Pings, Packet Losses, And Speed In Windows
Last Updated on Friday, 24 September 2010 11:02 Written by Alan Saturday, 25 September 2010 08:00
If you are interested in really knowing exactly what your monthly ISP fee is getting you (and it’s certainly not what they advertise), then here are some ways you can really test them out.
The easiest way to get started is with a simple speed test. The most popular one is SpeedTest.net. There’s nothing to download. From the front page of the site click Begin Test. It takes about a minute and results will appear right on the same page.
The results show your upload and download speeds, along with estimated download times for an MP3 file, video clip, and movie. It also shows your ping time, which is important because this is the round trip time for messages between your computer and the destination computer. Generally, it your ping time is under 200ms it’s pretty good for whatever you are doing, except maybe online gaming where faster is always better.
Don’t worry about your IP address appearing on the screen. Every site you visit can easily get that and it really doesn’t mean much. If you are happy or not happy with you results you can head over to Broadband Reports give your review of the service or look for alternative services that may be available in your area.
If you want to do a manual ping test then you can get a little geeky and follow these instructions:
1. Click Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt
2. Enter the word Ping followed by a space and then the domain name you wish to test. In this case I will ping this site by entering Ping makingwindowseasy.com
As you can see the ping times range between 108-110, which is a little better than the 116 I received during my earlier speed test. It will be slightly different for every site/server. This is a handy test for when you are having trouble accessing a particular site.
You can also use this to test computers on your home network. For instance, if I were having a problem reaching my home server I could type ping 192.168.0.9 to see if it is actually online. That is the very first diagnostic test you should run when having a networking problem.
If the ping fails then the next step is to do a traceroute. This also done from the command prompt. To initiate it type tracert makingwindowseasy.com.
First it gives the IP address for makingwindowseasy.com, followed by the maimum number of hops (usually 30) it will make before timing out (giving up).
Below that is a list of each gateway it passes through along with the time for each one. If you can’t access a site then this will show you where you’re getting stopped.
And that brings us to packet loss – the most important part of your connection if you are playing online games or media. Packet loss, as described by Wikipedia is:
Packet loss occurs when one or more packets of data traveling across a computer network fail to reach their destination. Packet loss is distinguished as one of the three main error types encountered in digital communications; the other two being bit error and spurious packets caused due to noise.
To test for packet loss we will return one more time to our trustee command prompt. This time type ping your ip address -t. For example I will use ping 24.154.44.99 -t Let the test run for a minute or two and then hit ctrl-c to stop it. You will then be presented with how many packets were sent, how many were received, how many were lost, and the loss percentage. Ideally you will have 0 packets lost, but generally a 2% or lower number is considered a passing grade.
Wacchen – A New Online Video Tool
Last Updated on Saturday, 4 December 2010 07:36 Written by Alan Thursday, 23 September 2010 08:00
Wacchen is a new web app that allows you to bookmark web videos so that you can watch them later. It supports more than 70 online video services including YouTube, Viddler, Revver, Blip.tv. College Humor, and Justin.tv.
To use it, just sign up for an account (you’ll receive an email that you’ll need to click on to confirm) and download the bookmarklet “Watch Later” to your browser (drag it to your bookmarks bar). Then when you want to add a video to your Wacchen archive, click the bookmarklet while you are on the video page and a pop-up will appear on the upper left corner of your browser. You can then edit the title of the video and even add some notes.
Once you have created your playlist, then you are set to watch it. This is a very cool web app for any fan of online video. The simple installation and tiny file size make it even better. Choose your videos and then sit back and enjoy!
Comparing Settop Boxes With Media Center
Last Updated on Sunday, 19 September 2010 09:59 Written by Alan Monday, 20 September 2010 08:00
With the recent release of the new Apple TV and the upcoming debut of the Boxee Box as well as discounted prices on Roku, I thought it would be a good time to compare some of these settop boxes to my Windows 7 Media Center HTPC. I decided to make a side-by-side feature comparison of Windows Media Center, Apple TV, Roku, Boxee, and Popbox.
The prices for these range from $59 (Roku) to as high as you want to go (Media Center). The features vary even more wildly. So here is a head-to-head look at the top contenders for your living room.
All of these boxes will fit nicely into an entertainment center, except the Boxee Box, which has a “unique” shape.
Boxee is one of the more feature-packed boxes I looked at, but it’s also the highest priced one, at $199.99. It’s a great system, but I don’t see how it’s any better than the Roku which half the price (or less).
Price-wise you can’t beat the value of the Roku with SD boxes for $59.99 and HD boxes for $69.99 and $99.99. It’s loaded with features for all sorts of video, audio and picture streaming and features several major video podcast networks such as Twit, Blubrry, and TechPodcasts.
All of the boxes here are 1080p except the Apple TV. The Apple box, though, is the only one that supports iTunes, which, for better or worse, is where the vast majority of people have their music stored. It also features $0.99 TV show rentals.
The Popbox falls into the middle of the price range. It has a lot of apps, but is lacking in a major way because it does not do Netflix, Amazon or Pandora.
Media Center can be set up for as cheap as about $200 with something like an Acer Revo or as much as you want to spend if you go high-end with Vidabox. Netflix is built-in and adding Boxee, Hulu, and Amazon are easy hacks. It streams all of your media from other PC’s on your network and with a web browser you can anything that’s online.
I only looked at the big features on these systems, but there are many other things that you may want to look at. For instance Roku does some photo websites such as Flickr. Both Roku and Popbox have Facebook and Twitter, Popbox has weather. Take a look at all of the features of each before you make a final decision.
If you want everything and don’t mind doing the setup and adding the plug-ins then media center is still the way to go and it’s what most geeks will continue to use. But if you want a simple, cheap, feature-loaded solution, the Roku seems to be the clear winner.
