Getting faster

[StuartR]

...Think Broadband's speed tester seems to be about the only reliable one for download speeds - in the UK, at least...

Think Broadband is a bit slower for me, but not too bad.

[BobH]

Geezzz!

I was relatively happy until I ran my test. Now I'm bummed out because you guys have connections that are so much faster.

[HansV]

Bob, your download speed is decent enough - you should be able to watch video comfortably, without stuttering.
Your upload speed is not very high, but how often do you need to upload huge files?

[VegasNath]

[StuartR]

So long as your download speed is above 2Mb/S you should be able to watch streaming video such as BBC iPlayer.

[VegasNath]

So long as your download speed is above 2Mb/S you should be able to watch streaming video such as BBC iPlayer.

True Stuart, I don't generally have problems with streaming video. I'm surprised that it is so low though, by comparisson to others.

[Argus]

True Stuart, I don't generally have problems with streaming video. I'm surprised that it is so low though, by comparisson to others.

I agree with Hans and Stuart; around 2-5 Mbit/s downstream is enough for a lot of activities; I watched live TV today that took around 0.8-1.0% of 100 Mbit/s, or so it seemed according to the Task manager.

One can only compare with what one is supposed to get, not what other people get; and when and how the test is done.

[BobH]

Thank you, Hans!

I do, on occasion, watch streaming video and don't really have too many problems. I think I'm just envious of the speed. It's kinda like having a perfectly good Merc SL and wanting a Zonda, I suppose.

BTW, what do I need to learn to post the same image that others did of the test results? I did a screen shot then cropped and resized it. Is there a widget that I missed, or something?

[Claude]

Hey Claude, if you do the download I can do the upload.

Ok, I'll download it and email it to you if you think this help

[HansV]

Hi BobH,

StuartR and VegasNath didn't make a screenshot, but posted a link to the image on the test site. The test site makes this easy: you can click a button to place the link on the clipboard, ready to be pasted into a post:

x362.png

[Claude]

True Stuart, I don't generally have problems with streaming video. I'm surprised that it is so low though, by comparison to others.

I regularly watch international TV via Livestation while downloading files and my daughters watching Youtube and the like at the same time, without any problems. Bandwidth is our main concern, we're on a 50Gb / month plan and regularly have to curtail usage towards the end of the month.

[BobH]

Hi BobH,

StuartR and VegasNath didn't make a screenshot, but posted a link to the image on the test site. The test site makes this easy: you can click a button to place the link on the clipboard, ready to be pasted into a post:

x362.png

Thanks, again, Hans!

I tried the link you pointed out but it appeared as a link instead of a graphic on preview. Is there something I must do to have the graphic appear besides just choosing the button?

[Argus]

Not over here. If I press the button and paste the link, from the clipboard, such as:
[­url=http://www.speedtest.net][­img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/[i]some_random_number[/i].png[­/img][­/url]
and preview I get an image and a live link to SpeedTest.net (the first part of the BBCode; one can also use only the bit between [img]...[/img]. You can also copy an old result from the page "Your Results", "Forum link (for most forums)", it the same type.

[BobH]

I'll have to give that a try.

Thank you, Argus!

[Argus]

Hey Claude, if you do the download I can do the upload.

Ok, I'll download it and email it to you if you think this help

Perhaps should use a carrier pigeon for that, or two (nothing wrong with a little redundancy).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roast ... igeo_87420" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oops, sorry, wrong link. Not much use for pigeons after we got broadband. Should have been this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11325452" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Or you could print it and fax it.

[HansV]

Take a look at RFC 1149 - A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers and its extension RFC 2549 - IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service

Please note the date of these protocols

[Bigaldoc]

BTW, what do I need to learn to post the same image that others did of the test results? I did a screen shot then cropped and resized it.

Somewhat of an aside, there are many excellent "screen clip capture" programs out there. Of course, the non-freebie ones seem to provide a bit more than some.

It happens that I've used (as does Hans, I think) for quite some time FastStone Screen Capture and its $20 fee buys a lifetime license. It's an excellent program with many ways to capture, edit and save clips.

I also use their freeware Image Viewer which is excellent as well.

[Argus]

I used (in this thread) the free version of Faststone screen capture, i.e. an older version, and I've been using it since some year or so, thanks to a tip from Stuart-the-OP-in-this-thread.

Indeed a good, simple to use and versatile software; but since they develop the software, and depending on the needs, the lifetime license may be a good choice.

[Bigaldoc]

Internet "speed" is an interesting topic and mostly a failure when trying to talk to an ISP about it. Mine has a list of caveats in their published FAQ that (in my words) says they aren't responsible for anything! Your hardware, software, operating system, TSRs, and on and on... I pay for a 20 Mb/s connection and rarely do I "speed test" at anything close to that, regardless of which test site I use.

My experience tells me that my "realized speed" is almost always much slower in the morning and here's two clips showing an example. The first was done at about 8:44 am local time:

2010-10-20_084422 Fx.jpg

This was done just a short time ago, at about 11:17 an local time:

2010-10-20_111736.jpg

Can't win for losing... I did the earlier one in Fx, IE and Chrome with two different test sites, all running in the "neighborhood" of 5 Mb/s...

[Argus]

Internet "speed" is an interesting topic and mostly a failure when trying to talk to an ISP about it. Mine has a list of caveats in their published FAQ that (in my words) says they aren't responsible for anything!

I'm going to try saying "shibboleth"¹ the next time, if there ever will be one.

1. I.e. take me directly to level 3 or above. http://xkcd.com/806/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seriously, that's really annoying. Given just that little information, one could say that they have to understand that neither hardware nor software or OS changes during the day(!), so it should be obvious that it's their fault. And if one only get 25-30% of the speed before noon, it's time for some renegotiation of the contract, I think, or just say enough, and find another ISP.