# Confused about Cable Internet connection speeds ect. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-cable-internet-connection-speeds-ect/292535 "2005-03-02T02:15:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-cable-internet-connection-speeds-ect/292535/21 "2005-03-04T17:37:18Z")
> [@Duke of Rat](#): > > I have ADSL and my DL speed is 2.3 MB/s according to a bandwidth speed test. Of course my actual file DL rate is only about 350KB/s > > I’m still happy, coming from dial up where I could DL files at 6KB/s Maybe you are confusing mega **bits** and kilo **bytes**? Remember there are 8 bits in a byte. A 2.3 megabit connection would be around a 350 kilobyte download. ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-cable-internet-connection-speeds-ect/292535/22 "2005-03-04T21:38:37Z")
As a pretty serious online gamer, I can tell you that **Mr2001** pretty much hit it on the head with his comments about latency. I find a low latency is much more important that a lot of bandwidth. Just about any speed of broadband with a decent latency will be fine for gaming. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-cable-internet-connection-speeds-ect/292535/23 "2005-03-05T04:35:41Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > No. We all can surf simultaneously. The way I have the router split up, I can have 5 machines running on the same DSL line. Were it not for The Man-Cub gaming, we all would never feel a lag at all. > > I am on the fence in a big way. I almost switched today to Cable Highspeed. Didn’t at the last moment, since the cable person was unable to tell me how many folks are subscribing on the line I will be sharing. I’m in a fairly suburban area, but still- if there is ONE head cable for 10,000 people, I’m kinda screwed. > > Cable always is made out to sound faster than DSL. I’m tempted as heck…but… -twitch- Thats because when your surfing, you spend a relatively short period of time loading pages and long waits in between doing nothing. Playing games OTOH, requires a small but steady stream of data which will block any other computer from accessing the internet… ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-cable-internet-connection-speeds-ect/292535/24 "2005-03-05T05:27:55Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Thats because when your surfing, you spend a relatively short period of time loading pages and long waits in between doing nothing. Playing games OTOH, requires a small but steady stream of data which will block any other computer from accessing the internet… If that small, steady stream of data is blocking every other computer, something’s seriously wrong with your router. I can play Halo 2 online in my living room while my PC is uploading and downloading (say, 30 kbps down and 20 kbps up). The combined data rate is still well below my cable modem’s limit, and my router has no trouble keeping both connections going. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confused-about-cable-internet-connection-speeds-ect/292535.md?page=1)