[4.9-R]Can I Make My DSL Connect Go Faster ?

[Mikko Työläjärvi]

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004, The Jetman wrote:

>     Folks:  I just installed an eval ADSL connection (1.5M/128K) yesterday.
> I installed it on a dual-boot XP/FBSD box.  When the DSL connection is directly
> used by the XP box, I can routinely get 1.5Mb download speed, as determined
> by ADSLGuide, etc.  I took an essentially, unmodified FBSD partition (I added
> IPFW2, DIVERT, and DUMMYNET to the kernel config) and turned it into a
> NATting gateway.  It worked immediately, but running the same speed tests
> I got significantly and consistently lower incoming speed results (avg 400
> Kb/s).
>
>     FWIW, my DSL provider is Verizon and I operate this in Long Island
> w/ a Westell 2200 DSL router.  I also use a modified version of the
> rc.firewall script, but I took it out of the loop by using the open config.
> The box I'm using uses a 1.1GHz Celeron w/ 128MB of SDRAM.
>
>     I'm just confused as to why I lose SO much going thru my FBSD box and
> that's essence of my question.  I can live w/ *some* overhead for the sake
> of using FBSD, but this is ridiculous.  TIA....Jet

I'm getting 1.5 Mb over PPPoE with user space ppp on a 400 MHz Celeron
with a crappy RealTek card, so you should certainly not be limited by
your hardware.

Do you have lots of packet collisions (check with netstat -i)?
Perhaps you can try fiddling with the media/mediaopt flags to ifconfig
on the interface connected to the DSL box - just in case it
autonegotiation is not working at is should.

  $.02,
  /Mikko