ADSL Broadband

[Santaclauseee]

right first off to the moderators sorry but this is the only catogory this fitted into.
Right i have just recently switched broadband from what is now Orange broadband to Tiscali, and i've gone from a 512k connection to 6-8mb connection. My problem is that download speeds are very slow... i did get about  150kb/s, but now im down to 10kb/s and neither of these speeds are around the speed i SHOULD get from 8mb broadband. I was wondering is this whilst the change over is finalised and perfectly normal? or should i be worried?
My internet connection is via BT phone line and i have a netgear wireless router.
kind Regards
Ben

[ctjoyce]

Well usually your download speed has little to do with YOU'RE connection, and more to do with the mirror from which you are downloading. I could have a 30MBps FIOS connection downloading stuff from SimV, however the V has their upload speed locked at 300KBps, so my connection is much faster than what they are allowing, and the rest of my bandwith just sits around doing nothing. The only time your going to notice the increase in speed is online gaming, and P2P downloading. Web surfing is also going to be faster, howerver regular server downloading will be the same, unless the server has an unlimited download rate.

Cheers
Cameron

[Santaclauseee]

I am using p2p, im getting 10kb/s download and 40kb/s upload.... all the time  ???

[ctjoyce]

Well some of that could be because of bandwith locks withen the program. Many people limit their upload speeds to save their bandwith. It sucks but you just have to live with it.

Cheers
Cameron

[Gixer]

Your ISP is highly likely to be the one carrying out the restriction.

They generally restrict the bandwidth with use of P2P programs to prevent everyone slowing the network down to much.  With P2P software I rarely go above 20kb here in the UK and I have tried a few P2P programs.  My ISP is Pipex.

[Santaclauseee]

ummmm doh! wish i was still with orange then! as that gave me my full connection usage. But still having said that with this connection on friday i managed to get 150kb/s speed... thats what made me post this... as it seems to have gone dead over the weekend. HAving done some more reasearch until friday 13th my connection my "raise and lower rapidly"

but thanks Cameron and Gixer for all your help.

[ctjoyce]

That may be true for you, however I get around 200KBPS in P2P or Torrent downloading. It really depends on who is seeding the file.

Cheers
Cameron

[Santaclauseee]

with 200 seeders i cant quiet see how it can go slow....  ;)

[Gixer]

That may be true for you, however I get around 200KBPS in P2P or Torrent downloading. It really depends on who is seeding the file.

Cheers
Cameron

Who you with Cameron? I am thinking of changing ISP soon anyway. I haven't tried using Torrents yet only P2P programs like Edonkey, limewire and Emule. Even with my upload speed set to unlimited I never seem to download fast than 20kb using P2P programs.  I know my connection is fine as from websites I download at 105-115kb and i am still only a 1meg connection.

[ctjoyce]

I have Comcast. Its an american based company. Also if you think that your going to actually get 6MBPS your on crack.

ADSL speeds can reach up to 7.1Mbits/sec downstream and 1.5Mbits/sec upstream at distances up to 12,000 feet from the CO. However, DSL Reports (www.dslreports.com) business editor Nick Braak says not to expect the upper limit. "It's virtually impossible to get 7.1Mbits/sec, even in a lab," says Braak. ADSL gets reined back to rates of 1.5Mbits/sec downstream and 384Kbits/sec upstream after 10,000 feet; as the line approaches 18,000 feet, speeds drop yet further-384Kbits/sec downstream and 128Kbits/sec upstream.

ADSL gets worse and worse the farther away from the terminal you are. Though your paying for 6MBps your line just cant give you that. If you want to insure that speed your going to need a cable or fiber optic connection.

BTW: LimeWire, EMule, etc are all teh suck. Use BitComet, and www.mininova.org

Cheers
Cameron

[Sytse]

If you want to know how fast your connection really is, go to www.speedtest.nl The site is in Dutch, but it doesn't matter. Here's a guide to get you there:

Click on "test suite" (top left corner)

then deselect "Ping test Nederland"

click on "start de geselecteerde tests"

good luck!  :)

[MWISimmer]

Or for UK users try this link:
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/
Select speed test from the menu.
Rob.