loading < 1 sec for me here.

I too have noticed that in the last couple of days there seems to have been a few slowdowns. Obviously there are a lit of unknowns with internet networking so it is prety hard to blame a specific site, but I was using other sites at the same time last night and they were loading in normal time, but RCU seemed to be taking for ever to load the pages. This was most evident last night.

sorry have to agree... clicking back should be instant, but i have to reload everything
it's only been the last few days.
i also have a habbit of looking at 3-4 pages at once, then it's really slow.
also on dial up

Join the crowd. Everytime I visit the site it's slow. I have tried from different locations and times of the day. That's why I only visit a couple of times a week. Even then I only read what I think I should read. I don't have enough time to make it through all the un-read threads.

PG

I have to agree as well. On dialup I'm always waiting for pictures to download. I've tried different IE settings to encourage it to keep the graphics files in cache, but they appear to always be out of date (or something) and in need of reloading. I'm reluctant to bring it up, but the old RCU definitely was faster once the graphics were cached. At the first use each day it was slow as the cache was refreshed, but afterward it was OK with use of the back button and an occasional refresh if the pages I backed up to got too stale.

On broadband (several T1s direct to WorldNet or whoever the upper tier ISP around here is) at work it is fast, so the problem is not server speed.

My conclusion is that there is too much data to download on every new page.

Marc, have you tried to use RCU with a dialup modem? I mean use it, not just download a page or two. Try it from an ISP other than one your servers use. Stick to it for a week.

dial up is very slow I will admit. I tried it on my mac and it was 30 seconds per page including hitting back button.

I work in the Network architecture group for a large network communications group. I can tell you that there are many places for latency to occur between a home computer and a website. From my home based network I am about 19 hops out from Rcuniverse, there are several networks in between that, all at times get caught up in traffic jams.

There are so many variables that effect the speed of the connection and how data comes down the pipe. Routers in these networks are coded to direct traffic according to a routing table but are also setup to make adjustments based on traffic.

I cannot comment on slow loading pages but I have noticed slow loading recently as well.

They way you can find out where the problem is to use your ping utility or download NEOTRACE PRO (Free) which can map and trace your connection to anywhere on the web. It will show you the latency in hops and will show where the hangups are.

Right now I am pinging Rcuniverse at about 75ms....That's darn good.


Dbow

I have indeed confirmed that speed is slow on the site at our current ISP. My hunch is that it is network related. We will either resolve this quickly or move to another hosting location quickly. Slow speed is not acceptable, period.

I have 2 test links below I would like for members to test and time for me. One is to the old RCU and one to the new. It is the same windows media player file of my fiesta aircraft flying. It is about 10MB in size. If you can download each one separately and time how long it takes for the entire file to load that would help. On the player the green bar must go from the left to the right. Once at the extreme right the download is complete.

Please report your times for each here and note your location and the time it took for each download to take (note which time is from old RCU and which is from the new site)

BEST TO RIGHT CLICK EACH OF THESE AND SAVE THE FILE ON YOUR DRIVE FOR BEST TRACKING OF TIMES

New RCU test link: http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/r...7/fiestahi.wmv

Old RCU test link: http://utopia.rcuniverse.com/fiestahi.wmv


Post your timing results in this thread.

Thanks for your help and patience.

These are my results from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
with Cable Modem.

New website Results

Time to start Playing : 50 Secs
Time for complete Download : 6 mins 5 secs

Old Website Results

Time to start Playing : 5 Secs
Time for complete Download : 1 min 5 secs

Thanks Ron. Your times are close to what I found on my cable modem.

I would like for another dozen users to try this test so I can confirm locations and connections. Broadband or dial up. Thanks for your help.

This will help us nail down the cause and take any and all action necessary to rectify it. RCU was built on speed and my #1 priority is to keep that promise.

Also if any of the users who do the time test here can include a traceroute to www.rcuniverse.com and paste it in here that would help too. It isn't necessary so unless you know what a traceroute is and know how to do it don't worry about it. The timing numbers are verification of a problem.

both links were down today marc...[]

Hi Marc,

Here my results:

Location: San Diego
Connection: Cable Modem
Computer: Mac G4

New Site:
7 1/2 minutes to go to 100% buffered and start playing.

Old Site:
About 30 seconds to got to 100% buffered and start playing.

Question:

Does the fact that it has already been downloaded affect the subsequent test? i.e. Should we close out of our browser and try it? Nevermind, I'll just try it.

Nearly the same as RDespins, Marc.
Piqua, Ohio====broadband.

Just closed out of Explorer and reopened.

Old site still downloaded in about 30 seconds.

So much for that theory..

Cable modem in Montgomery County Maryland (outside D.C.):

I'm not sure the purpose of using media player, since it just complicates the timing, but here it is:

New: To start playing: 0:27
100% downloaded: 6:53

Old: To start playing: 0:34
100% downloaded: 4:38

However, I think a straight download (right click) is much more revealing:

New: Time 3:44 (45.5 KB/Sec)

Old: Time 0:59 (163 KB/Sec)

Traceroute New:
C:\WINDOWS>tracert www.rcuniverse.com

Tracing route to rcuniverse.com [63.170.142.203]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 14 ms <10 ms 14 ms 172.30.103.145
3 14 ms 13 ms 14 ms 172.30.103.131
4 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms 172.30.100.186
5 14 ms 14 ms 13 ms 68.48.0.162
6 27 ms 14 ms 14 ms pos-6-3-cr01.ritchieroad.md.core.comcast.net [6
.87.18.41]
7 13 ms 14 ms 14 ms 12.126.168.5
8 14 ms 14 ms 13 ms tbr1-p012201.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.123.9.74]
9 14 ms 14 ms 13 ms 12.123.9.113
10 14 ms 13 ms 14 ms att-gw.dc.sprint.net [192.205.32.166]
11 14 ms 13 ms 28 ms sl-bb23-rly-5-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.153]

12 28 ms 13 ms 14 ms sl-bb27-rly-10-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.14.142

13 41 ms 41 ms 28 ms sl-bb23-chi-12-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.184

14 41 ms 27 ms 41 ms 144.232.10.10
15 68 ms 69 ms 69 ms sl-m2nsmult-3-0.sprintlink.net [160.81.42.130]
16 69 ms 82 ms 69 ms 63.170.142.203

Trace complete.

Tracert old:

C:\WINDOWS>tracert utopia.rcuniverse.com

Tracing route to utopia.rcuniverse.com [66.0.192.212]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 14 ms 13 ms <10 ms 172.30.103.145
3 14 ms 13 ms 14 ms 172.30.103.131
4 <10 ms 13 ms 14 ms 172.30.100.174
5 14 ms 13 ms 14 ms 68.48.0.162
6 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms pos-6-3-cr01.ritchieroad.md.core.comcast.net [68
.87.18.41]
7 13 ms 14 ms 14 ms 12.118.122.9
8 27 ms 14 ms 14 ms tbr1-p010401.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.123.9.106]
9 28 ms 13 ms 14 ms tbr2-cl9.phlpa.ip.att.net [12.122.2.86]
10 14 ms 14 ms 13 ms gar2-p390.phlpa.ip.att.net [12.123.137.50]
11 28 ms 27 ms 14 ms 12.119.53.118
12 27 ms 28 ms 14 ms g-2-1.c0-pitb.telcove.net [24.56.96.21]
13 41 ms 42 ms 27 ms p03-4-4.c0-atln.telcove.net [24.56.96.74]
14 69 ms 55 ms 69 ms p03-0-1-0.a0-orld.telcove.net [24.56.97.98]
15 68 ms 69 ms 55 ms 64.31.173.22
16 55 ms 55 ms 55 ms pos1-0.atlngapk24w.cr.deltacom.net [66.35.174.25
]
17 55 ms 68 ms 69 ms 66.35.174.106
18 55 ms 55 ms 68 ms suw03.gig6-0.edeltacom.com [66.35.174.166]
19 55 ms 69 ms * suwC6.gig3-6.edeltacom.com [216.154.207.150]
20 55 ms 55 ms 69 ms suw0S.gig4-3-6.edeltacom.com [216.154.207.146]
21 * 55 ms * www.rcuniverse.com [66.0.192.212]
22 * 68 ms * www.rcuniverse.com [66.0.192.212]
23 55 ms 69 ms * www.rcuniverse.com [66.0.192.212]
24 55 ms * * www.rcuniverse.com [66.0.192.212]
25 55 ms * 69 ms www.rcuniverse.com [66.0.192.212]

Trace complete.

What the heck is happening in lines 21 through 25???

Also, don't know if this is relevant, but the download from old is very steady, whereas the download from the new is very bursty, fast for a while, then nothing for a while, fast again, etc.

not sure what is happening on those last few lines. I don't get that here. could be a glitch. the bursting behaviour is interesting. also the trend and validation of the speeds is slowly forming. Need some more times and test still so anybody else please have at it. thanks

I also noticed the bursting on the new website. Old site was silky and smooth.

New RCU/ 3:26

Old RCU/ 2:24

Alexandria, AL

C:\Documents and Settings\Matt>tracert www.rcuniverse.com

Tracing route to rcuniverse.com [63.170.142.203]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 14 ms 13 ms 13 ms dsl093-100-001.wdc2.dsl.speakeasy.net [66.93.100
.1]
2 15 ms 13 ms 13 ms border1.g4-3.speakeasy-40.wdc.pnap.net [63.251.8
3.187]
3 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms core2.ge3-1-bbnet2.wdc002.pnap.net [216.52.127.7
2]
4 14 ms 15 ms 15 ms ge-5-1-181.ipcolo1.Washington1.Level3.net [63.21
0.59.237]
5 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms ae-0-54.bbr2.Washington1.Level3.net [64.159.18.9
8]
6 15 ms 15 ms 13 ms so-7-0-0.edge1.Washington1.Level3.net [209.244.1
1.14]
7 15 ms 15 ms 14 ms sl-st20-ash.sprintlink.net [209.244.219.170]
8 15 ms 15 ms 16 ms sl-bb23-rly-5-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.153]

9 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms sl-bb27-rly-10-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.14.142]

10 36 ms 35 ms 35 ms sl-bb23-chi-12-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.184]

11 36 ms 35 ms 35 ms 144.232.10.10
12 56 ms 51 ms 60 ms sl-m2nsmult-1-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.51.138]

13 66 ms 67 ms 61 ms 63.170.142.203

Trace complete.



here ya go Marc. Hope this helps

DSL line from my home in Northern Virginia outside Washington DC. The numbers seem ok until the last few hops when it drops a bit. Not bad if you ask me but its late so traffic is lower.

Test conducted 11:50 PM est 12/7/03
PC Specs - PIV 2.4 GHZ


NEW FILE = average speed of about 65kbps 2min 38 seconds
OLD FILE = average speed of about 104kbps 1min 34seconds



regards

matt

Matt - can you download those 2 files separately and time them? see my first couple posts in this thread. thanks.

I have DSL pro from Qwest. My downloads times were.....

New Site

Started playing 10 sec
Complete download 2.50 min

Old Site

Start 5 sec
Complete 2.25 min

I have DSL from Verizon and in everett WA.

New site: 10 second to start/1 minute 20 seconds to download.

Old site: 10 seconds to start/1 minute 50 seconds to download.

broadband cable off midco.net, about 10 mbs download speed, bursts a little higher sometimes. I used download accelerator to download instead of allowing it to stream, more accurate results without the computer having to load up a media player...


Old site - 15 seconds
New site - 90 seconds


From a server I rent on (ev1servers.net) rackshack.net

New site - 94 seconds
Old site - 9 seconds

Kuparuk Alaska, DSL

Old site 4.5 sec to start playing, 1:16 to complete download
New site 5 sec to start playing, 1:56 to complete dowload