Understanding Your Internet Connection

When using RealTick®, it is very important that you have a fast and reliable Internet connection. Many of the problems our clients encounter relate to the speed and/or reliability of their Internet connections.

Most 56k dial-up connections will work, but the amount of information you can receive will be limited. If you decide to use a 56k dial up connection it is important to understand that there are two broad categories of 56k connections, backbone providers such as UUNet and generic ISP's such as AOL. Generally the backbone providers are more stable and faster than generic ISP's.

The RealTick® software works best with any type of DSL.

DSL is a dedicated Internet connection. Below is a link to an excerpt from CNET Internet that explains some of the issues with DSL connections.
DSL - CNET.com

Cable connections are the next best solution. One of the problems with cable is that it uses shared bandwidth. In addition, cable connections tend to be less reliable than DSL. Below is a link to an excerpt from CNET Internet that explains some of the issues with Cable connections.
Cable - CNET.com

Satellite connections can be very fast, but they also are less reliable than DSL. Satellite connections tend to download information quickly but also tend to slow down sending information out. Below is a link to an excerpt from CNET Internet that explains some of the issues with Satellite.
Satellite - CNET.com

Please keep in mind that when you use RealTick®, it is a software program on your computer receiving a real-time data feed from Townsend Analytics Ltd.'s servers. Townsend receives its market information directly from NASDAQ. RealTick® is a real-time software and you must have a real-time Internet connection in order to keep up with the flow of data.

If you question the speed or reliability of your Internet connection please run the following Internet connectivity tests. These two tests are a great way to see how you are connecting to the servers.

To run any of the following tests, you will first need to bring up the Command Prompt or also known as the MS-DOS prompt window. To bring up the Command Prompt, please click on START, click RUN, type in the word "command", then click on OK (illus. below):

You should get a MS-DOS prompt window on your screen.

PING TEST

To perform the Ping test, type:
ping 198.207.140.207

It will look like:

Press: ENTER
After you press enter, you should get a series of replies that look like this:

Please note the "Ping statistics for 198.207.140.207".
If any of the replies say "request timed out" or "destination host unreachable" or "time=" is greater than 200ms, click on Troubleshooting.

A more extensive PING TEST is the:

CONTINUAL PING TEST

To perform the Continual Ping test, type:
ping -t 198.207.140.207

Press: ENTER
After you press enter, you should get a series of replies that look like this:

Please note the "Ping statistics for 198.207.140.207".
If any of the replies says, "request timed out" or "destination host unreachable" or "time=" is greater than 200ms, click on Troubleshooting.

The continual ping test allows you to check your Internet connection over an extended period of time. After you have 20 to 30 lines of continual ping click on the icon in the upper left hand corner of the ping window and then click close.

TRACE ROUTE TEST

Another test you can run is called a trace route test, or tracert. This test traces every router that your Internet connection goes through.

To perform the Tracert test, type:
Tracert 198.207.140.207

It will look like:

You should get the following replies:

Troubleshooting

If any of the replies say "request timed out" or "destination host unreachable", you may have a poor Internet connection and not connecting to our servers properly. Also, at the end of every reply, there is a time in "ms". If this time is above 200ms, your connection is not keeping up with the flow of data, and you may be getting a backlog.

Many times logging off your Internet service provider and then back on will resolve the problem. If you continually have a problem, you may want to have your line tested for noise or dropped packets by your ISP or you may want to get a different Internet service provider.

We use the information in this document to assist you in diagnosing your connectivity issues. Any time you need further assistance please call our Technical Support Staff and we will assist you in any way possible.