What kind of Internet connection do you have, and what speed can you get with it (down/up)?
If you have dialup only, is this a personal choice or forced on you by local technological limitations (no cable nearby, can’t use satellite because of trees, etc.)?
Do you have any plans to upgrade in the next year or so?
For me, I am lucky to be on a cable feed and subscribe to a 10Mb/sec download, 1Mb/sec upload speed, the fastest currently offered for residential use. Next year the cable company will offer 16Mb/2Mb (for a higher cost, of course). I wish they didn’t have this 10:1 asymetrical arrangement, but if I want more “up” speed, I have to go to a commercial account at about double the rate.
I just tested it and I got 4.27Mbps (half a megabyte per second), which falls short of the potential somewhat, but it depends on the server - sometimes it can be a lot faster than that from a great website (such as Apple).
I have a DSL connection. I’ve forgotten what the up/dn speeds are but, apparently, it’s not considered to be all that fast by current standards. I’ve been told that I could upgrade to one of the faster services and pay less but haven’t gotten around to calling about that yet. Lately though, AT&T has been screwing around with the infrastructure and it’s starting to piss me off. Time Warner may be getting an even bigger chunk of my money if AT&T doesn’t quit monkeying around.
Rogers Cable in Toronto. I’m getting a max of around 7 megabits/second down and 500 kilobits/second up. That’s on their middle-of-the-road $50/month plan. I’ve been on the same plan for a few years, but over time they’ve increased the speed from 3 Mb/s down.
The rich people in the condos downtown have 100 MB/s fibre to their apartments.
I guess when I wrote the OP, I was thinking about expected, advertised or nominal speeds rather than tested ones. You might not get the max if you are on a shared connection (like cable). Here are some speed tests I’ve found useful for actual throughput:
Choosing a server closer to you can make a difference. Also I’ve found that at the higher Internet rates, CPU speeds and other factors in your computer can bite into the data rate. My older computers can’t approach the maximum advertised speeds, but my newer ones get much closer.
Those tests don’t check for latency, which could be a factor for satellite. Anyone know of a free latency test site?
I have a 56K dialup connection and last time I checked, I got about 48-50K download. There’s no DSL or cable here. I don’t know if satellite would work, due to hills and trees. It wouldn’t matter much if satellite did work here, since I don’t think I could afford it. I suspect I won’t be upgrading, since I’m not planning to move.
Heh. At my parents there’s only dial-up available (and satellite, but too expensive for what little they use it for), and I’ve never broken a 36K connection with my desktop. On the other hand, the POS laptop they have there (At least 6, maybe 7 years old now) routinely gets 40k+.
Here, we have a DSL connection, at 3MB down (dunno about up). We can get 6, but I’m not sure that the hubby ever got around to upgrading our package. Whenever the company we’re with upgrades to ADSL2 (which should be relatively soon I think) we’ll be able to get 12.
I’m with a small ISP which fronts for the local public utility. I have their cheapest package (1M down, 128K up), which suits my simple needs; running three of the above tests got me 1.4 - 1.8 down, 189 - 238 up.
At home: PeoplePC dial up at around 36Kbps for $14/mo. Only other reasonable option is the local wireless network co-op at $50/mo + one time membership fee ($100) and putting an antenna 100’ up a tree ($300). This is why you’ll probably never see a post from me after 5:00EST or on weekends.
At work: No idea what they call the connection, but I’m getting 57Mbps download, 12Mbps upload.
At home and my main office both, Integra ADSL 1.5 mbps down, 512 up. Usually measures pretty close to that.
At my other office, 3 T1s bonded together into a 4.5 mbps line, with 8 of the channels being dynamically allocated to voice lines. Usually measure about 4 to 4.2 mbps, up and down.
Australian broadband is DREADFUL. I don’t even know how they’re allowed to call it broadband, to be honest. I am supposed to get about 550kbps down, but it’s actually usually much, much less.
I have a wireless connection (portable but not “mobile”) because my previous ADSL contract ran out at the same time as my marriage did and I didn’t know how often I’d be moving over the next little while. My previous ADSL had similar speeds (maybe even a little worse).
Rogers Cable. Allegedly 5 Mbps down. I’m happy to get 250 kbps.
Edit: I’m being a bit unfair here. 5 Mbps is the peak download rate that they advertise. I am aware that doesn’t translate to getting 5 Mbps sustained.
We don’t have another option, but it’s expensive for what you get. Varies a lot, too. Sometimes we can run internet radio, and other times not so much.
and I didn’t know how often I’d be moving over the next little while. My previous ADSL had similar speeds (maybe even a little worse).