Broadband Connection.
Posted by: niceguy235uk on 07 October 2005
Need to pick someones brains here.
My internet connection is fantastic but im just a bit unsure how fast im connected.
I am running through a netgear router/modem (non wireless)and my LAN connection speed is 100 Mbps and my internet connection speed is 2.2Mbps even though im supposedly connected to 1Mb broadband.
Basically what does the Mbps mean and am i actually running at 1Mb? Im a bit confused here.
Thanks in advance!
Jason
Posted on: 07 October 2005 by Tony Lockhart
Posted on: 07 October 2005 by Paul Hutchings
It depends on the ISP.
It sounds like you have ADSL rather than cable, so the 100mbps is the connection speed between your PC and the internal side of your router, and the 2.2mbps is the sync speed between the external side of the router and your exchange.
What is happening these days is that with new ADSL signups BT and ISPs are commissioning the connection to the exchange at the fastest speed your line will support, and then the ISP throttles it back to the speed you're paying for.
In your case it sounds as if your line supports 2mbps, and you are synching at 2mbps, but your ISP is throttling your speed so you get the 1mbps that you pay for. In theory, if you switch to 2mbps from the same ISP it's a quick thing to change as the connection is already in place, they just need to flick a switch to change the throttling at their end.
cheers,
Paul
p.s due to the way BT charge ISPs a lot of ISPs have been upgrading people to 2mbps behind the scenes, this might have happened to you.
Posted on: 07 October 2005 by Richard770211
Another speed test can be found on
http://www.adslguide.orgA useful site for all things ADSL. My ADSL speed was recently upped to 2Mb from 1Mb by BT with suprisingly little fanfare. I believe other providers have done the same
Richard
Posted on: 07 October 2005 by Top Cat
Yeah, the upgrades to 2Mb have been going on for a while now - at least since April. I'm on a 2Mb and it's great, most of the time. The only thing I could really ask for is a better upload speed, as even with bigger ADSLs, you're generally stuck at 256Kbps upload, which starts to be much more noticeable when your download increases IME.
John
Posted on: 07 October 2005 by niceguy235uk
Thanks for all your replies folks.
Im sure im running fine and i do understand now about the connections etc.
My readings are line speed: 438.9 kbps
i take it this is less than half what i should be getting???
Regards
Jason.
Posted on: 07 October 2005 by garyi
I usually just download something to get an idea.
This has one problem, if the download server is busy then the result won't be great. Never the less goto versiontracker and download a couple of meg file and see what average speed you get.
