A Few ISP Questions

[IAIHMB]

Lately I have been hearing alot of things along the lines of "I have a 512 kbps connection." What does this refer to, upload bandwidth? After a bit of research the only thing I found were bandwidth tests, http://www.speedguide.net is giving me this:

Your RcvWindow limits you to: 2621.4 kbps (327.675 KBytes/s) @ 200ms
Your RcvWindow limits you to: 1048.56 kbps (131.07 KBytes/s) @ 500ms

Is that a decent connection, and what do the numbers look like on say a T1 or T3 connection? Also, what could I do to increase my internet connection speeds? I would think that a better router and cable modem would be good, but I guess I will have to look into what specifications are good and what I would want.

If it matters I am on a RoadRunner cable connection, using a NetGear MR814 Wireless Router, and a Motorola Surfboard SB5100 cable modem. Thanks for any advice.

[ViRaL1]

You can't really tell much from that. I just went there and got the same results. It says above it that IT IS NOT A SPEED TEST. Try running a speedtest at

http://www.dslreports.com/stest

or

http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/

[IAIHMB]

http://www.dslreports.com/stest says:
2004-08-02 20:53:18 EST: 264 / 95
Your download speed : 271323 bps, or 264 kbps.
A 33.1 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 97280 bps, or 95 kbps.

And http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/ says:
2.4 megabits per second
Communications 2.4 megabits per second
Storage 290.2 kilobytes per second
1MB file download 3.5 seconds
Subjective rating Great

Thanks for the response.

[mujahid7ia]

A lot of factors in bandwidth tests, I say do it like 5 more times at not peak times, and look at the diff. results.

My line is rated for *about* 5 mbit down and 750 kbit up...

[ViRaL1]

What does your average test come out to, and what does that run you a month?

[mujahid7ia]

What does your average test come out to, and what does that run you a month?

Well my rated speeds were just bumped up by my ISP, so I haven't done many bandwidth tests yet. if you want me to, I'll do some.

It costs $50 a month, which I think is a little expensive for cable...

[ViRaL1]

I'm getting about the same for $45 on DSL. Someone asked me once if I could drop back down to the 1.5Mb plan to cut costs. I said I'd rather skip lunches. It's nice when you click on a video stream and it starts right up without buffering. Not to mention downloading all of NetWare 6.5 and ZenWorks yesterday would have taken 3x as long.

[IAIHMB]

It costs me 44.99$ a month. So I take it this is a decent connection?

[thecoalman]

Your download speed can be limited by the web/file server too. 512 is at peak performance. If the server is omly giving you 200 that's what your going to get.

[redwudz]

I use http://www.broadbandreports.com/. Presently through my laptop and a router, 1266Kbs down, 236Kbs up. A little slow at this time of day, usually around 1500Kbs up, 256kbs down.

This is over Cox cable.

A T1 is rated at 1.54Mbs, a T3 is 44.7Mbs.

Different speed testing sites will give you different speeds, depending on the time of day, amount of traffic, location of the testing server and your location.

You need to see what your ISP says its rated speed is. Whether there are any guarantees for speed. (Usually not)

There are a few things you can do to fine tune your connection. Check the site above and others. I have tried them at different times, but I have never seen them make any speed improvements. Just a waste of time generally. (IMO)

[IAIHMB]

I am downloading the Doom 3 demo off of bittorrent and there are something like 15,000 seeds and 25,000 peers, for some reason my down speed doen't want to pass 60 KB/Sec.

[ViRaL1]

Sounds decent, although you may be able to get higher speeds for the same price from DSL if they offer them in your area. Something else you might want to try if you haven't recently.

(Make sure you write down all your network / cable settings before you do this.)

Power off and completely disconnect your Cable modem from the wall and the router for 5 min. Reconnect and try the speed tests again to see if there's any noticeable difference.

My mom has cable (Comcast) and I heard that they had been doing upgrades in her area. She was getting about 1Mb or so. We did this with her system and when it came back up she was around 2.5-3Mb. They never really let the customers know about the upgrade or how to take advantage, I just happened upon the info while surfing. Also, DSL Reports will let you see what other people in your area (Zip Code) are getting and view their comments, what plan they're on, who their ISP is etc.

[IAIHMB]

It is OK, but I am use to getting upwards of 150 KB/sec off of bittorrent. I do the disconnect thing once in a while. Is DSL generally better than cable?

[Byronleehk]

DSL vs Cable...both have pros and cons.

Cable is fast when you have fewer user on line at that point in time. The more people locked on, the slower your cable connection speed will be.

DSL doesn't have this problem but its speed depends on other factors, such as line conditions, your DSL provider's server, even the distance from your modem to the nearest station (the nearer the faster rates).

I had both before and both had given me some kind of problems.

If you can afford a T1 or T3 then that will be perfect

[IAIHMB]

Hot damn, I did a little bit of looking and T1 was 300$ a month! Is that typical, are there any connections better than what I've got that aren't over 100$ a month?

[thecoalman]

Where I'm at they offer DSL packages that are faster than cable, generally they have higher upload speeds than you can get with cable. You could even use it as a server for a small website if you wanted too.

T-1 is a little bit of overkill for home use. That's geared more for business's that have websites that need a lot of bandwidth, Univertsities etc. You could even start a dial-upaccess businsness with a T-1.