Download speed/time?

[bimbim]

I've tested my download speed & it's 5Gb/s but it's taken about 10 minutes to download a 60MB file. Surely at that speed it shoud be rather less? can anyone explain pls

[kempie]

At any given time your connection speed may be governed by such factors as volume of internet traffic and the capabilities of the web site or server you are accessing - in the case you describe these factors contributed to a sustained download speed of around 820 kbps thus taking much longer than the 100 or so seconds you would logically expect.

[bimbim]

Thanks

[gen2]

To expand on kempie's answer:

Any server has a maximum output rate. As more people access it requesting downloads, that output capacity is shared between all those conected at that time resulting in slower speeds at busy times. If a website updates weekly, you will find that download speeds are relatively slow imediately after an update because everyone is keen to get the updates as soon as possible. Simply waiting a couple of days will result in much faster download speeds.

Another tip is to request downloads after the US of A has gone beddy-byes.

[fo3nix]

5Gb/s!!!!!

I want to know who your ISP is!

http://www.speedtest.net

Use their speed test, report the numbers back here (or just link to the image it gives you).

[bimbim]

5584kb/s today- that is 5Gb/s isn't it ? or am I confused ?

[~spaced~]

im on an 8GB line but never manage any more than 2gb according to speedtest.

[~spaced~]

i'll rephrase that! I meant 8mb, with no more that 2mb speed

[~spaced~]

bimbim I think you will find that to be 5mb and not 5gb

[fo3nix]

No, that's 5Mbps. Since you always see on adverts "up to 8Mbps", this sounds about right, it's a good but fairly average home internet connection in the UK.

5Gbps is about 1000x faster.

(I've just done the test and get 55284kbps, both upload and download. Lovely!)

So, let's do some quick maths.

Your connection is apparently 5584kbps.
Your file is 60MB. Converting this to kb --> 480,000kb.
(I just multiplied by 8,000 to convert from Mega to kilo, and from Bytes to bits.)

So, do 480000 / 5584, which will tell you how long it should take it seconds.

This comes to 86 seconds. A little over a minute.

If you allow for extra losses, you could multiply your speed (5584) by 0.7, to get 70% of that speed. (30% losses seems a lot perhaps, but it tends to be a pretty good real world value.) Even with this, it still just comes to 122 seconds. 2 minutes.

So 10 minutes is far slower than your connection should be, assuming that you can download to the maximum your connection supports, even taking into account losses.

It's here that kempie and gen2's answers become the issue. This is why your download is slow.

Try going to speedtest.net again, and running the test from a server in the US or Australia. Different speeds? It's going through far more networks and servers, so you get more losses.

[bimbim]

So I was confused then . But not bad as speeds go .

[fo3nix]

No, in conclusion it could be much faster, but think of it like this:

You're a boss of a company and want your secretary to write 1000 letters a day (they're old and using typewriters!).

If your secretary can only manage to give you 100 a day, then no matter how much you want more, you won't get it.

On a side note, have you heard of BitTorrent? This was exactly the problem that it was made to solve.

[bimbim]

ok ran test from Melbourne came as 2274kbps. The 10 minute download for the file is a rarity , usually it is much quicker . That's why I posted the question

[bimbim]

I use bittorrent now & again just easier & quicker to download files as one .

[fo3nix]

Exactly!

As the above says.

Suppose you want to download something. That file is coming from a server, which is just another computer connected to the internet somewhere.

Just as you have upload and download rates on your connection, it does too (though perhaps much greater!).

Suppose the server has an upload rate of 100Mbps, so that it can send stuff at up to 100Mbps.

If one person is downloading from that server, they get the full 100Mbps. But if your download connection is only 5Mbps (as yours roughly is), no matter how much that server wants to send you stuff at a speed of 100Mbps, you'll only get it at 5Mbps. Too bad.

Now suppose 100 people are connecting to that server and downloading that file (a far more likely situation on the internet). This means that each of you will be sent that file at a speed of 1Mbps (the 100 is split equally between you). So, even though you have a max download speed of 5Mbps, you'll only get it at 1Mbps.

More people download == slower downloads for everyone. The model is wrong.

With BitTorrent, you're all forced to share with each other too, in a very socialist way. With this model, more people download == faster downloads (up to your own person download limit on your connection).

[realaleman]

Surely there is a misunderstanding here. The download speed of 5mbps is 5 megabits not 5 megabytes per second. Can't remember how many bits in a byte but Chuckfickens can probably tell us. Hope this is helpful! LOL geoff.