From what I saw on posts last night the provider speed should be a minimum. I guess I should watch which posts I read
Most ISP's consider the advertised speed to be a "cap"; so you can get
up to xMB/s, etc. At least, that is how it works in Australia; it
may be different where you live, although since it's still cable, and since cable works the same way in any country, I'm inclined to think it would be a similar system. With that said, I could very well be wrong -- there's a first time for everything, right?
For the modem I works like it did 10 years ago, I figure being 10 years old there has to be better technology in them by now.
Sounds reasonable to me. You've definitely gotten your moneys worth out of that modem, so an upgrade wouldn't hurt.
Occasionally sites like google take a few seconds to come up but not horribly long, just a little longer than the immediate google we are used to.
What Internet browser do you use?
I notice most of the speed issues from downloading files, 15-50K once in a while I get one up to about 110K and rarely up to 600-625. I know where are a lot of variables in downloading (server sending file, number of hops to server, equipment in the lines, etc) but I think downloading regularly at less than 100-125K on a 8 meg line seems slow.
The hard part about downloads is that often times, as you mentioned, it is actually the server limiting the rate at which you can download a file. However, like you say, those speeds are quite low. What sites do you usually download from? Have you tried using a download manager?
On the speed test, the download speed was 6748 and the upload speed was 536.
Here is what you asked to be copied and pasted:
Was that 6748 KB/s, or kbps? I hope it was the first
It is normal for cable speeds to vary depending on the time of day (READ: depending on how many people in your area are online). You could try doing speed tests at different times of the day, to see if this is the issue (i.e. before 7:00am and after 10:00pm). The downside to cable Internet is that you are, in fact, sharing your ISP's bandwidth with everyone in your neighborhood / general area (including cable TV users). Because of this, your ISP limits the amount of bandwidth any one modem receives, depending on how many users are active. Another factor that determines how much bandwidth you receive is what sort of plan you are on (READ: how much you are paying them
). So, if you were to upgrade to the 10meg plan, then it is likely that you would receive a slightly larger chunk of the bandwidth (at a slightly higher priority) -- however, whether or not it would be worth the extra cost is debatable.
To be honest, I don't think the 10meg plan would boost your download speeds alarmingly, since it doesn't seem to me like you're actually using the full 8meg at any one time. My recommendation would be to use some form of Download Manager, as these programs split your connection into multiple segments and download different parts of a file at the same time, which will allow you to use more of your 8MB/s than you currently are. Also, depending on what Internet browser you are using, you can perform tweaks to boost the rate at which Internet content is requested/acquired.
Let me know what you think.
- Dan
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