Your ISP advertises a 40 megabit per second connection, but that doesn’t look anything like the download speed you see when you’re grabbing a big file. What’s the deal? Are you not getting all the bandwidth you’re paying for?
Dear How-To Geek,
The package deal I have through my local ISP is for a 40Mb connection (that’s the wording they use). When I download files I get around 4.5-5 (and definitely not 40!) Now… this doesn’t seem to be a big deal, because I can download everything I want pretty quickly, YouTube doesn’t stutter or anything, I never have to wait to load my email or web page, etc. But if I’m paying for a 40Mb connection why am I not getting a 40Mb connection?
There is none. Download speed is the rate at which data is transferred from the Internet to the user’s computer. The upload speed is the rate that data is transferred from the user’s computer to the Internet. Cable companies set the default setting to download faster than upload. Why is my ADSL download speed lower than my upload speed. Ask Question 2. I seem to be getting ~400 Kbps download speed here, and ~700 Kbps upload (yes, they're both rubbish). Does this seem wrong to anyone, and what could be causing it (apart from the 'acceptable' things like distance from exchange etc.). Your upload is faster than your.
Sincerely,
Bandwidth Confused
This speed test will generate random data within your browser, upload the data back to TMN, calculate your upload speed and log your speed test results. TMN ensures your Internet connection is tested thoroughly with large upload tests up to 100 MB. The download speed on your computer may differ from your upload speed as a result of several internal or external influences. The presence of spyware or a. Download should nearly always be faster than upload as the band for upload is much smaller than the band for download. I would reckon that you are quite far from your telephone exchange and live in a busy neighbourhood. Aug 15, 2018 - Learn why your upload speeds are much slower. Information you can pack into them, privileging download over upload is usually better. Why would my wireless Upload speed be 4.5x FASTER than my Download speed? I was getting about 5x faster with DSL. If it helps diagnose, the laptop is using Windows Vista with a Dell 1505 Draft 802.
This is a fun question because it allows us to discuss and clear up a common misconception, and learn a little bit about computer history along the way.
Let’s start by delving back into the history of computer networks. Data transfer over networks has always been measured in bits. A bit is the smallest and most basic unit of measurement in computing and digital communications. Bits are most commonly represented in the binary system, via 0 and 1. Bit, in fact, is a contraction of the the longer phrase “Binary Digit”.
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The speed of a network is denoted using a bit-per-second notation. Originally, networks were so slow that their speed was measured in just bits, but as network speeds increased, we started measuring internet speed in kilobits per second (remember 56k modems? That meant 56 kilobits per second), and now, megabits per second.
Now, here’s where things get confusing for the average non-geeky-Joe. Computer storage is not measured in bits, it’s measured in bytes. A bit, as we’ve established, is the tiniest unit of measurement in the digital kingdom, that primordial 1 or 0. A byte, however, is a unit of digital information that (in many operating systems, including Windows) is eight bits long. Another term, used by computer scientists to avoid confusion over the different size byte structures out there in the world, is octet. In other words, the byte system that your operating system uses is a bunch of bits strung together in groups of eight.
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This difference is where, on the surface, it all seems to fall apart. You see, you have a broadband connection that is capable of 40 megabits per second (under ideal conditions, 40,000,000 bits come down the line). But your operating system and all the apps on it (web browsers, download helpers, torrent clients, etc.) all measure data in megabytes, not megabits. Loudtronix free mp3 download. So when you see that download chugging along at 5MB/s, that means megabytes per second–as opposed to your 40Mb/s, or megabits per second, internet package. (Note the MB vs Mb notation.)
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If we divide the speed of your connection (measured in megabits) by 8, we arrive at something resembling the download speed you’re seeing in your speed tests: 40 megabits divided by 8 becomes 5 megabytes. So yes–if you’re seeing closer to 5 megabytes per second on a 40 megabit plan, you are indeed getting what you pay for (and can even pat yourself on the back because you’re getting downloads speeds consistently at the edge of what your internet package supports).
Keep in mind that not all downloads will max out your connection. Some may be much slower, not because your internet is slow, but because the server you’re downloading the file from is busy or slow.
You can back this up by heading to a site like speedtest.net, which measures your internet speed in megabits, just like your internet provider does. If Speedtest’s results match up with the internet package on your bill, you’re golden. If not, it’s probably time to contact your internet provider and see why you aren’t getting the speeds you pay for.
Have a pressing tech question? Shoot us an email at ask@howtogeek.com and we’ll do our best to answer it.
Internet service providers generally dedicate more bandwidth for downloads than uploads, so any little bit of effort you put in to improve upload speeds can go a long way. Upload speeds are either artificially capped or limited by the technology used in the connection. Speed limitations mean you may have to make the most of what you have. According to PC World, Internet accelerator programs work by caching visited sites and preloading links, neither of which contributes to upload speed improvement.
Although you might be able to have three people downloading content and streaming video at the same time without interrupting each other on a high-speed connection, the same is not true for uploading content. ISPs generally emphasize download bandwidth over upload bandwidth because customers download more content than they upload. This means it's easy to max out your upload bandwidth. You can make the most of the upload bandwidth available by making sure no one else on the network is uploading content at the same time or performing cloud backups, P2P file transfers and large file transfers.
If your ISP has a low upload speed cap, you can improve your upload speed by either upgrading to a higher speed tier or switching to another service provider with a more liberal upload bandwidth allocation. It's common practice to offer several speed tiers over the same network and charge customers more for faster speeds. If you're running a dial-up connection, the upgrade to any broadband provider will dramatically improve upload and download speeds. Additionally, some ISPs offer specialized plans, such as business class programs, that allow for upload speeds closer to download speeds -- these plans are intended for clients that have substantial, regular upload needs.
If you have an Internet connection that has high upload speed and a network that's running an older Wi-Fi or Ethernet standard, your local network can be hindering your upload speed. For example, a wireless-B Wi-Fi network or a 10-base Ethernet network would at best only be able to use half of the bandwidth on a 20Mbps upload connection. The only way to overcome this limitation is to replace the aging network technology. Additionally, devices uploading via Wi-Fi that are located at the edge of the router's range may experience a much weaker connection that will have to resend data frequently because of packet loss (data that didn't make it to the router). Moving the router and uploading device closer together can improve upload speed when there's a weak signal.
Even on a switched network, where each device has dedicated bandwidth, it's possible to interfere with upload speeds by having too much network traffic running through a device. Upload speeds may be affected if other network users are copying large files across the network that originate from the uploading computer. Uploading from a server can be slow because of file requests.