# 4.8 MB/s
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 11, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779 "2010-12-11T14:13:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/1 "2010-12-11T14:13:08Z")
Have direct satelite at my condo (the satelites are on the roof of the building or whatever, we just have it wired through our condos) - only been here about 5 months or so. Anyway, I hit 4.8 MB/s downloading from Steam today and it’s been holding in the 4 - 4.5 range. I’ve always thought the sped here was good, but I hadn’t really seen much over 1.2 or so, I guess it was just base don the uploader…
Regardless, I’m quite happy. Civ 5 looks like it will only take about 12 to 15 minutes to download 🆒
eta: touched 5.0
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/2 "2010-12-12T12:14:18Z")
What’s your upload rate like? My mom has Wild Blue satellite and she gets DSL download speeds and dialup upload speeds. Then again she only has the download on the dish so upload uses an actual dialup modem.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/3 "2010-12-12T12:28:55Z")
I’ve been playing LOTRO for a few days. It took me slightly over a full couple of days to download the program. Enjoy your speed.
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/4 "2010-12-13T03:37:13Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#):
>
> What’s your upload rate like? My mom has Wild Blue satellite and she gets DSL download speeds and dialup upload speeds. Then again she only has the download on the dish so upload uses an actual dialup modem.
Upload is pretty sweet. Around 300-400 k/s.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/5 "2010-12-13T05:57:46Z")
Megabytes / sec? That’s pretty damned fast. Which provider does that? I’d love to get something like FiOS out here but it’s not offered; if there’s a satellite provider…
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/6 "2010-12-13T06:16:41Z")
The only inherent detriment of satellite play is the lag. Longer ping times mean that live multiplayer is more difficult.
Of course, none of that is relevant for a turn-based game like Civ5. It’s just background so I can ask: how are your pings? Try something like [speedtest.net](http://speedtest.net).
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/7 "2010-12-13T06:27:43Z")
At school I get 1.0Gb/s. Or maybe GB-- I’ll have to double check. Either way it’s smokin’.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/8 "2010-12-13T06:44:11Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#):
>
> (the satelites are on the roof of the building or whatever, we just have it wired through our condos)
Actually, the satellites are orbiting the earth.
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/9 "2010-12-13T19:02:57Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> Actually, the satellites are orbiting the earth.
I think they store the extras on our roof 🙂
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/10 "2010-12-14T01:39:03Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> The only inherent detriment of satellite play is the lag. Longer ping times mean that live multiplayer is more difficult.
>
> Of course, none of that is relevant for a turn-based game like Civ5. It’s just background so I can ask: how are your pings? Try something like [speedtest.net](http://speedtest.net).
Sppedtest results:
[ ](https://www.speedtest.net/result/1069741373.png)
seems good to me 😛
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/11 "2010-12-14T01:45:30Z")
I have 25Mb/sec down, 5 up thru Charter cable. Couldn’t live with anything less, but that’s the best Charter offers on a residential account. Right now I have 60 hours of data waiting in my FTP queue to transfer, and 5Mb is _slow_ when a typical file is 2GB.
Maybe I’d better move to Finland.
> [@Darth\_Panda](#):
>
> Anyway, I hit 4.8 MB/s downloading from Steam today and it’s been holding in the 4 - 4.5 range.
My guess is that’s bits, not Bytes. At 10:1, (Bytes:bits) that’s significant.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/12 "2010-12-14T01:52:34Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> I have 25Mb/sec down, 5 up thru Charter cable. Couldn’t live with anything less, but that’s the best Charter offers on a residential account. Right now I have 60 hours of data waiting in my FTP queue to transfer, and 5Mb is _slow_ when a typical file is 2GB.
>
> Maybe I’d better move to Finland.
>
> My guess is that’s bits, not Bytes. At 10:1, (Bytes:bits) that’s significant.
Isn’t it 8:1?
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/13 "2010-12-14T05:59:33Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> I have 25Mb/sec down, 5 up thru Charter cable. Couldn’t live with anything less, but that’s the best Charter offers on a residential account. Right now I have 60 hours of data waiting in my FTP queue to transfer, and 5Mb is _slow_ when a typical file is 2GB.
>
> Maybe I’d better move to Finland.
>
> My guess is that’s bits, not Bytes. At 10:1, (Bytes:bits) that’s significant.
Nope. Look at the speedtest results. He’s got a 27.17 Megabit download and a smoking 32.90 megabit upload.
And, what surprises me the most is the 27 millisecond ping. That’s better ping than I’ve ever had, even at college.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/14 "2010-12-14T08:44:48Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> I have 25Mb/sec down, 5 up thru Charter cable. Couldn’t live with anything less, but that’s the best Charter offers on a residential account. Right now I have 60 hours of data waiting in my FTP queue to transfer, and 5Mb is _slow_ when a typical file is 2GB.
I must say, i’m constantly amazed at the amount of bandwidth some people seem to need.
And it’s not like i’m some luddite making do with dial-up. I test at about 15-25Mbits down (depending on time of day), and about 4-5Mbits up, and on quite a few sites, when downloading, i can’t even max out the connection because the servers i’m connected to don’t deliver their files quickly enough. Even someone streaming Netflix HD content won’t need more than about 7Mb to get a steady picture with no delays or buffering lags.
I’m a pretty heavy user of the internet, both in terms of time spent online and in terms of the number of files i download and upload (i have a 5GB webspace where i put a bunch of stuff). I use much more than most of my friends. And, right now, i literally can’t imagine needing more bandwidth that i’ve got.
> [@Cisco](#):
>
> Isn’t it 8:1?
Yep.
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### Author:  [@giddyonup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/giddyonup)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/15 "2010-12-14T10:19:54Z")
Is this good?
[ ](https://www.speedtest.net/result/1070138488.png)
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/16 "2010-12-14T13:43:09Z")
> [@Cisco](#):
>
> Isn’t it 8:1?
Strictly speaking, it is (8 bits = 1 byte). But that’s without accounting for overhead and other factors that greatly affect the true throughput. So I just use the 10:1 ratio as an easy-to-compute estimate. I can divide or multiply by 10 faster than 8, and it’s close enough.
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> I must say, i’m constantly amazed at the amount of bandwidth some people seem to need.
I’m not saying my needs are typical. I have to transfer MPG video files from/to TV stations and producers. A typical 1-hour play time file is 1 to 3 GB, and I may have to download it from one source and upload it to another.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/17 "2010-12-14T14:59:51Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> I’m not saying my needs are typical. I have to transfer MPG video files from/to TV stations and producers. A typical 1-hour play time file is 1 to 3 GB, and I may have to download it from one source and upload it to another.
Actually, that was what i suspected.
I assumed that your needs were not those of a typical recreational internet user, and that they were directly connected with your work. But if your bandwidth needs are those of a business, it does seem somewhat churlish to complain about the speed of what you admit is a residential account. ISPs offer business lines precisely for that reason, and if the speed and amount of transfer is that critical to making a living, maybe you should consider one.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-8-mb-s/563779/18 "2010-12-14T16:27:10Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> ISPs offer business lines precisely for that reason, and if the speed and amount of transfer is that critical to making a living, maybe you should consider one.
There are no available funds for this. We get by with what we have.