Download speed not as advertised?

[ckwolfe]

Hi, I was wondering if someone could educate me on how DL speeds work. We all hear the internet companies say that we can DL at 8 mbps or so and how they are "100x" better than another internet company. Now, I get free internet through my contract with my apartment complex and I believe it is 2 mbps, which is slower than most but still seems decent. I went to speedtest.com and that is the speed it told me. In practice, however, I max out at 270 kbs. If I run any sort of internet process during this, it drops significantly. I'm running a brand new computer with all updated software/hardware so that shouldn't be the issue. I was wondering if its possible to reach 2mbps and if not, how can I judge my DL speed based on 8mbps or higher assuming they don't actually download that fast. (I use suddenlink)
If theres any clarification needed let me know, Thanks!

[Skelly]

The FCC released a report that said most people are getting basically what they're advertised. However.. Some ISPs will throttle your connection if you're downloading torrents, or use too much data in a much etc. What are you maxing out at 270 kbps on and who is your ISP?

Also very important if you're maxing out at 270 KBps or 270 Kbps. (bits vs. bytes). In fact, 270 KBps is about 2 Mbps

[Cantii]

For starters, if you're using cable internet, then you are connected to a node within your complex that others are connected to. Therefore, you are sharing your bandwidth with everyone else. If it is fiber or DSL, then it's a dedicated line and you will always get full speed, depending on the server(s) you're downloading from - some will be able to max your connection, others won't. Also understand that when a company tells you what your speed is, or anyone really, it will be in megabits (Mbps). In order to find your speed in Kilobytes, you need to take the speed in megabits (in this case, 2Mbps) and divide by 8: this gives you .25, or 250KBps, so you're getting a little more than advertised.

[lawomous]

Every single ISP will advertise the speeds in bits per second, which is 8 times higher than the speeds most people see when they download in bytes.

So an advertised "8 megabit per second" connection will download at about 1 megabyte per second, and a "2 megabit per second" connection will download at about 250 kilobytes per second.

[ckwolfe]

**Double post, sorry**

[Eggowaffles]

A Megabit is not the same as a megabyte. When you see that download speed it is in bytes not bits. As said about its about 8X higher.

It's a rather shady practice that catches people who don't know the difference between bits and bytes and assume they are the same.

[Allerik]

I work for Time warner cable, and I can tell you this

Net speeds for what your paying for or whatev, UP TO 2mbps 15mbps and so on.
on my wide band, im getting up to 50mbps down (sometimes 60 pending on time of day) and 5megs up constant.

With that said, my speeds can and will drop slightly due to bandwidth usage. In the early mornings, im pinged out with as much I can handle, in the afternoons, it will slow down because the usage is spread out. Companies only have so much bandwidth to give out, and when more and more people get on and use that bandwidth, it has to balance out some to help the people with lower usage to keep their speeds up somewhat.

Now with you being in an apt complex, this useage is normally wireless which will slow speeds down some, aswell as everyone using that same bandwith. It will slow down. I have done numerous service calls because someone's speeds slowed down and they want it faster. I tell them to order service and stop using the free shit.

Also, using a site like speed.com or whatever, you arnt testing where your speeds are actually coming from, you are testing the servers speeds from where you are doing your test at. so your in new york, and testing the server in Chicago.. Your testing their server speeds.
The number you REALLY need to pay attention to is your upload speeds. Those drop below a certain number, you have speed issues. Download speeds will vary pending on the usage in your area.

hope that helps

---------- Post added 2011-08-20 at 04:24 AM ----------

and I just tested my speeds from my server and i just dropped to 28m down and 3.8 up.. I have an issue and its most likely my drop... ugh..

[Osyrus]

Alright, well I have a question along these lines.

I run two gaming pc's and 2 laptops work (obviously not all at the same time 2-3)

If everything was available in my area what kind of net should i get?

[Allerik]

depends on the usage you need.
down - downloads, pending on how long you want to wait for something to download the information
upload - netflix? you want the best you can get or you will buffer. lol
it depends on your service provider.
Time warner cable, If you dont stream video, and just need it for gaming and emailing, Standard/turbo will suit just fine. (tho in some areas, standard areas are getting a little more than they should on the down. than advertised. 15m down and people are getting between 20-30 down)

I personally stream, so i want the best uploads I can get

[Skelly]

Alright, well I have a question along these lines.

I run two gaming pc's and 2 laptops work (obviously not all at the same time 2-3)

If everything was available in my area what kind of net should i get?

Depends what you're using them for.. Torrents and video streaming take a lot of bandwidth.. Games don't take nearly as much as you think. WoW uses about 5KBps

[Osyrus]

damn really? i had no idea ...

well my BF downloads a lot of torrents.
My work is completely webbased (but its the crappiest most buggy system that sucks)

no netflix, or anything of the sort

thanks though for this info that you both gave me!

[Allerik]

Also keep in mind and this is very important..

people seem to think im filling their heads full of shit because I dont want to fix the job.
Your net is as fast as your computer will allow it to be. you have a computer full of junk, spyware, maleware, virus, whatever. It will SLOW your net down. So when a tech says its your computer, tell him to run a local speed test on the ISP's servers and see how slow it really is. If you P2P, and its slowing down, run a full scan before you make a service call.

Good techs will do a ping and trace test through dos. If all is well, ya need to call the geeksquad. lol Just a bit of info incase you notice slow speeds.


**If its on the net, its not free- you normally get something with it** lol

[BicycleMafioso]

2Megabit? 270 KiloByte/sec seems about right.

[RSuddenly]

Apart from the 8:1 bytes to bits ratio, the most important thing you have to remember is that your download speed is limited by two things. Think of it as a pair of funnels going into one bucket. Your ISP might be providing 2 Mbps, but if the file host is only providing 0.5 Mbps, you're only going to get that much.

[bigfoot1291]

Also keep in mind and this is very important..

people seem to think im filling their heads full of shit because I dont want to fix the job.
Your net is as fast as your computer will allow it to be. you have a computer full of junk, spyware, maleware, virus, whatever. It will SLOW your net down. So when a tech says its your computer, tell him to run a local speed test on the ISP's servers and see how slow it really is. If you P2P, and its slowing down, run a full scan before you make a service call.

Good techs will do a ping and trace test through dos. If all is well, ya need to call the geeksquad. lol Just a bit of info incase you notice slow speeds.


**If its on the net, its not free- you normally get something with it** lol

Yup, I work tech support for an out-sourced company that handles multiple ISP company's tech support, this is exactly what we do with connectivity issues. Although it's technically not dos, lol. You can only do so many pings to google's IP without having to look it up anymore.

[blackangel209]

Oddly enough, I get nearly double the bandwidth I'm supposed to from my ISP. 25mb consistently spikes to 40+ assuming I'm the only one using the connection at the time.