Computer Speed

[A.Guest]

Please advise - XP on Broadband - my download speed is 8248Kbps, upload speed 460Kbps

Good or average?

They seem pretty good to me.

[Ethel]

Bet you're paying for 'up to 10gb' - you're getting around 8gb

[terambulan]

mine says 54 Mbps

[Ethel]

Bet that's your router and not your broadband download, terambulan

[ChuckFickens]

If your getting 8248 then thats pretty good for ADSL

my current connection is meant to be upto 8mb and I'm getting about 6, which I'm pretty happy with, I've seen far worse.

terambulan, this will tell you what your internet connection speed is, the 54mps is just the connection between your computer and your router.

http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/

[ChuckFickens]

Though the link isn't working, it is correct, try again later.

[terambulan]

I have broadband Ethel and a wifi laptop; this is the figure I get when the cursor is passed over the icon.

[terambulan]

that page from CF with dials says 312kbps

[ChuckFickens]

Trembulan

The figure that you get when you hover the mouse over the icon is how fast your computer is connected to your wireless router.

How fast your router is connected to the internet is the speed that determines your download speeds.

312 is really bad... I hope it's just the site playing up! it will not even load for me at the moment.

Try this one

http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk/

[A.Guest]

Ethel - yes you are right. I am with Virgin and they have just rolled up to 10gb from 4gbfree of extra charge in my area.

[vehelpfulguy]

Although you say you are getting 8248Kbps (that is 8.25Mbs) that is not a constant speed.

This speed will change over the day as the internet gets busier and quieter.

So if you did the test during the night (when nobody else in your area was using the internet) you may get a better speed, if you did the test at say 7pm in the evening you would get a different (probably worse) speed.

Try running the test a different times of the day, and even different days of the week, to get a "true" measure of your broadband speed.

Note your upload speed is always FAR less than you download speed.

[A.Guest]

Thanks vehelpfulguy - will do that

[Ethel]

vehelpfulguy - would you expect that to apply to virgin cable broadband as I was testing my speed regularly at different times on different days for a study carried out by Computer Active, and my speeds never altered one little bit.

It was exactly the same at 2am on a Wednesday and 10pm on a Friday.

[terambulan]

Download 3229 Upload 223

[ChuckFickens]

Ethel,

Virgin does still have a contention ratio so yes if enough people local to you were using their virgin broadband at the same time at full capacity the speed will (and does) fall.

I've just moved, but did have the 20mb virgin package, my speed used to vary between about 12mb up to about 26mb and it was obviously dependent on the busy times.

although the effect is much less noticeable on virgin and if you happen to live in an area that doesn't have many virgin cable users you may not even get slowdown at all.