Speed of Broadband

[chris ashdown]

I have a 512 broadband connection

How can I find out what speed my connection really is as over the last few days its got really slow. with dialup you had a indication on the windows icon.

Using Customnet.co.uk by the way

[Bob Isaac]

Lots of things can cause slow data transfer. Because you have a 512K connection does not mean you will always have X10 speed over 56K dial-up. Bottle necks in the system will cause a slow down as will heavy traffic, especially on a busy server or network.

You can check your connection here:

http://www.adslguide.org/tools/speedtest.asp

Bob

[chris ashdown]

Many thanks bob a handy check

It was just that all friday afternoon and all Saturday it felt like a 56k service but today its back to 480k according to that test and looks about normal

Guess they had some problems they never told me about

Thanks

[fleetwood]

nice link Bob - thanks

I too had often wondered how tell what speed you are getting.
We recently signed up to BT's offer to increase speed from 512 to 2MB at same price provided you signed a new 12 month contract. Must admit to being rather sceptical about them forcing a new 12 mth commitment on me, but understand why they want me roped in as there is clearly a price war brewing.

On running Bobs test, looks like I am getting about 50% upstream speed at around 950Kbps. On a Sunday, I would have expected more!

Martin

[Bob Isaac]

One thing I found was causing a problem was that my router was plugged into an upstairs phone extension and the wiring was causing a drop. When I plugged the router into the main phone inlet box the signal improved.

Having been turned down by BT for upgarding from 512K to 2Mb I found that the phone cables in my area are aluminium not copper. Great!

Now there is all the hype about ADSL2+, I think they should concentrate on getting everyone up to 1Mb or 2Mb first.

Bob

[Mike Hughes]

I'm with Bt and went from 512K to 2M without having to sign a new contract or amke any new commitment. Maybe that only applies if you're still within the original 12 month contract.

In terms of upstream speed, 980Kbps sounds a bit optimistic to me. My DSL modem is reporting connection speeds of 2272 downstrean and 288 upstream. I'd have thought that was fairly standard.

Mike

[fleetwood]

Mike - my mistake, the 950Kbps was downstream, which is why I was unimpressed.
As far as the contract is concerned, I had to tick a box when making the upgrade via their website, to agree to T&C which included that this would be the start of a brand new 12 month commitment (the existing contact had been running longer than 12 months).

Martin

[Synchro]

I hate 12 month contracts, I really do. I have heard they are very rare on the continent, most are 3 or 4 months?
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[webyourbusiness]

up and down vary enormously, and you'll almost never get your upload close to your download - no matter WHAT they tell you...

My office connection..
2,846 Kbps Download Size: 995,974 bytes
356 KBytes per second Download Time: 2.73 secs

My home connection:
1,377 Kbps Download Size: 995,974 bytes
172 KBytes per second Download Time: 2.73 secs

now I've tested them higher, but upload an download are almost always in about the same proportion.... so I've seen my home download at high as 1.9mbps down and my upload at about 270kbps - they're almost never out of proportion... but it did happen a couple of times....

My home connection is supposed to go as high as 4mbps though... yeah - right!