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For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/24/2004 1:21:58 PM   
2Stepper


Posts: 948
Joined: 1/19/2003
From: North Burbs of Omaha
Status: offline 		Greetings all!

Seeing a few good posts in the Digital download thread and not wanting to overpost on the topic I decided to make a thread to help folks understand a little about how their connections work and how fast they really are.

You hear the terms every day. Kilobyte, and Kilobit. Or in some cases Megabyte, and Megabit. They're both easily confused as to just how quickly you're moving data through the internet. Lord knows I did when I first got into DSL. I was looking at a 640kb download rate and a 256kb upload rate thinking GREAT! I can get over half a megabyte downloaded in a second! What I didn't know was that the "kb" stood for KILOBIT, not BYTE like I thought.

Of course the drool set in right off. I quickly found out that wasn't the case at all.

Don't get me wrong, I was still cooking with gas for a DSL line in the home, but it wasn't what I thought.

Basically the numbers work out like this. Whatever your KILOBIT throughput is (DSL, and sometimes cable are listed as such), you divide that number by 8. That will be your MAXIMUM KILOBYTE throughput on the net. That assumes maximum data through the net of course. We all know how lag goes... For those that have dialup or DSL, the number you see in the SYSTRAY by the clock is your KILOBIT throughput. Most websites will show Kilobit throughput. Here's one that shows KILOBYTE throughput instead.

Here's some basic numbers so you'll see what I mean before you add in internet lag. The website should help with this also.

4.0megabit= 500KB/sec (T3 cable line)
2.4megbit= 300KB/sec (standard T1/home cable)
1.2megabit= 150KB/sec (FAST DSL)
256kilobit= 32KB/sec (standard home DSL)
126kilobit= 15.75KB/sec (ISDN line/high compression dialup)
56kilobit= 7KB/sec (standard dialup)

That's the rundown gents. I'm sorry if those number seem a little depressing for some on dialup still. This isn't meant to dog anyone. Just alleviate some confusion that always exists about such things. Lord knows I had it confused for a long while. Hope this helps out.

< Message edited by 2Stepper -- 6/24/2004 5:23:30 AM >

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Post #: 1
RE: For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/24/2004 4:05:57 PM   
ZOOMIE1980

 

Posts: 1284
Joined: 4/9/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: 2Stepper

Greetings all!

Seeing a few good posts in the Digital download thread and not wanting to overpost on the topic I decided to make a thread to help folks understand a little about how their connections work and how fast they really are.

You hear the terms every day. Kilobyte, and Kilobit. Or in some cases Megabyte, and Megabit. They're both easily confused as to just how quickly you're moving data through the internet. Lord knows I did when I first got into DSL. I was looking at a 640kb download rate and a 256kb upload rate thinking GREAT! I can get over half a megabyte downloaded in a second! What I didn't know was that the "kb" stood for KILOBIT, not BYTE like I thought.

Of course the drool set in right off. I quickly found out that wasn't the case at all.

Don't get me wrong, I was still cooking with gas for a DSL line in the home, but it wasn't what I thought.

Basically the numbers work out like this. Whatever your KILOBIT throughput is (DSL, and sometimes cable are listed as such), you divide that number by 8. That will be your MAXIMUM KILOBYTE throughput on the net. That assumes maximum data through the net of course. We all know how lag goes... For those that have dialup or DSL, the number you see in the SYSTRAY by the clock is your KILOBIT throughput. Most websites will show Kilobit throughput. Here's one that shows KILOBYTE throughput instead.

Here's some basic numbers so you'll see what I mean before you add in internet lag. The website should help with this also.

4.0megabit= 500KB/sec (T3 cable line)
2.4megbit= 300KB/sec (standard T1/home cable)
1.2megabit= 150KB/sec (FAST DSL)
256kilobit= 32KB/sec (standard home DSL)
126kilobit= 15.75KB/sec (ISDN line/high compression dialup)
56kilobit= 7KB/sec (standard dialup)

That's the rundown gents. I'm sorry if those number seem a little depressing for some on dialup still. This isn't meant to dog anyone. Just alleviate some confusion that always exists about such things. Lord knows I had it confused for a long while. Hope this helps out.



One thing to remember on cable modems, is the speed can vary widely depending on who is online in your area, doing what. Later in the evenings, when all the teenagers in the neighborhood are doing their Everquest/Massive Multi player thing, the throughput can drop to barely over a 56K dial-up line, but in the mornings it can approach actual 10BaseT Ethernet speed... With cable you SHARE the bandwidth with a lot of other people. DSL is an unshared line all for you.

Another growing method is piggybacking on the Satelite like a Dish Network system. Pretty good download speed, close to your fast DSL and such but uplink is basically standard dialup speed.

(in reply to 2Stepper)
Post #: 2
RE: For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/24/2004 5:24:10 PM   
Mr.Frag


Posts: 13410
Joined: 12/18/2002
From: Purgatory
Status: offline
quote:

That's the rundown gents.


Hmm, you missed OC-12

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Post #: 3
RE: For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/24/2004 11:00:44 PM   
kaleun

 

Posts: 5145
Joined: 5/29/2002
From: Colorado
Status: offline 		Actually you can have a dedicated satellite link, where you download and upload to the satellite, and the speed is quite fast; not being a techno weenie, I don't have the exact numbers. I had that type of setup in texas from an outfit called direcpc.com. You don't piggyback on the Dish satellite system.
Now I have cable (I always end up getting pi**ed off at DSL)

< Message edited by kaleun -- 6/24/2004 3:00:58 PM >

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Post #: 4
RE: For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/24/2004 11:32:10 PM   
Hanal

 

Posts: 2312
Joined: 11/1/2003
Status: offline 		I still shudder when I think of the time I downloaded Steel Panthers and IE6 using my dial up...having DSL now is a godsend and it's too bad everyone cannot have access to such services...

(in reply to kaleun)
Post #: 5
RE: For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/24/2004 11:58:33 PM   
mavraam


Posts: 436
Joined: 5/11/2004
Status: offline 		Just a minor correction on the math. Many people think the conversion from kilo bits to kilo bytes is 8 to 1. But that doesn't take into account the parity bit. For every 8 bits you download, you actually throw away 1, only 7 of them contain data:

The math works out like this

1 byte = 8 bits * (8 transmitted / 7 actual data) = 64/7 = 9.14 transmitted bits

So a 1,000,000 bits / sec = 109,409 bytes / sec.

Sorry to be so anal but my last job was working on softare for a fiber to the home system so I had this drummed into me. If that system ever makes it to market, it supports 40 mega BYTE / second bi-directional data transmission.

BTW, my cable modem peaks out at about 350 kilobytes/ second. Of course I almost never get to use the full amount because very few servers support it.

But I was able to download America's Army wich is like 720 meg in about 45 minutes which was nice.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes to download WITP, I've had mixed results with Digital River downloads.

< Message edited by mavraam -- 6/24/2004 9:59:55 PM >

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Post #: 6
RE: For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/25/2004 12:46:06 AM   
2Stepper


Posts: 948
Joined: 1/19/2003
From: North Burbs of Omaha
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: mavraam

Just a minor correction on the math. Many people think the conversion from kilo bits to kilo bytes is 8 to 1. But that doesn't take into account the parity bit. For every 8 bits you download, you actually throw away 1, only 7 of them contain data:


Details, schmetails... LOL! Was just an attempt to explain to those that might not understand it. There's ALWAYS variation in download rates... Be it server limits, network limits, system, etc... the list is really long. I mean I pay for a 4MB download connection through my internet provider and have seen some pretty high KB rates... Not as high as in S. Dakota with a rediculous bandwidth I had there... downloaded upwards of a megabyte per second on occasion...

Be that as it may, I figured a rundown like that would help.

Oh and Frag? "OC-12"... Never even heard of that. LOL! Must be a canadian business thing. LOL! Was jus tryin to help the lads itchin to download from home. T3 is the fastest cable line I know of into homes these days. I pay out the rear for it, but it's worth it.

< Message edited by 2Stepper -- 6/24/2004 4:47:18 PM >

_____________________________


"Send in the Infantry. Tanks cost money... the dead cost nothing..." :)

(in reply to mavraam)
Post #: 7
RE: For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/25/2004 1:54:02 AM   
bigbabyhead

 

Posts: 99
Joined: 3/22/2004
From: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Status: offline 		OC-12 is 622Mbit (more or less) line speed, turns out to about 600Mbit in useable payload.
It's carrier-level stuff, used mostly by ISPs between POPs and large businesses.

Standard optical lines can go up to OC-192 which is 9953Mbit, but only the phone companies and serious ISPs tend to use that stuff. Actual payload is around 9.6Gbit.

The Internet2 stuff I get to play with sometimes at work is in another league, like, tossing Gigs of data, thousands of miles, in seconds. Some of your tax dollars at work.

(in reply to 2Stepper)
Post #: 8
RE: For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/25/2004 1:56:19 AM   
Mr.Frag


Posts: 13410
Joined: 12/18/2002
From: Purgatory
Status: offline 		OC12 = 622 mbps

OC3 = 155 mbps

DS3 = 45 mbps

T1 = 1.544 mbps

(in reply to 2Stepper)
Post #: 9
RE: For those wondering about Internet download speeds - 6/25/2004 2:25:57 AM   
2Stepper


Posts: 948
Joined: 1/19/2003
From: North Burbs of Omaha
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

OC12 = 622 mbps

OC3 = 155 mbps

DS3 = 45 mbps

T1 = 1.544 mbps


LOL!!! Oh the things ya learn. hehehe... Here I am with my "paultry" T3 connection at home. hehehe...

_____________________________


"Send in the Infantry. Tanks cost money... the dead cost nothing..." :)

(in reply to Mr.Frag)
Post #: 10
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