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Harry56
09-07-2008, 15:32
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
09-07-2008, 15:34
Thread moved from 'News' section.

xspeedyx
09-07-2008, 15:49
Try downloading 2 files from gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk and add your transfer rate toegther

Harry56
09-07-2008, 16:09
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:confused:

xspeedyx
09-07-2008, 16:28
Max speed on 10mb is 1200Kb/s so your speeds are around 9mb so they are fine mate dont worry

whydoIneedatech
09-07-2008, 16:31
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:confused:

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.

xspeedyx
09-07-2008, 16:33
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
09-07-2008, 16:48
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
09-07-2008, 16:52
Many thanks for your input here, I'm hoping you could indulge me a tad more?
Clearly i haven't grasped this speed thing. :dunce:

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 :confused:

The speed of the line is in megaBITS not megaBYTES

10megabits = 1.220703125 megabytes.

Does that help?

Harry56
09-07-2008, 17:13
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
09-07-2008, 17:17
The onscreen measurement is in BYTES.

Modems are sold in BITs, speed measured in BYTEs

Hom3r
09-07-2008, 17:22
KB = Kilo Bytes

Kb = Kilo Bits

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

Stuart W
09-07-2008, 17:25
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
09-07-2008, 17:36
nettest.virginm.net

sstainer
09-07-2008, 17:42
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

Harry56
09-07-2008, 21:12
Thanks to those who have cleared this up for me, it's appriciated and I've found something that is more confusing that quantum physics! Who'd have thought the difference between b & B would be so much!

Thanks
H56

Harry56
11-07-2008, 14:15
Postscript:

Last night at approx 8pm I downloaded two MP3 podcasts from the LBC site and the approx download speed of each file was 500KB/sec, so if I have understood all the above correctly this equates to a download speed of 8MB per sec? Yes?

Martyn
11-07-2008, 16:07
damn your lucky to get that speed, i get 1.2mb per download for aprox 2 minutes then it automaticly cuts me down to 230kbs.. which is bollox, already called ntl complaining thinking about leaving, soon going to make a pentition about this.

---------- Post added at 15:07 ---------- Previous post was at 15:04 ----------

on the phone to nice chap gave me the url for http://speedtest.d04.net

sorted my issue, but again not even 10 minuets later