Broadband speeds - BEWARE!

I'm probably the only web master who was not aware of this, but just
in case....

Broadband firms quote speeds such as "512k", "1 meg" and "2 meg" at
customers, but what they fail to tell you, which can be relevant to
web masters, is that this is the DOWNLOAD speed only. The upload speed
is often much less, for example I discovered my broadband upload speed
was 64 K (in reality much the same as a very much cheaper 56 K dial-up
connection).

When buying or upgrading a broadband account it is worth checking the
'upstream' rating, this is often 256 K but can be as low as 64 K
(about the same as a 56 K modem) and will make a major difference when
sending large updates to a remote hosting computer.

Try sending a 100 mB (binary) update down a 64 Kbit connection and
you'll soon realise what I mean!

May I also mention a useful UK broadband comparison site, with a handy
speed test facility:

http://www.adslguide.org/tools/speedtest.asp

Matt

In article <431c32cf.296936@news.ntlworld.com>,
comments@probertencyclopaedia.com says...
> I'm probably the only web master who was not aware of this, but just
> in case....
>
> Broadband firms quote speeds such as "512k", "1 meg" and "2 meg" at
> customers, but what they fail to tell you, which can be relevant to
> web masters, is that this is the DOWNLOAD speed only. The upload speed
> is often much less, for example I discovered my broadband upload speed
> was 64 K (in reality much the same as a very much cheaper 56 K dial-up
> connection).
>
> When buying or upgrading a broadband account it is worth checking the
> 'upstream' rating, this is often 256 K but can be as low as 64 K
> (about the same as a 56 K modem) and will make a major difference when
> sending large updates to a remote hosting computer.
>
> Try sending a 100 mB (binary) update down a 64 Kbit connection and
> you'll soon realise what I mean!
>
> May I also mention a useful UK broadband comparison site, with a handy
> speed test facility:
>
> http://www.adslguide.org/tools/speedtest.asp
>
> Matt
>

Actually, a 56 modem under perfect conditions (very rare) downloads at
5.6 kb/sec, and uploads at 3.36 kb/sec. In real world conditions, you
would most likely experience a rate of 10 - 20% slower.

There may be some confusion here, there is no way you are uploading at
only 6.4 kb/sec. In your case, you should be uploading at 64 kb/sec, in
reality 20 times faster than dial-up. Any slower could indicate a
problem with your connection or modem.

In article <op.swmqhrgxm9g4qz-wnt@tbdata.com>, SpamBlocked@tbdata.com
says...
> Writing in news:alt.www.webmaster
> From the safety of the cafeteria
> saz <saz1958@nospammersexcite.com> said:
>
> [aDSL uploads]
> > ...
> > Any slower could indicate a
> > problem with your connection or modem.
>
> or geography.
>
> In the UK, DSL connections are subject to a 'contention ratio' of
> typically 50:1 better contention ratios attract higher subscription costs.
>
> [1] an industry euphanism for 'shared with all the snotty kids in your
> neighbourhood'
>
>
I'm spoiled - I have cable. 256 up, 3mb down. In reality, I get about
half of that. Much better than the dial-up I had until a year ago.

Once upon a time *Matt Probert* wrote:
> I'm probably the only web master who was not aware of this, but just
> in case....
>
> Broadband firms quote speeds such as "512k", "1 meg" and "2 meg" at
> customers, but what they fail to tell you, which can be relevant to
> web masters, is that this is the DOWNLOAD speed only. The upload speed
> is often much less, for example I discovered my broadband upload speed
> was 64 K (in reality much the same as a very much cheaper 56 K dial-up
> connection).
>
> When buying or upgrading a broadband account it is worth checking the
> 'upstream' rating, this is often 256 K but can be as low as 64 K
> (about the same as a 56 K modem) and will make a major difference when
> sending large updates to a remote hosting computer.
>
> Try sending a 100 mB (binary) update down a 64 Kbit connection and
> you'll soon realise what I mean!
>
> May I also mention a useful UK broadband comparison site, with a handy
> speed test facility:
>
> http://www.adslguide.org/tools/speedtest.asp
>

When I asked my ISP about the maximum speed that I can get to with my
10Mbit LAN, I was told that ISP's quote speeds as "UDP speed" and as
we know that is normaly slower than TCP.

But with the help of the TCPOptimizer from www.speedguide.net I'm now
able to get a TCP speed that compare well to what I get with UDP.

--
/Arne
You will be ignored if you top post, don't quote what
you are replying to and cut of only the signatures!
http://www.safalra.com/special/googlegroupsreply/

saz wrote:
> In article <op.swmqhrgxm9g4qz-wnt@tbdata.com>, SpamBlocked@tbdata.com
> says...
> > Writing in news:alt.www.webmaster
> > From the safety of the cafeteria
> > saz <saz1958@nospammersexcite.com> said:
> >
> > [aDSL uploads]
> > > ...
> > > Any slower could indicate a
> > > problem with your connection or modem.
> >
> > or geography.
> >
> > In the UK, DSL connections are subject to a 'contention ratio' of
> > typically 50:1 better contention ratios attract higher subscription costs.
> >
> > [1] an industry euphanism for 'shared with all the snotty kids in your
> > neighbourhood'
> >
> >
> I'm spoiled - I have cable. 256 up, 3mb down. In reality, I get about
> half of that. Much better than the dial-up I had until a year ago.

384k up, 4096k down - here in Edinburgh. But I knew what I was getting
right away, as the ratio is advertised as part of the deal with
BlueYonder. I had a quick look around and all the big UK providers
clearly tell you what your upload speed it - it's just not usually as
emphasised as the download speed. It's not hidden away in the small
print or anything. Cable is also split into cells, so you do get some
contention there as well, but nothing like what you get with ADSL - the
network is about ten times fatter than the actual bandwidth you can buy
- I believe in Edinburgh the network (vlan) runs at full 100mbit, but
they limit it to 4mbit for home users. I suspect it's MUCH fatter than
that really (gigabits?) because the cable is also streaming 100,000's
of MPEG video streams + interactivity over the same IP network.

On Mon, 5 Sep 2005 0714 -0500, saz <saz1958@nospammersexcite.com>
wrote:

>There may be some confusion here, there is no way you are uploading at
>only 6.4 kb/sec. In your case, you should be uploading at 64 kb/sec, in
>reality 20 times faster than dial-up. Any slower could indicate a
>problem with your connection or modem.

I'm not a netork expert, but I am technical.

The realities of the connections here are as reported (6.4 Kbytes per
second, you may have misread that, equivalent to 54.64 K bits per
second). Any problems may be due to the ISP, but after changing to a
128 K upstream the rate amended accordingly.

With a 56K modem the upload speed is slightly less, but not
significantly so, than the 64 K 'broadband' (cable) connection.

Matt

Matt Probert wrote:

> I'm probably the only web master who was not aware of this, but just
> in case....
>
> Broadband firms quote speeds such as "512k", "1 meg" and "2 meg" at
> customers, but what they fail to tell you, which can be relevant to
> web masters, is that this is the DOWNLOAD speed only. The upload speed
> is often much less, for example I discovered my broadband upload speed
> was 64 K (in reality much the same as a very much cheaper 56 K dial-up
> connection).
>
> When buying or upgrading a broadband account it is worth checking the
> 'upstream' rating, this is often 256 K but can be as low as 64 K
> (about the same as a 56 K modem) and will make a major difference when
> sending large updates to a remote hosting computer.

In Norway, both the upload and download speeds are advertised in full
by all the DSL providers I can think of.

Personally, I sit on a 1000kbps/300kbps (down/up, in that order) ADSL
line at home. Not too bad, considering we started out with a
384kbps/128kbps line, and our provider has just upgraded the line as we
went along (same package, same price, better speed).

--
Kim André Akerø
- kimandre@NOSPAMbetadome.com
(remove NOSPAM to contact me directly)