Connection speed?

[crazy legs]

I have a wireless adapter for my broadband and it says 54Mbps, which I assume is megabites per second, but when I downloaded a game(33 Mb) it took 2 mins. Can any1 explain this. Thanks.

[Ethel]

I shall try:

Your router is transferring data from your modem to your laptop at 54mbps.

But the modem is downloading from the web at a different rate - for a variety of reasons. So the router has to 'wait' for the data to arrive.

[vehelpfulguy]

The 54Mbps is MEGA BITS per second. So 54 million BITS per second.

The 33Mb is MEGA BYTES. So 33 million BYTES

So you are comparing BITS and BYTES.

There are 8 bits in one byte. A "bit" is a zero or one that make up all binary computer data.

Also note that although the speed may say 54Mbps it is very unlikely you will ever reach that. That is a "best ever" speed with everything perfect.

The download speed can also depend on the total load on the interent at the time AND the speed of the computer you are downloading it from.

You can only download it as fast as the other computer can upload it.

[fo3nix]

54Mbits = 6.75MBytes.

at that rate, it would take about 6 seconds to download your game.

however, that wireless adapter is connected to your internet line, which may only be 4Mbits. This is 0.5MBytes. This means it would actually take 66 seconds to download your game.

getting more towards your actual speed now...

all these numbers are maximum throughput numbers. when transfering data (like your game), you're transfering more than just that. you also have all the extra details that go with the protocol you're using (HTTP, probably). also, there will be some losses on the line.

a half-decent approximation is to multiple your speed by 0.7 (allowing for these losses etc.), thus giving you a download speed of 0.35Mbytes. This is just over a minute and a half of downloading.

add to all that the fact that the server you're downloading the game from is probably serving other people, so can't send you the data as fast as you can receive it. hence, it'll be even slower than that.

that's why it took you 2mins.