Total Newbies Questions About Internet Packages And Download Speeds

[Amit_S]

Hye!My 1st post here. I'm a total noob when it comes to some of the tech stuff out there so plz bear with me.1.Where ISPs advertise about their plans- like 256kbps, 64kbps or MTNLs 2mbps- what speed are they talking about? Do they mean that if I download something -for e.g. a video file- then it'll get downloaded at that speed? Or do they mean something like when I try to open up a website- that site will open up at that speed?*I am a Hathway customer. I started out with their 512kbps plan-1gb download limit. On this I could get file download speeds of max 6kbps. Is that normal?Currently I'm on their 64kbps-unltd plan and I get file download speeds of 500bits-4kbps. According tp their engineer this is normal.*Also today I called up the MTNL triband guys- they said that their download speed goes upto 2mbps. So do they mean that I can download my videos for 2mbps or are they talking about the surfing speed?2.What does an actual download speed mean? If some ISP guy tells you that you can get a max 10kbps download speed- does it mean that I'll get that speed most of the times I try to download something? Or does it mean that you get a total of that when I do multiple downloads at the same time?*Another personal e.g.: I can get max 4kbps on the plan I'm on right now. But most of the time the downloads are 2-3kbps and a lot of times they are in bits.I contacted their tech support and they asked me to test my downloads. on the 1st test the download speed was around 2.5kbps. Then while the 1st test file was being downloaded I was asked to download something else- this time the speed was upto 1.75kbps.I was asked to add up the individual speeds on my 2 downloads- it went a little over 4kbps. Then they said this was perfect. That I should never look at individual speeds but add it up.Thnx for reading...as you can guess I am a complete noob..... another thing.......I'm not posting this as a hate hathway post. I know that there is a different forum for hathway guys. But this is not a hathway post -the questions I've asked are applicable to all guys who use the internet.

 

[Sushubh]

2 mbps would mean therotically max speeds of 2048/8 KBps. u can technically negate around 10% speeds on data loss due to distance between your exchange and your PC.but the fact remains most ISPs in india would provide UPTO x kbps. so you cannot really help complain about lack of speeds promised.

 

[patch]

generally DL/UL speed in KBps(kilobyte) and connection speed is in kbps(kilobit)on(kbps)64= DL or UL speed max. 8128 = 16 KBps256 = 32 KBps 512 = 64 KBps(mbps)1 = 128 kBps2 = 256 kBpsalso depends on ur applications of progrms...if ur windows update is on.. or some virus/trojan/spyware may consume bandwidth...to see go to command prompt and enter netstat -n to see Ip addresses of sites u surf...it is better to use unlimited plan on 64/128/256 kbps, b/s on 2 mbps , u cant control urself to surf,downloading...b/s of extreme speed... :lol:

 

[vebk]

QUOTE(Amit_S @ Jan 15 2007, 08:57 PM) [snapback]75304[/snapback]
1.Where ISPs advertise about their plans- like 256kbps, 64kbps or MTNLs 2mbps- what speed are they talking about? Do they mean that if I download something -for e.g. a video file- then it'll get downloaded at that speed?
Or do they mean something like when I try to open up a website- that site will open up at that speed?[/b]

It means that you will get a speed "up to" that speed. So when you download something on a 256kbps connection, you would get around 20 - 30 KB/s speeds. (See below)

QUOTE(Amit_S @ Jan 15 2007, 08:57 PM) [snapback]75304[/snapback]
*I am a Hathway customer. I started out with their 512kbps plan-1gb download limit. On this I could get file download speeds of max 6kbps. Is that normal?
Currently I'm on their 64kbps-unltd plan and I get file download speeds of 500bits-4kbps.
According tp their engineer this is normal.[/b]
You should probably note the difference between kbps and KB/s. The difference is that simply put 1 KB/s = 8 kbps. So 256kbps = 32 KB/s. And accordingly 512kbps = 64 KB/s. So if you got it right and you are getting a speed of 6 kbps or even let's say you made a typo and it's 6 KB/s it's still horrendously low. Just verify this and post again.

QUOTE(Amit_S @ Jan 15 2007, 08:57 PM) [snapback]75304[/snapback]
*Also today I called up the MTNL triband guys- they said that their download speed goes upto 2mbps. So do they mean that I can download my videos for 2mbps or are they talking about the surfing speed?[/b]
Theoretically both. But not sure how the whole thing is working out. Please note that it is "up to" 2 mbps. So the key is what is the minimum speed they absolutely guarantee at all times.

QUOTE(Amit_S @ Jan 15 2007, 08:57 PM) [snapback]75304[/snapback]
2.What does an actual download speed mean? If some ISP guy tells you that you can get a max 10kbps download speed- does it mean that I'll get that speed most of the times I try to download something? Or does it mean that you get a total of that when I do multiple downloads at the same time?[/b]
If you download one file you should get around 80% of that speed, or maybe even more if you are lucky. (Assuming you mad e atypo and meant 10 KB/s) then one file should download at 8 - 10 KB/s. But if you download 2 files, it would halve, i.e. each file would download at an average of 4 - 5 KB/s.

Hope that answers your questions!

 

[Amit_S]

QUOTE(vebmetal @ Jan 16 2007, 12:16 AM) [snapback]75353[/snapback]
It means that you will get a speed "up to" that speed. So when you download something on a 256kbps connection, you would get around 20 - 30 KB/s speeds. (See below)


You should probably note the difference between kbps and KB/s. The difference is that simply put 1 KB/s = 8 kbps. So 256kbps = 32 KB/s. And accordingly 512kbps = 64 KB/s. So if you got it right and you are getting a speed of 6 kbps or even let's say you made a typo and it's 6 KB/s it's still horrendously low. Just verify this and post again.
Theoretically both. But not sure how the whole thing is working out. Please note that it is "up to" 2 mbps. So the key is what is the minimum speed they absolutely guarantee at all times.
If you download one file you should get around 80% of that speed, or maybe even more if you are lucky. (Assuming you mad e atypo and meant 10 KB/s) then one file should download at 8 - 10 KB/s. But if you download 2 files, it would halve, i.e. each file would download at an average of 4 - 5 KB/s.

Hope that answers your questions![/b]

That answers my questions perfectly!
Thnx man!
In regards to my download speeds- I cant check whether its kb or KB it right now cause my connection has been down for a few days now. It think it might be KB. But that was no typo. It was 6KBps downloads on a 512kbps speed.
And on my current 64kbps plan I get anything between 500bits to 4KBps. Its mostly at 2-3KBps. According your calculations it should be at least 6KBps, right. Sucks man.
And those Hathway uys were actually lying to me.......