Connection vs upload speed

Hippie

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Connection vs upload speed

« on: August 12, 2004, 07:29:45 PM »

I have (or so I'm paying for) a 1.5/384 DSL connection.

I'm just now learning (thru this forum) that even though I have the 384KBs upload connection that doesn't mean I can upload data at that speed. That is only my 'connection speed'.

What is the diffence between the connection speed and the upload speed? Seems to be a misleading sales pitch by the ISP's; Or is there an explaination? wink

Thanks - Hippie


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RTB

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Connection vs upload speed

« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2004, 10:10:26 PM »

That's the limit of what your ISP should cap you on. You can never be sure of this, since Cox users get far more than they pay for.

Basically, they're advertised speeds, but most never reach them. It's the same with harddisks, advertising that they can hold 40 GB, while it's about 37-38 in fact.

If you reach 90% of your advertised speeds you're getting what you pay for, since that 10% tends to be lost in overhead. Also remember that the server you're trying to download a couple of bits from might be too far away to guarantee the fast speeds. I lose 200 Kbps when downloading from testmy.net and my ping is about 100 - 150.


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Hippie

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Connection vs upload speed

« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2004, 05:46:03 AM »

Thanks RTB-

This may sound 'basic' to most but I discovered the following and want to share with other newbies:

Kbps = KiloBITES per second
kB/sec = KiloBYTES per second

ISP's advertise thier speed in "Kbps" (i.e. 384/384 Kbps)
Users measure their speed in "kB/sec"

So, it would be very easy for someone to be confused as to why they can not download at the ISP's advertised 384 speed.

I noticed this because I run an email server and everything is measured in KB's. I also looked at all of my data measuring software and they all measure in kB/sec (none measure in Kbps). All this time I was angry that I could not achieve the ISP's advertised speed.

The lightbulb went on when I used the "conversion calculator" on this sites (testmy.net) home page. Anyone reading this should check it out.

My 384"Kbps" upload speed is actually a 46.88"KB" upload speed. Go figure!


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RTB

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Connection vs upload speed

« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2004, 06:25:32 AM »

Quote from: Hippie

Kbps = KiloBITES per second

It's Kilobits without the typo. Razz

Kbps is used for bandwidth, while kB/s is most used for download/upload speed.

testmy.net's test results show both the Kbps and kB/s values.


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Quote from: Scud

The other day, in the park, I was wondering why frisbees look bigger and bigger as they get closer to you

And then it hit me

Click me. Or be diminished; one by one.

Hippie

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Connection vs upload speed

« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2004, 07:35:07 AM »

RTB - Thanks for the BITE/BIT correction.

I guess that's what is bugging me... I can't understand why the ISP's advertised speed is measured in Kbps. No one can figure out thier true down/up speed unless they do the conversion (and I'm guessing not many know about the conversion).

Just venting.. Grrrr.....


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RTB

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Connection vs upload speed

« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2004, 09:53:10 AM »

Not the total newbies yes, but most should know that 8 bits go in one byte, even though that is only an approximation for bandwidth speed.

It's about having bigger numbers to show off, 500 kB/s is not as amazing as 4000 Kbps download.


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Quote from: Scud

The other day, in the park, I was wondering why frisbees look bigger and bigger as they get closer to you

And then it hit me

Click me. Or be diminished; one by one.

Sean

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Connection vs upload speed

« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2004, 09:31:24 AM »

Cool site that has a table for bits and bytes. http://www.romulus2.com/articles/guides/misc/bitsbytes.shtml

Also you have to tweak the send window for uploads just like receive window for the download part of your broadband. You'll notice you have a 45KB possible but only get 15 to 30KB sending a file to someone over AIM or FTP or whatever. I got 1mbit upload and could only send 30KB to a friend on AIM till I set my defaultsendwindow now I send 100-124KB. Why windows OS doesn't have some kind of a user friendly gui interface to tweak these settings is beyond me. The tcp/ip stack is older than the frickin hills.[/quote]


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RTB

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Connection vs upload speed

« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2004, 10:41:16 PM »

Quote from: Sean

Why windows OS doesn't have some kind of a user friendly gui interface to tweak these settings is beyond me. The tcp/ip stack is older than the frickin hills.

Because it's not as easily understandable by computer newbies as some other settings. It requires knowledge on how TCP/IP works...
Still, it's Microsoft, so it can be as stupid as they want to make it.


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Quote from: Scud

The other day, in the park, I was wondering why frisbees look bigger and bigger as they get closer to you

And then it hit me

Click me. Or be diminished; one by one.