ADSL 8 MB how fast is yours?

cirrus18

My Internet service provider has just updated me to the new 8 MB service and I am connected at 7.6 MB per second.
When I do a download speed test I am disappointed to find that the speed varies from a low 800 kB to a maximum of around 4 MB . Way below the 7.6 MB I was expecting.
I was on a 2 MB connection before and my speed tests were always around 1800 kB second.

I have contacted my service provider who has run various tests and cannot find anything wrong. I was wondering what other people were experiencing and what sort of speeds they are getting when they do a test.

T4i

depends where you go for a speed test.

You want a site with lots of bandwidth, what did you try?

mr_fishbulb

How long have you had it for?

Is it the BT MAX service, or an LLU?

I've heard that for the first couple of weeks with BT MAX they change your speed up and down to see what your line can handle.

Also remember that it's only up to 8meg.

T4i

I know ur on ADSL but try downloading a file from:-

ftp://ftp.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyondergames/demos/

What speeds to you get on there?

T4i

ts_aly2000 wrote:

net is underpinned by TCP/IP saying they'd developed their own system :rotfl:

NTL designing a new stack? Think I'll join in there :rotfl: :rotfl:

wolfman

cirrus18 wrote:

My Internet service provider has just updated me to the new 8 MB service and I am connected at 7.6 MB per second.
When I do a download speed test I am disappointed to find that the speed varies from a low 800 kB to a maximum of around 4 MB . Way below the 7.6 MB I was expecting.
I was on a 2 MB connection before and my speed tests were always around 1800 kB second.

You sure you're not confusing kilobit with kilobyte.

On a 2mbit line you'll have a connection speed of around 1800KBits (kilobits per second) and when downloading it'll translate into about 240Kbps (kilobytes per second).

It's confusing technical jargon. A bit is basically a '0' or '1', whereas a byte is a series of 8 bits.

So, if you are getting 800Kbps (kilobytes per second) download speeds then that's quite good considering a 2mbit line is normally around 240Kbps.

Ideally you'd have nearer 960Kbps download speed (240 x 4), but with 8mbit LLU (which I'm guessing you have) you'll only ever get the full 8mbit if your down the road from the exchange. Most people tend to get 4-7mbits.

cirrus18

That these were the test results I got today using this speed test http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp


Actual Speed
Downstream 3695 Kbps (461.9 KB/sec)
Upstream 366 Kbps (45.8 KB/sec)

Has anybody else got the 8 Meg service? Perhaps they would like to run a test and let me know the results.

mr_fishbulb

cirrus18 wrote:

Downstream 3695 Kbps (461.9 KB/sec)
Upstream 366 Kbps (45.8 KB/sec)

That's 4 meg speed. But I wouldn't trust the ADSLguide speed tester on an 8meg line becuase it doesn't download very much.

Go to this site and download one of the big videos. Have a look at your download speed then.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/ContentShowcase.aspx

nickmack

Remember that with ADSL Max, 8Mb is the absolute maximum connection rate for people close to the exchange.

Most people will not get this. It's possible that 4Mb is your limit.

Have a look at this site for info about your exchange.

A useful note is that to distinguish between the written forms of MegaBIT and MegaBYTE, and also KiloBIT and KiloBYTE is that the b should be written in lowercase for BIT and upper case for BYTE.

wolfman

Yep nickmack is right. I'm only an 8mbit LLU but only get about 4mbit downstream speeds as I'm about 2.5km from the exchange. If you're within 1km then you should get close to 8mbit.

Also it'll vary between ISP. Not everyone on an 8mbit connection will get great results. I for example am with Freedom2Surf who have been awful (slower than dialup) in recent months.

When they say 8mbit, read the small print, it'll say something like, maximum connection speed is 8mbit, and connection speed may vary.

nickmack

wolfman wrote:

Yep nickmack is right. I'm only an 8mbit LLU but only get about 4mbit downstream speeds as I'm about 2.5km from the exchange. If you're within 1km then you should get close to 8mbit.

I'm 0.7km straight line distance from my exchange so I should hopefully get close to 8Mb when Max is enabled. That is as long as the telecoms routing doesn't go half way round the town and my real distance turns out to be 4km!

Also it'll vary between ISP. Not everyone on an 8mbit connection will get great results. I for example am with Freedom2Surf who have been awful (slower than dialup) in recent months.

I'm with F2S as well. Heard loads of things about people having speed issues recently, but mine seems to have been ok. How has it affected you?