Title: How to diagnose a slow, inaccessible or problematic network connection

PROBLEM: My network connection to the server at AudioSparx is exhibiting one of the
following problems below.  Is this caused by some kind of network problems or server problems?

1.  Downloads from AudioSparx are going very slowly

2.  File downloads or uploads are frequently failing totally

What's the problem? 

SOLUTION: AudioSparx' network is very fast and not overloaded in any way.  The source of the problem may be with your own equipment or with one or more network hops between your location and our data center's location.   Follow these steps in order:

Test Your Network Speed - Surf from your computer to http://speedtest.comcast.net and click on the city icon for Jacksonville, Florida.  This will launch a network speed test between your computer and the city where our data center is located.  The following results will give you an approximate idea about how fast or slow your network is transmitting data:

Ping Speed Download Speed Upload Speed Status
1 to 50 ms 5Mbps+ 3Mbps+ Excellent
51 to 100 ms 3 to 5Mbps 2 to 3Mbps Good
101 to 200 ms  1 to 3Mbps 1 to 2Mbps Fair
200 ms + < 1Mbps < 1Mbps Poor, potentially unusable

Reset Your Network and PC - As a first step, we recommend you reset your network router, modem and even reboot your PC so that you are certain you are starting from a clean slate.  Then run the speed test again from the previous step to see if there's any significant change in speed.

1. Launch the installation of WinMTR (Windows Mass Trace Route) by surfing to the following URL and download the following zip file and store it in a folder on your hard drive.  The zip file contains the executable program for WinMTR:

         http://www.audiosparx.com/software/winmtr_bin.zip

2. Unzip the file and run WinMTR.exe file, which will run the application on your computer.

3. In the HOST field, enter "www.audiosparx.com" (without quotes) to trace to our site, then click the START button next to it.

4. Look at the various hops that are traversed to see if any one of them indicate a high amount of packet loss.  If one or more hops inidicate
100% packet loss but others after that hop have little or no packet loss, the hop that is indicating 100% packet loss is simply not providing
echo replies but is definitely working since traffic is getting past that hop to later hops in the network chain.  Any hop that is having more than 5% to 10% packet loss could definitely be contributing to your network connection problem.

5. Once you identify the problem hop, then contact your ISP and bring it to their attention.  Provide the WINMTR trace information to your ISP.  They will typically either fix the problem (if it is within their network) or contact the downstream network provider where the problem is occuring and try to get it fixed for you.  While you have your ISP on the phone, ask them if they are doing any traffic throttling or shaping.

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