Broadband speed

[Dudley]

I have done a Broadband speed test and the results show an upload speed of 197 kbps and a download speed of 233 kbps. How does this this relat to 1Mb, 2Mb, 4Mb etc please anyone?

[aka pixi]

hi dudley if i remember correctly there is 1024 kb in a Mb. If thats incorrect im sure someone will tell you properly

[fo3nix]

That's about 2MB.

[Dudley]

Thank you fo3nix. I have just upgraded from 500kb to 2Mb and on some websites there is no difference. Am I right in thinking it is more dependent upon the website I am visiting than my own Broadband speed?

[ugly_bob]

download of 233kbps? surely for 2Mb it should be 2033 or 2330 or 233KB/s. The upload is about right though.

[fo3nix]

ugly_bob: yea you're right. I assume dudley got the units wrong, because that's about the number you'd expect for kBps.

dudley: this is due to how the internet works. when you connect to a website, you don't connect straight to the computer that serves that website. instead you route through your ISP, etc. The speed you have is the speed from you to your ISP. It doesn't mean that the particular web server that is sending you that website can send you stuff any faster, just that the connection between you and your ISP should be faster. the network is only as fast as the slowest connection.

you may notice more of a speed increase if you use some technology like BitTorrent.

[Dudley]

Thanks for that guys. What I am trying to establish is, I have just upgraded my broadband speed fromm 500k to 2Mb and I don't see a very marked improvement in web surfing. In which areas will I benefit from paying the extra cost? Am I right in assuming it will take less time to download and receive large email files and quicker music downloads which I have not tried since the changeover?

[ugly_bob]

Dudley - pretty much the only difference you'll see is when downloading. Surfing speed will either be limited by the website you are visiting, or will have no discernable difference between 500K and 2M.

Are those figures you gave correct? from http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.as p or something similar?
my 2Mb ADSL connection gives these results:
Speed Test Results
Downstream 1,856.0 Kbps ( = 1.8 Mbps )
Upstream 239.0 Kbps ( = 0.2 Mbps )

[Dudley]

Thanks Bob. The figures I quoted came from Broadstar and I have just run it again registering speeds of download 294 kps and upload 232. The ADSL Guide however did not give speeds but confirmed my 2Mb connection is correct. What do you think?

[ugly_bob]

hmmm, doesn't sound right. Have you tried downloading anything and seeing what sort of speed you get.
Theoretically, you should be able to get 250KB/s (roughly equivalent to 2Mbps), though in practice I often find it only gets to about 100-120 KB/s

[Dudley]

Thanks again Bob. I have tried another speed test, this time from ZDNET and this gives a one off result of 1863 kps or 1.863Mb which is about right. I have done a rather sophisticated one from Dan Elwell (USA based)which shows up some errors in the system which need investigation. I will send this to my ISP if this continues to be the verdict although I know I need to test at various times. This evening I will download some music and observe the download time. Your continued interest is appreciated.

[fo3nix]

Give the adslguide speedtest another go. I find it to be pretty much the most accurate. You can't quite accept values from servers in the USA as being too accurate, because they have much farther to travel and lose a bit of their correctness.

[Dudley]

Thanks for all your help guys. I did a bit of chasing up this morning and found that although my ISP had put through the upgrade, it had not been done at the exchange (BT got the blame as usual). It has been done now and I have run some 'ADSL Guide' tests during the day and the results vary from 1.1Mb to 1.7mb for downloads and a consistent 0.2 for uploads. Are the two added together for analisys purposes or should the download reach 2mb?

[ugly_bob]

Usually, you get quoted 2Mbps download speed, and around 256Kbps upload. It varies from ISP to ISP, but your figures sound about right now (You won't get the full 2Mbps because of 'overheads')

[Dudley]

Thanks again Bob. I feel comfortable now that I am getting more or less what I am paying for. I did not realise before just how fluctuating the bandwith is.

[sathyaa]

197 Kbps = 0.19 Mbps
233 kbps = 0.22 Mbps
You need to convert the values. usually 1kbps = 0.0009765625 Mbps.
Instead of calculating, you can better check your broadband speed from http://www.ip-details.com/ This website provides speed results in both MBps ( Mega Bytes Per Second) and Mbps ( Mega Bits Per Second )