Red Hat 9 internet is agonizingly slow

[nforcerwannabe]

Hello, I installed Red Hat 9 a few days ago. Since then I havent actually used it since I have had no interenet access, due to my pci modem not being compatable with linux. Today I went out and purchased a creative external serial modem just so I could get online with linux. So with 50$ down the drain I was hopping it was a wise investment.

When the computer first booted with linux and the modem installed it brought me through a configuration screen, it showed it as being a creative modem blaster and continued to boot to the desktop. After that I proceeded to get it working. Only after a firmware upgrade through windows was it able to connect. Before hand it kept telling me there wasnt a modem installed. When I set the connection up I had to use a generic modem for the hardware since it wasnt actually seeing anything else.

After spending hours trying to get it to work I finally suceeded. However when browsing the web everything is very, very slow. I dl at about 0.9k with this modem installed and using xp I dl at 6k. So obviously something is messed up in the configuration. Browsing at that speed is utterly pointless.

Here is hopefully some usefull information. It took me 6 hours just to get all this info so im obviously a complete and feeble newbie with linux, please bare with me.

[root@localhost root]# wvdialconf create
Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 Z -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Modem Identifier: ATI -- 56000
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 4800: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 9600: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 19200: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 38400: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 57600: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 115200: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Max speed is 115200; that should be safe.
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK

Found a modem on /dev/ttyS0.
Modem configuration written to create.
ttyS0<Info>: Speed 115200; init "ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0"

[root@localhost root]# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
67.1.32.9 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 ppp0
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
0.0.0.0 67.1.32.9 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 ppp0

[root@localhost root]# ping www.techimo.com
PING techimo.com (66.39.95.116) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from techimo.com (66.39.95.116): icmp_seq=1 ttl=46 time=519 ms
64 bytes from techimo.com (66.39.95.116): icmp_seq=2 ttl=46 time=429 ms
64 bytes from techimo.com (66.39.95.116): icmp_seq=3 ttl=46 time=418 ms
64 bytes from techimo.com (66.39.95.116): icmp_seq=4 ttl=46 time=477 ms

--- techimo.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3021ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 418.773/461.499/519.563/40.254 ms

Thank you so much for your time. I really hope to get linux going up to snuff so I can put some productive time into it.

[SpookyEddy]

Hmm by its very nature an external modem should be OS independent and not require any drivers and/or firmware updates to run with Linux. I just hook mine up and tell the dialer what serial line I am using and its good to go. Sounds like you may not have a true hardware external modem, but I rather thought they all were.

I wouldn't bother using Techimo as a benchmark site to ping either. I regularly get massive pings and horrible packet loss from the Techimo server via dialup or DSL.

Regards

ed

[nforcerwannabe]

I've tried other sites but they are pretty much the same. In windows I had to install drivers for it. Does this mean anything? I really would hate to have to return this thing it took me some time just to find one locally. No reputable sites that I know of sell good external modems. Most people tell me that the Zoom modems are really great, but alas those are few and far between it seems like. Newegg has some modems but nothing worth buying within the 50$ range.

I have read reviews of this product and have come across a few claiming it worked in different distros of Linux without a hitch (none mentioned red hat 9 however). I am really stumped about all this. I keep thinking in xp I could get any hardware running in no time and become frustrated with how slow it’s going here. I will continue to stick through this I doubt anything can keep me from learning Linux at this point.

Thank you very much for responding.

[SpookyEddy]

If you have to install drivers to get it to work then it doesn't sound much like a conventional external modem to me. It could well be that the quality of the driver support under linux is significantly lower than Windows (hence the poor performance). This is pure speculation on my part though

Regards

ed