Network Speeds: Am I getting what I pay for?
Any network connection is a chain that's only as strong as it's weakest link, so in a connection between two nodes, the greatest speed you're going to get is the slowest of your speed, the remote node's speed and the speeds of any intervening devices.
Ping times don't measure bandwidth; they measure latency. It's possible to have good bandwidth but high latency (I've 20mbps but typically 300ms latency for example, which is great for streaming or downloading but sucks for anything that does a high volume of small packets) or vice-versa.
So basically a 1mbps connection can only ever guarantee you 1mbps between you and your ISP, and your bandwidth may be dropping off at any other point beyond that.
Ping times don't measure bandwidth; they measure latency. It's possible to have good bandwidth but high latency (I've 20mbps but typically 300ms latency for example, which is great for streaming or downloading but sucks for anything that does a high volume of small packets) or vice-versa.
So basically a 1mbps connection can only ever guarantee you 1mbps between you and your ISP, and your bandwidth may be dropping off at any other point beyond that.
No, I meant Mbps, my mistake. 3.0Mbps down, 1.5Mbps up.
I'm impressed, then. I guess you're not too bandwidth intensive. I've got 30 down and it's barely enough to cover three HD streams + gaming
Meh, mostly GameDev + YouTube + Netflix, and downloading games on Steam. I live a sucky distance from any good gaming servers (I'm in the midwest), but can still play Modern Warfare 3 fine, and am preloading Black Ops 2. Large files take time, and pre-loading takes time, but videos stream fine and Netflix streams real-time and looks good on a HDTV.
I'm paying for a 1Mb DSL connectionDo you know how far away from the nearest telephone exchange you are?
DSL only provides you with the maximum quoted speed if you're within about 1KM of the exchange, otherwise signal loss/noise on the copper cables degrades performance by a lot. If you've got a router with a diagnostics page, you should be able to see what the attenuation and noise on the line are (measured in decibels). If these values are too high, then the problem may be that your telephone infrastructure isn't up to scratch.
In any case, 25% of the quoted speed is pretty disappointing - I'd bring it up with your ISP and see if there's any diagnostics they can run on the line.
Bandwidth porn thread! I <3 Fios.
I should be getting 25/25, but I'm downloading a game on Xbox currently.
I should be getting 25/25, but I'm downloading a game on Xbox currently.
Do you know how far away from the nearest telephone exchange you are?[/quote]+1 That's a valid point (well, lounge, no +1).
[quote name='DavidGArce1337' timestamp='1352561223' post='4999650']I'm paying for a 1Mb DSL connection
Though I believe that 1km is quite pessimistic, but in the end of course all depends on the line attenuation, which might just be a cheap cable, too... impossible to tell for us (but, at least here, every ISP will measure that for free, if you have such a complaint).
You typically get around 6-9Mbit/s at that distance here over antique ADLS/POTS, and at only 1Mbit/s, it's more like 5km. Double or triple that range when using something like G.992.3 Annex L (at ~15x-20x bandwidth, depending on how much you want to pay).
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