Page 1 of Broadband true speeds

At present I have the standard 56K V92 modem and I am considering trying broadband. Prior to doing so is the much publicised 10X (APP) speed dependant on the site you are downloading from. I realise traffic bandwidth ? etc, will affect rates .
If the site or P2P, Winmx etc, is a simple 56K connection then how is it possible to download at the speeds Telewest reps claim.
The only analogy I can use is this.
If I have a bucket filled with water and pour the water as fast as is humanly possible into another bigger bucket , how can the fact that I am pouring the water into a bigger bucket make any difference to the rate I am pouring it at. I realise the analogy is a bit silly or naive but TBH I would hate to subscribe to a broadband connection only to realise that I am not necessarily going to get the 10X download rate and that there are restrictions which seriously affect the rates.

Choagy :-)

Start here :

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/howitworks/

and then read the rest of that site :-)

Moved to PC Forum

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Moderator
DVD Reviewer

Cheers Clayts.

Choagy :-)

Downloading from P2P does depend on the other users, and as more people get online with broadband it will get faster. I`m quite happy to share and reguarly see my upload speed showing approx 30KB/s. However when downloading things like drivers, software or demos from websites I reguarly get 60-70KB/s, far more than 10X the 3.5 -4 KB/s I used to get on a dial up connection. As you suspect the weakest link is going to be the slowest connection somewhere along the line, this could be your broadband, it could be someone elses dial up link.

But after about 18 months on Pipex DSL I would never go back. Loading a page in 5 seconds rather than 30 is something I couldnt do without now. I stayed at my parents a few weeks ago and only went online once in 10 days as they only have dial up and I just couldnt be bothered with the hassle. Even just for checking mail it is so much more convienient to open Outlook, see in just a few seconds if I have mail and disconnect, or to even leave Outlook running constantly and just pick up my mail after work. Of course I have a firewall and Antivirus running at all times.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 28th May 2003, 19:00

Broadband is definitely worth it - if you`re a frequent user of the internet - whether just surfing or P2P apps. The claimed ten times quicker depends on numerous factors from line to time/servers etc - but it is blazingly quick in comparison to dial up. I use it to transfer large files for work and can transfer files that I needed previously to post.
On your bucket analogy - for P2P apps. your computer will pick up several sources (if available of a file) some may be dial up some broadband - so hence people get a 40/50 connection where the `up` pipe from another user is only 30 - because the file is taken from multiple users.
One final point - if taking broadband - it is easy to fit - so buy your own modem/filters etc can save you £50. Check ADSLGUIDE for comparisons of ISPs - you can get it for as little as £18/19 now.

Regards,
Big Fat Billy