Speed checker?

[Harry56]

I've just upgraded to 10Mb in the full knowledge that I'll never get that speed at any time of the day but hopefully get somewhere reasonably close. However the speed checkers I have on my machine give 2 widely differing figures at 1400hrs today one gave 8.3Mb the other gave 5.6Mb. Does anyone know of a reliable speed checker that gives accurate cable broadband speeds.

Also does it matter if you machine is wirelessly connected to the internet or hard-wired?

[Raistlin]

Thread moved from 'News' section.

Try downloading 2 files from gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk and add your transfer rate toegther

[Harry56]

Originally Posted by darthlinux

Try downloading 2 files from gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk and add your transfer rate toegther

I had to be quick with by calculator but I think I got it to be around 850kb/sec for 1 file and about 180Kb/sec for the second file, so adding them both together gives around 1000Kb/sec which doesn't equate to 10Mb per sec or have I done the maths wrong?

I ask because 1000Kb per second is 1000x1000byts per second as I understand it because the K stands for Kilo which equals 1000, but the speed advertised is 10Mega(10million) bytes per second.

Or have I completely misunderstood the units and prefixes?

if I have misunderstood could someone educate me to the ways of the MB

Max speed on 10mb is 1200Kb/s so your speeds are around 9mb so they are fine mate dont worry

Originally Posted by Harry56

I had to be quick with by calculator but I think I got it to be around 850kb/sec for 1 file and about 180Kb/sec for the second file, so adding them both together gives around 1000Kb/sec which doesn't equate to 10Mb per sec or have I done the maths wrong?

I ask because 1000Kb per second is 1000x1000byts per second as I understand it because the K stands for Kilo which equals 1000, but the speed advertised is 10Mega(10million) bytes per second.

Or have I completely misunderstood the units and prefixes?

if I have misunderstood could someone educate me to the ways of the MB

Have you tried going to this link to check your speeds http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/
click on blueyondergames>demos>then click on at least 2 large files and run them wait a couple of minutes then write down the transfer rates on the files that are running> times them by 8 and you will get a truer download speed.

Originally Posted by whydoIneedatech

Have you tried going to this link to check your speeds http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/
click on blueyondergames>demos>then click on at least 2 large files and run them wait a couple of minutes then write down the transfer rates on the files that are running> times them by 8 and you will get a truer download speed.

He has read the post again lol

[Harry56]

Originally Posted by darthlinux

Max speed on 10mb is 1200Kb/s so your speeds are around 9mb so they are fine mate dont worry

Many thanks for your input here, I'm hoping you could indulge me a tad more?


Is all this to do with the fact that there are 8 bits in a byte?

[CountZer0]

Originally Posted by Harry56

Many thanks for your input here, I'm hoping you could indulge me a tad more?
Clearly i haven't grasped this speed thing.

How can the maximum speed of a 10 million byte per second (10MB/sec) be 1.2MB per second (1200 x 1000) and how can I be that I'm getting 9MB if the max speed is 1.2MB

The speed of the line is in megaBITS not megaBYTES

10megabits = 1.220703125 megabytes.

Does that help?

[Harry56]

Originally Posted by CountZer0

The speed of the line is in megaBITS not megaBYTES

10megabits = 1.220703125 megabytes.

Does that help?

Very much so, thanks. When I see on the screen e.g. 600KB/sec does the B=bits or does the B=bytes?

I think knowing that should seal the understanding of this speed dilemma.

[Stuart W]

The onscreen measurement is in BYTES.

Modems are sold in BITs, speed measured in BYTEs

[Hom3r]

KB = Kilo Bytes

Kb = Kilo Bits

It can get confusing even to those of us you understand computers.

[Stuart W]

Hom3r, though that is indeed correct, it's almost slipped into "rule of thumb" because so many people let word processing software handle too much of their work we see Kb instead of KB and vice versa all over the place.

[Jonathan90]

nettest.virginm.net

[sstainer]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

KB = Kilo Bytes

Kb = Kilo Bits

It can get confusing even to those of us you understand computers.

confusing thats not wrong lol gives me the biggest headache sometimes