broadband speed?

bnev

I have had broadband with eircom now for about 8 months. Just did a check after getting the letter saying they will be improving the speeds in April. Went onto www.internetfrog.com to do a speed test. However the speed given here was only about 400Kbps, not the 512Kbps that it's meant to be. I use the Ethernet connection and also have wireless.
Just wondering if there is a way to improve this? Is it my Laptop or the was I have the computer set up?

Any tips on getting the most out of the broadband would be appreciated.
Thanks
Bnev

Jammer

Step One : do a different speed test.

Repeat step one untill such test tells you that you have a 512kbps connection.

They can be trusted, different tests gives different results, depending where the files are loacated/how many other people are using it etc etc

Bluehair

Sounds about right.

512k is a theoretical max between you and the exchange, what you get to various sites on the internet could be either a lot less or not much less.

I just got 428k which is roughly what you'd expect.

diarmo

Downloaded Win2003 Service Pack1 this morning and got an average of 53.5KBytes/s.

53.5 x 8 = 428kbits/s

In my opinion a connection of 50-to-60KBytes/s or 400-to-480Kbit/s is perfectly acceptable for 512k broadband due to error checking and the loss nature of data transmission through a medium other than a superconductor.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

diarmo

About right....if you change 156 kbps to 156 KBytes/s!!!

mang87

double you tee eff


that thing is a bit off... First test I got 245, second test I got 228, then the third I got 398 : /

padraigf

Are you downloading something at the same time?

Or is one of your neighbours enjoying free internet at your expense over your wireless connection perhaps?

mang87

padraigf wrote:

Are you downloading something at the same time?

Or is one of your neighbours enjoying free internet at your expense over your wireless connection perhaps?

Nope, wasn't downloading anything... and no I have the wireless secured. My mothers pc isn't even on... !

Sparky

you could try this speed test to see if its any better
http://www.giganews.com/test_connect.html

qwertz

Your connection is fine. There is always some overhead which is used for controlling the connection. Same as a 100MBit network, you will never have the full bandwith available.