The actual download speed

Arclite · 2 Dec 2009 at 15:38

Please correct me if im wrong which i think im. I always thought that the speed given by your ISP is the speed at which the connection is established between the isp and your computer and whatever remains you get as the download speed. So the higher the speed at which you connect at, the higher the download speed you would get.

Now, if i carry out the speed test (speedtest.net) i get just over 3mb download speed. I do not understand this because i never have downloaded anything at 3mb, my usual download speed from the internet is about 350-400kbps. So, does it mean what i said above is true or is there something seriously wrong with my speed?

Thanks

CBJ · 2 Dec 2009 at 15:46

Are you mixing up bits and bytes? A line speed of 3 megabits per second should give you around 384 kilobytes per second of download.

Souljacker · 2 Dec 2009 at 15:47

Nope, that's about right.

It's a bit of a con. 3mb in terms of internet speeds actually means 3 megabits. 1 megabit is about 125 kbps, so yep, that's about right!

thepeganator · 2 Dec 2009 at 15:51

8bits = 1byte.

Plus overheads.

Sucks really.

Arclite · 2 Dec 2009 at 15:54

Thanks guys, i was mixing it up but not sure i was thinking on the lines of bytes and bits but anyway thanks for info.

magicroundabout · 2 Dec 2009 at 16:37

Souljacker said:
Nope, that's about right.

It's a bit of a con. 3mb in terms of internet speeds actually means 3 megabits. 1 megabit is about 125 kbps, so yep, that's about right!

so my 50mb gives me roughly 6.25mbps download.

DragonQ · 2 Dec 2009 at 18:06

You should try to add the units correctly to avoid confusion:

b = bits
B = bytes (8 bits)
K = kilo (1000x) [note: a small "k" is used everywhere outside computing]
Ki = kibi (1024x)
M = mega (1000000x)
Mi = mebi (1048576x)

For some reason a forward slash is used as "per" when talking in terms of bytes, whereas a "p" is used when talking about bits. I think this is just convention and not a rule.

So a 50Mbps connection means up to 6.25MB/s or 5.96MiB/s maximum (before overheads). Saying "50mb gives me roughly 6.25mbps" is just confusing and doesn't make sense.

tolien · 2 Dec 2009 at 18:16

A slash is usual in most units which feature some division, like metres per second (m/s), unless you feel like using powers (m s^-1) but that looks stupid typed unless you're using something like LaTeX that'll make it look right.

Using the p does make it more clear, especially given how easy it is to flip the case on a b, which you're meaning.