Know your internet speed!

[Chaos Black]

I'm forever handling calls where my customers are frustrated that their 50Mbps broadband is only downloading 6MB when downloading a game.

That is because, the speed your broadband provider provides is in what we call Megabits and your devices could be downloading in what we call Megabytes!

To fully understand this you need to know the different between the two. When you take out a broadband package you'll see your speed followed by 'Mbps' this represents how many Megabits you are going to get on average, your provider should also give you your Megabits speed as a stay fast guarantee so you're guaranteed the speed.

Your file size will be in Megabytes or Gigabytes, to understand how long a download could actually take it's about knowing how many Megabits there are in a Megabyte.

There are 1000 Megabytes (MB) to 1 Gigabyte (GB).

There are 8 Megabits to 1 Megabyte, so when I get people asking why they are only getting 6MB download on their device, I advise them about how Megabits converts to Megabytes.
Your devices will show the file sizes before you download in MB or GB, but some game consoles show the download as it's being download in Megabits per second as the file is being downloaded, for example the Xbox One is good with this, it'll show you how much is being downloaded in Megabits, making it easier for you so you don't have to convert it into Megabytes. This happens live as the file is downloading.

However, some devices will show you the amount being downloaded each second in Megabytes so you could easily see 2 Megabytes per second if your speed is 16 Megabits per second.

That's another thing too, your line speed differs from the WiFi speed, it does drop the further away you are from your hub, so you could get a line speed of 16Mbps and then over WiFi only be getting 1.5 Megabyte per second.

1 Megabyte isn't bad if you're just streaming Netflix as the minimum is 2 Megabits per second for a standard video I believe, but as internet becomes more demanding with newer devices it's good to check your getting the Megabytes that actually suit your need.

So I hope this helps when you're next shopping around for a new broadband package, just remember, there is 8Mbps to 1MB (8 Megabits to 1 Megabyte) - 1000MB to 1GB (1000 Megabytes to 1 Gigabyte) & 8000Mb to 1 GB!

Always remember, the small lowercase b is Megabits and the big capital B is Megabytes!

 

[apathy's icon apathy apathy]

good post my dude, its always bugged me that ISPs use Mb over MB, when MB is universally used elsewhere. i've always suspected the reason is because Mb will be a higher number so it sounds like you're getting way more than you really are >_>

 

[Chaos Black]

good post my dude, its always bugged me that ISPs use Mb over MB, when MB is universally used elsewhere. i've always suspected the reason is because Mb will be a higher number so it sounds like you're getting way more than you really are >_>

Ahaha aye that is definitely why they do it and cheers buddy!!  :-* :-*

I wasn't even trained on the different between a Megabyte and a Megabit, I just eventually learned it. So for ages I was telling all my customers, Megabytes for a download speed what would be 50Mbps.  : XDD

 

[Nova]

This is one reason I dont trust the network widgets on most of those speed test websites. Because they can show you 10MB line but in reality they could be not even sending like 1MB download to you.

 

[Empire]

Doing your research and knowing what's there and what's the best is a big deal. Yet at times you may not have a choice. Also the hardware you use in your home network can help. I'm on the highest in my area and what makes my speeds even greater that I'm on a $200 gaming router and fast modem.

Just wish at times it's not going down as much. At least I can stream/game and download and not lose many pancakes lines     

 

[Claraviolet]

It's just 2MBPS here.
I tried to get another connection but it wouldn't work much. Well I use mobile data all the time

 

[Chaos Black]

It's just 2MBPS here.
I tried to get another connection but it wouldn't work much. Well I use mobile data all the time

That must be hard to deal with, Data isn't cheap. Broadband poverty is awful up and down the UK, the government seriously neglect those in rural areas, but there are even parts of Central London that can't get fibre because of the logistics of the London Underground, this is where it's easy for mobile providers to cash in. I'd say Giff Gaff and Three give reasonable deals for unlimited mobile data, but they have fair usage policy BS which means you'll never get the same bandwith as someone who is with fixed telephone line BB. BT give people unlimited bandwith for example. Giff Gaff will cripple your speeds after 80GB has been downloaded within a one month period. Companies like BT will never cripple your speeds however.

Are you based in the UK? If so if you're comfortable to do so if you give me your postcode I could look into any fibre projects and/or fibre solutions in your area? If you're happy for me to take a look for you then private message me your postcode and house name or number and I'll look into it for you. (Fibre Broadband allows for much faster speeds - solutions don't always have to be on a fixed telephone line or Virgin Media)

I tend to spend most of my day helping people who yell at me find better broadband if they can't get it on the telephone network and/or if Virgin Media are not in their area. So I'm more than happy to help someone on here find something more suitable.

If you're not based in the UK then I'll be powerless to provide any further help though. :v

 

[Claraviolet]

That must be hard to deal with, Data isn't cheap. Broadband poverty is awful up and down the UK, the government seriously neglect those in rural areas, but there are even parts of Central London that can't get fibre because of the logistics of the London Underground, this is where it's easy for mobile providers to cash in. I'd say Giff Gaff and Three give reasonable deals for unlimited mobile data, but they have fair usage policy BS which means you'll never get the same bandwith as someone who is with fixed telephone line BB. BT give people unlimited bandwith for example. Giff Gaff will cripple your speeds after 80GB has been downloaded within a one month period. Companies like BT will never cripple your speeds however.

Are you based in the UK? If so if you're comfortable to do so if you give me your postcode I could look into any fibre projects and/or fibre solutions in your area? If you're happy for me to take a look for you then private message me your postcode and house name or number and I'll look into it for you. (Fibre Broadband allows for much faster speeds - solutions don't always have to be on a fixed telephone line or Virgin Media)

I tend to spend most of my day helping people who yell at me find better broadband if they can't get it on the telephone network and/or if Virgin Media are not in their area. So I'm more than happy to help someone on here find something more suitable.

If you're not based in the UK then I'll be powerless to provide any further help though. :v

Sorry I am from India.
Usually it's really hard for me to work from home thanks to this. Even my client VPN wouldn't connect sometimes

 

[Chaos Black]

Sorry I am from India.
Usually it's really hard for me to work from home thanks to this. Even my client VPN wouldn't connect sometimes

India is awesome! :D

A lot of my colleagues are based in India, always nice when we have a chat on the phone.

Aye you'll find a VPN struggling to connect on those speeds, optimal speed for VPN if the VPN server is of good quality is 5Mbps, lower end VPN's still struggle with anything less than 30Mbps. (But this one is actually just my opinion, not fact.)

 

[Smokey]

My speeds are stupid good. I get 940mb/s down and 880mb/s up. Gotta love gigabit internet!

 

[Chaos Black]

My speeds are stupid good. I get 940mb/s down and 880mb/s up. Gotta love gigabit internet!

Wow that's really awesome! We're just getting into Gigabit internet here too, I can get it at mine but the employee discount doesn't cover it ahahaha, so I just get 150Mbps as that way I just pay the line rental at £20.20 to keep it cheap, but I reckon £20.20 for 150Mbps is good.

I think BT sell their Gigabit for like £60, is it worth the price of entry would you say?

 

[Smokey]

Wow that's really awesome! We're just getting into Gigabit internet here too, I can get it at mine but the employee discount doesn't cover it ahahaha, so I just get 150Mbps as that way I just pay the line rental at £20.20 to keep it cheap, but I reckon £20.20 for 150Mbps is good.

I think BT sell their Gigabit for like £60, is it worth the price of entry would you say?

It could be, my provider is Verizon Fios as I'm US-based. I pay for a package deal of phone, internet and tv all together and the upgrade from the 150/150 plan I was on to what I got now was only an extra $15 a month. Kinda a no-brainer.

 

[Chaos Black]

It could be, my provider is Verizon Fios as I'm US-based. I pay for a package deal of phone, internet and tv all together and the upgrade from the 150/150 plan I was on to what I got now was only an extra $15 a month. Kinda a no-brainer.

Aye yeah I agree sounds like good value for money that.

 

[Oblivion Knight]

I know this thread isn't strictly about showing off Internet connection speeds, but I couldn't resist showing you what I'm getting at work (bearing in mind I'm in the UK).. ? If only my Internet at home was as good.



..imagine all of the downloading I could do! ?

 

[Chaos Black]

I know this thread isn't strictly about showing off Internet connection speeds, but I couldn't resist showing you what I'm getting at work (bearing in mind I'm in the UK).. ? If only my Internet at home was as good.



..imagine all of the downloading I could do! ?

Wow yeah that's really good. I've never seen upload speed so good before! I guess if it's business broadband your work probably needs it though.

BT do 900Mbps broadband packages now in certain areas, where I am I can get 900Mbps, I only get 200Mbps because it does nicely for me and I find the downloads on the speed I get really fast still.
I think Virgin Media do Gigabit packages now? But I've had bad experiences with them and their fibre to the home network is way older than BT's.

Problem is I guess is most of the UK still can't get ultrafast broadband speeds ahaha, most areas still I believe get a UK average of 50Mbps.

 

[Smokey]

I know this thread isn't strictly about showing off Internet connection speeds, but I couldn't resist showing you what I'm getting at work (bearing in mind I'm in the UK).. ? If only my Internet at home was as good.



..imagine all of the downloading I could do! ?

Not bad!

 

[Zack_puffs's iconZack_puffs]

Great effort at informational post man. This has been super helpful to understand the difference between Mbps and MB. Usually, this is a very minute difference that is often overlooked by most people or people are simply unaware of the difference. One small thing I would add is the website speedtest.net, once you understand the difference you can use this website to check both downloading and unloading speed. ??

 

[Heatman]

I know this thread isn't strictly about showing off Internet connection speeds, but I couldn't resist showing you what I'm getting at work (bearing in mind I'm in the UK).. ? If only my Internet at home was as good.



..imagine all of the downloading I could do! ?

Wow! This is very good. I'm not even getting 100 Mbps which completely sucks. I have to stay awake deep at night to get something close to 100 Mbps.

 

[Dizzle]

Well going off the other share, I ran my download and upload speeds as well. I'm also working from home online and streaming music, don't know if/how much that affects it?

 

[Heatman]

Well going off the other share, I ran my download and upload speeds as well. I'm also working from home online and streaming music, don't know if/how much that affects it?

View attachment 2580

Even with all that you're connected to, your internet is still very fast. Your streaming will hardly be interpreted.