Wish internet was a bit faster

[karmgirl]

I've got a 7.2mbps connection speed and I've downloaded mozilla firefox. It's fast-ish but I thought it would be faster tbh. Is there anything else I can do to make it faster? Maybe I'm just impatient

[Ethel]

What speed are you actually getting? Have you tested it?

Is this a mobile dongle?

[karmgirl]

No, how do I test it?

YEs its vodafone mobile broadband usb modem stick

[adamhornsby]

USB internet sticks usually are slow, they really cant compete with the speed of the internet in your home, unless that happens to be dial up

[karmgirl]

download 315kb/s

upload 251 kb/s

thats on maidenhead server (recommended) and I live in somerset

Even more confused now. Does that mean its as fast as or slower than 7.2 mbps

[Ethel]

That is a slow connection. My internet is 2gb, and on that site shows 2061 download speed.

There is not much you can do to make it faster, except try a different room in the house. :(

[karmgirl]

OW!!!

What internet do you have Ethel?

Do you have a landline one? What Provider?

Thanks for your help xx

[JonnyBoy12]

You just go to the following link and follow the speedometer there;

http://us.mcafee.com/root/speedometer/default. asp

Mine was a paltry 1.4648 MBps. Slow or what, and that is supposed to be Broadband.

[karmgirl]

Well mine took so long to load that I closed the window in the end and still don't know the result but guess its obviously slooooowwwwwwww :(

Laptop really hot too - not sure if it should be this hot on bottom, its about as hot as a just boiled kettle if you put your hand on the outside of the kettle. Is that ok? It's been on for about 4 hours

[JonnyBoy12]

Wow, that sounds hot, karmgirl, and the laptop computer as well!Lol! No, it should not be that hot, are you using it on a bed or putting it on any kind of material which could block up the vents. We are told to put laptops on hard surfaces to allow air to move through the vents.

Have send you message via SportsBank by the way, Karmgirl.

[karmgirl]

I usually have it on my lap or on my bed yes, got no hard surface to put it on really cus I rent a room in a house and only use it upstairs in my room. Hope it doesn't blow up lol :S =D

Thanks, I will take a look, I'm off to bed in in minute though, 12 at the latest if I drag myself off here, night night :)

[Ethel]

You should put your laptop on a firm surface - it needs to draw air in underneath to keep it cool. In your situation those laptrays with the beaded cushions underneath will do very well indeed.

I don't have a landline telephone but my internet is the cheapest one Virgin cable supplies - 2gb.

[Lie-in King]

You should try it with dial-up on a machine that's older than God...

Sighs longingly & refills vodka drip...

[ACtheTROLL]

hi karm

try this one ... it's uk server so no atlantic lag
http://gadgetshow.five.tv/jsp/speed_test.htm

I'm currently getting 3467

[Ethel]

Is 7.2 mbps less that 1 gb?

[ACtheTROLL]

Karm

the heat thing isn't realy serious - these are quite common
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MY-Link-FANS-USB-LAPTO P-COOLER/dp/B000O5U6SC
smoke ... now that's serious.

lol ethel - can you guess how many fingers I'm holding up now? o<};-)
muggles are ikkler than giggles

[Ethel]

Tis all very confusing with megabits and bytes and gigs.

MbPS is different to MBPS (I think).

As I understand it, 7.2mbps = just short of 3/4 of one gb. So unless you have been used to dial up, it will seem slow.

Ac, would you say 7.2mbps is fast enough for video streaming? Although Karm is downloading at 315 (less than one third of a gb I think). Would that be fast enough for streaming?

[ACtheTROLL]

Ethel

I'm having problems relating 7.2 ... compared to a "fast" 56K modem it's not bad but against BB it's not that good.
but if Karm is renting ... it's hobson's choice

I've just looked at BBCi (about 5 mins each) and on average video seems to be 500-1000kb/s and audio 140kb/s (which surprised me - my guess would have been much higher) so it's probably going
to be OK ish
Utube was as high as 700Kb/s
so video is going to need a head start .....
.

the other thing people forget (esp those on a cap) is their windows and virus updates. A pain ... but at least the virus definitions need doing (+adware)

7.2 .... 3/4
I fink you need some 0s

K,M,G go up or down in 1000s
so 7.2Mb = 7200Kb or .0072Gb
(3/4 - 0.75 - so a near miss!!)
to convert just move the decimal 3 places left m-g or right g-m

http://www.easycalculation.com/bandwidth-calcu lator.php