Broadband Truth Campaign

[DoNotResus]

Last I checked I was paying for a 2MB connection and I got a speed of 3.6 so I'm not complaining. Good to know though.

[Screenager]

i'm sure it's a timed upload and download of an mp3 file (at least thats what another speedtest i used to use was.... i'm sure it was speedtest.net though) so that you can't really make any time up by compressing it etc any further.

latency and speed are 2 vastly different things though *waves at satelite broadband*

actually you're right and i talk pish

you're right it generally is based on a timed upload/download of a test file but the point stands though. It'd still take the same data longer totravel from source to destination and that's gonna have an affect when measuring the speed of connection

[djtoast]

...i get slightly slower speeds with Virgin than I did with NTL ... max speed before was about a steady 460kbps, now it's about 380kbps or so.

Who knew that Customer Service bods at Virgin read AltNation?

Download Speed: 3749 kbps (468.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 382 kbps (47.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Well that's better.

[Largest of Als]

Originally Posted by Toast - that test, just now
Download Speed: 3749 kbps (468.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 382 kbps (47.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

See, this is the sort of USEFUL info I was hoping to get out of people, maybe with a little addendum that mentioned type of connection and actual supplier, all in one little message.. should have know i'd never actually have got it on AN..




Al

[paulreset]

I fail to see how anyone who uses wireless can't grasp that it's fairly mince, and considerably shitter than a wired connection.

Speed issues aside, it's plagued with gremlins, and drives me fucking mental.

I've been using wireless in my flat (and previous flat) for about 2 years now - with practically no probs.

[Largest of Als]

Golden Rule...

Wireless.. ONLY if there's no LAN cable..



Al

[0x21]

Download Speed: 5443 kbps (680.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 379 kbps (47.4 KB/sec transfer rate)

On '8Mb' ADSL (over wifi), in the middle of nowhere. It'll drop to about 2Mb when its busy but I'm not overly concerned.

Can anyone think of a better way to phrase 'up to'? The Gadget show the other day explained that its down to the lines, and technical constraints, and that the only objection is that the broadband is advertised as 'up to' when some people get nowhere near the quoted figure. Surely thats what 'up to' means and the ISPs aren't really misleading anyone?

[poprock]

Download Speed: 3749 kbps (468.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 382 kbps (47.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

What do those numbers actually mean?

The Gadget Show test stalled on my machine, so I went straight to the source and tried Speedtest.net, who gave me:

[djtoast]

I don't know what the numbers are supposedmean, you'd think that the kB would be a multiple of the kb figure, ideally about 8x or so! I can only assume one is a maximum and one is an average or something but I'm sorta ignoring the first one cos the kBps figure makes sense in the context of the numbers I see when I'm stealiong Heroes from the internet with Azureus.

Oh, I tried it again with some Cat5 action instead of the usual airport connection and it made only a small difference:

Download Speed: 3898 kbps (487.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 381 kbps (47.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

(the second one's actually a little slower, but a negligable difference anyway for the scope of the test I think)

[poprock]

Hmm. That first result was my work connection. My home one is slower on the download, but quicker on the up.



Oh, and it’s evil. Apparently.

[Screenager]

a little bit of info for you guys try going to http://www.dslzoneuk.net/checker.php and fire in your telphone number. This will give you the lines actual potential. None of this up to 8MB rubbish but a measurement of what speeds the line can carry assuming good conditions and no fualt/interference

hopefully a bit more realistic than up to 8MB

[triggerhappy]

I'm switching over from BT Openworld to o2 broadband on Friday so I might do a speed check on Thursday and one on Friday after the switchover.

According to the site above my line is capable of 8Mb, the BT contract is "up to 8Mb" and the o2 one is "up to 16Mb". Could be interesting.

[djtoast]

According to the site above my line is capable of 8Mb, the BT contract is "up to 8Mb" and the o2 one is "up to 16Mb". Could be interesting.

and yet your current speed is measured in kb per annum.

[madvoice]

I'm switching over from BT Openworld to o2 broadband on Friday so I might do a speed check on Thursday and one on Friday after the switchover.

According to the site above my line is capable of 8Mb, the BT contract is "up to 8Mb" and the o2 one is "up to 16Mb". Could be interesting.

Give the o2 one a few days till you do a speed test, you'll find you're speed will increase quite quickly. Did the give you an estimate of what you'llbe expected to get?

[mini_dez]

I don't know what the numbers are supposedmean, you'd think that the kB would be a multiple of the kb figure, ideally about 8x or so! I can only assume one is a maximum and one is an average or something but I'm sorta ignoring the first one cos the kBps figure makes sense in the context of the numbers I see when I'm stealiong Heroes from the internet with Azureus.

Both the kb and kB are the same figure. kB is kb divided by eight. First kilobits to compare to what speed your provider says you should be getting as they quote in megabit (divide kb by 1024 to get megabits). The second is kilobytes which as you say is what programs report your download speed as.