Aol Users

[Woodzie]

I dont know if its just me or are some users still having problems uploading pictures.....All i get is "web site not responding (error 502)"


is any other aol users having the same problem or is there another root cause
as i am still seeing that others are having problems

[BUSHWHACKER]

Some info. here......

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=294722

[Chillitt]

no trouble here with aol... apart from slowing down... and losing the conection... and charging too much...

[Guest]

I have changed the maximum size for uploaded pictures for .gif, .jpg and .jpeg files as it seems to be a size issue.

Hopefully this will fix it.

[hellmett]

Re

AOL use a different MTU (maximum transmission unit) size on their adsl to nearly everyone else.

You will notice this on "encrypted" sites etc. when the page will not load but crawls very slowly...........

The Reason!

The MTU is the "Maximum Transmission Unit" used by the TCP protocol. TCP stands for Transmission Control Prototcol. The MTU determines the size of packets used by TCP for each transmission of data. Too large of an MTU size may mean retransmissions if the packet encounters a router along its route that can't handle that large a packet. Too small of an MTU size means relatively more overhead and more acknowledgements that have to be sent and handled. The MTU is rated in "octets" or groups of 8 bits. The so-called "official" internet standard MTU is 576, but the standard rating for ethernet is an MTU of 1500. When trying to decide what MTU is appropriate for your line, you must consider the type of connection you are using. For the purpose of optimising your connection you need to consider only common cable and DSL MTU settings. Most cable and some DSL ISPs allow a standard 1500 octet MTU. In general, a 1500 MTU is what you would like to have since it works harmoniously with ethernet, but not all ISPs support an MTU of 1500.

Logically, you would also like to get as much data on each transfer as they are willing to send, so you would want select an MTU of 1500 (if your ISP supports it). This would ensure the best possible transfers. If you are using router PPPoE, then your max MTU as allowed by your ISPs and the PPPoE protocol is 1492. Other versions of PPPoE have maximum MTUs of 1400-1492 (1438 max for AOL Plus, but 1400 is a better setting for AOL.) You may need to check with your ISP to find out what the maximum MTU is for your network. Setting an MTU that is too small or too great can have extremely deleterious effects on your broadband preformance. Altering your MTU will not affect your latency or TTL. Adjusting the MTU to its ideal setting creates more efficient transfers and thus better overall performance. A well-tweaked system can have high speed, fewer errors and better transfer efficiency.

The Fix!

You need to get a router and change the MTU packet size to 1400 as opposed to the 1492/1500 etc. size which is preset in most routers and adsl modems.

This will optimise AOL lines and allow your connection to work harmoniously!

The highest maximum transfer unit that America Online can support is 1400 bytes. That is also the most optimal MTU for AOL connections. Anything higher than 1400 bytes will require fragmentation of those packets. Thus, you'll encounter connection problems and slow speeds, an overall degradation of your service.

I would sincerely advise you to move to another ISP if you have continual problems.

I will even go as far as saying that AOL are quite, quite dodgy in the way they treat customers.

The software that is installed when you sign up for their product is absolutely outrageous, quite often it drains resources to unbelievable levels on a normal PC.

BT are getting similar!

Their angle is, we want you to go to our pages, use our email etc. so that they can bombard you with adverts that they profit from.

Any ISP that install their own browser and internet software are taking away the freedom of their customers to have a generic internet experience.

I HAVE A SMALL APPLICATION THAT CAN DETECT YOUR ADSL OPTIMUM MTU SIZE AND CHANGE THE MTU SETTINGS WITH 2/3 CLICKS!

This only works with adsl modems, routers have to be done manually!

If anyone wants it please email me and I will send it.

hellmett@gmail.com

Gary

[RSA Surfer]

AOL use a different MTU (maximum transmission unit) size on their adsl to nearly everyone else.

You will notice this on "encrypted" sites etc. when the page will not load but crawls very slowly...........

The Reason!

The MTU is the "Maximum Transmission Unit" used by the TCP protocol. TCP stands for Transmission Control Prototcol. The MTU determines the size of packets used by TCP for each transmission of data. Too large of an MTU size may mean retransmissions if the packet encounters a router along its route that can't handle that large a packet. Too small of an MTU size means relatively more overhead and more acknowledgements that have to be sent and handled. The MTU is rated in "octets" or groups of 8 bits. The so-called "official" internet standard MTU is 576, but the standard rating for ethernet is an MTU of 1500. When trying to decide what MTU is appropriate for your line, you must consider the type of connection you are using. For the purpose of optimising your connection you need to consider only common cable and DSL MTU settings. Most cable and some DSL ISPs allow a standard 1500 octet MTU. In general, a 1500 MTU is what you would like to have since it works harmoniously with ethernet, but not all ISPs support an MTU of 1500.

Logically, you would also like to get as much data on each transfer as they are willing to send, so you would want select an MTU of 1500 (if your ISP supports it). This would ensure the best possible transfers. If you are using router PPPoE, then your max MTU as allowed by your ISPs and the PPPoE protocol is 1492. Other versions of PPPoE have maximum MTUs of 1400-1492 (1438 max for AOL Plus, but 1400 is a better setting for AOL.) You may need to check with your ISP to find out what the maximum MTU is for your network. Setting an MTU that is too small or too great can have extremely deleterious effects on your broadband preformance. Altering your MTU will not affect your latency or TTL. Adjusting the MTU to its ideal setting creates more efficient transfers and thus better overall performance. A well-tweaked system can have high speed, fewer errors and better transfer efficiency.

The Fix!

You need to get a router and change the MTU packet size to 1400 as opposed to the 1492/1500 etc. size which is preset in most routers and adsl modems.

This will optimise AOL lines and allow your connection to work harmoniously!

The highest maximum transfer unit that America Online can support is 1400 bytes. That is also the most optimal MTU for AOL connections. Anything higher than 1400 bytes will require fragmentation of those packets. Thus, you'll encounter connection problems and slow speeds, an overall degradation of your service.

I would sincerely advise you to move to another ISP if you have continual problems.

I will even go as far as saying that AOL are quite, quite dodgy in the way they treat customers.

The software that is installed when you sign up for their product is absolutely outrageous, quite often it drains resources to unbelievable levels on a normal PC.

BT are getting similar!

Their angle is, we want you to go to our pages, use our email etc. so that they can bombard you with adverts that they profit from.

Any ISP that install their own browser and internet software are taking away the freedom of their customers to have a generic internet experience.

I HAVE A SMALL APPLICATION THAT CAN DETECT YOUR ADSL OPTIMUM MTU SIZE AND CHANGE THE MTU SETTINGS WITH 2/3 CLICKS!

This only works with adsl modems, routers have to be done manually!

If anyone wants it please email me and I will send it.

hellmett@gmail.com

Gary

Hi Gary

When you say adsl modem/routers. Am I understanding you correctly that Router will apply to Wireless?

[hellmett]

Re

An adsl MODEM cannot be wireless only a ROUTER can be wireless!

A wireless router is exactly the same as a normal router only it can also send the data via wifi in addition to the direct ethernet or single USB connections that it has.

See here:-

http://www.homenethelp.com/router-guide/index.asp

The simpilest way to explain, an adsl MODEM is used to connect a single PC to the internet.

For AOL ADSL MODEMS usually:-
BT Voyager 105 Modem
Alcatel Speed Touch Modem
Thompson SpeedTouch 330 Modem

Sometimes they "may" have an additional ethernet port but in essence you have to tell it from the PC to connect to the internet.

If the PC is off then so is the adsl modem.

A router, on the other hand, is connected to the internet itself and PC's use it as a sort of gateway to get online, they can be connected via a USB cable (not great) or an ethernet/LAN cable (better), the USB is ideally for older PC's that don't have a ethernet/LAN adapter etc.

For AOL ADSL ROUTERS usually:-
Thompson SpeedTouch 545

Ideally, once a router is connected it should stay connected even if the PC is off!

A wireless router is identical only it communicates with "wifi" as well as cables.

In theory, you could get up to 30 wireless connections on most simple wireless routers.

AOL just before Christmas started to support the use of ADSL routers on their service. Since AOL has been providing ADSL in the UK, users have being looking for how to use an ADSL router like other ISPs. AOL users wanting to find out more should simply use the AOL keyword home networking in the AOL client.

AOL is actively selling a number of Thomson Speed Touch routers that will work with the service. For those who want to source their own hardware a guide can be found here, this details what to do with a Speed Touch 545, but the principles are the same FOR ANY ROUTER OR WIRELESS ROUTER. The main things to get right, are the requirements for the AOL screen name that is used by the router to log onto the ADSL service.

One issue that has arisen is that you may need to change the MTU of the computers behind the router to 1400, or if the router supports it change the MTU on the router as I said previously!

The tool for doing this to AOL MODEMS below, routers have to be done manually AFTER the Network Optimizer has been run because it ONLY configures the PC NOT the ROUTER to accept optimised MTU packets!

Later!

Gary

AOL USERS ENTER 1400 IN ALL THE MTU EDIT BOXES!

[Woodzie]

Thanks for the help evryone when i've managed to understand all this i am sure the problem will be fixed ........Now to get Melons ( as she understands this better than i do)

[Dog_Book]

I have changed the maximum size for uploaded pictures for .gif, .jpg and .jpeg files as it seems to be a size issue.

Hopefully this will fix it.

yep, it seems to work now.But file size is 293 wereas before it was under 400kb so now i have to resize everthing

[Dog_Book]

Ok it almost worked once and came up with the lower kb message so i went and lowered all the size of my pictures. Then after that the same old usual thing happens and i cant even upload a 200kb size picture now

Could you have a look please Lucky? thanks