ADSL Speed myth or fact?

[Rakker]

Ok im now officialy totally lost and confused! LOL!

Right i have 2 4mb lines from Telkom (Opposite sides of the town) and a 10gb cap from Webafrica (love you guys btw). So i understand that the 4mb is theroetical.... but how exactly do the adsl speeds acctually calculated or read?
(All testing done through www.speedtest.net) (PS all the connections that go through the telkom network are available there)

I have done extensive tests on both of my 4mb ADSL lines as well as used tests on a Wireless/Satelite 384kb connection....... Right this is where i get confused.... He is gettting 350+- physical kb from his connection where i am getting +- 200 to 450 on my 4mb lines..... Now to me this should not be like that!!!

So i hear that the way the lines are that 4mb = 400kb and 512kb line = 52kb. But here is where i am really confused... I am getting upload speeds of 300kb + that means that my upload is running at 3mb???? I think i am safe to say that that is very wrong....

Then the satelite 380kb connection.... (and pays for it according to the speed said) He physically gets 300+ does that mean he is actually getting 3mb out of his line! We have done 100's of tests over the last month or 2... Can some one please tell me what is going on here?

here is a pic i took off of www.speedtest.nethttp://img3.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?5e68cd41e5.jpg

So tell me i am wrong or tell me i am right? But really?!?!?! Y does Telkom advertise it as 4mb line when even if i am only downloading at 450kb - 500kb i am still not downloading *4mb* per second even though you might say 450 might be the max it can go??? *bit of thought for ur brains*
Telkom = False advertising = Likely possible?!?!

PS sometime i will even get a 700kb connection to like london does that then mean i got a 7mb connection to london (for that moment) thats almost double the speed! Dont think that is possible!! Possible on smaller lines but i dont think with such a higher end line from telkom!

 

[Pox]

Be carefull of your bs and Bs. Small b is bits, big B is Bytes. 1Byte = 8Bits. Also 1kb = 1024bits. (which is sometimes ignored by ISPs)

so 4mb = 4096kb = 512kB. This is the possible maximum. It depends on what actual speed your modem is syncing at (could be less) plus there is extra overheads that use up some bandwidth. The maximum on 4mbit is around 415KB/s.

Another point is that ISPs (especially SAIX) shape accounts like crazy. You can get massively different speed to international sites during different times of the day.

 

[Rakker]

Be carefull of your bs and Bs. Small b is bits, big B is Bytes. 1Byte = 8Bits. Also 1kb = 1024bits. (which is sometimes ignored by ISPs)

so 4mb = 4096kb = 512kB. This is the possible maximum. It depends on what actual speed your modem is syncing at (could be less) plus there is extra overheads that use up some bandwidth. The maximum on 4mbit is around 415KB/s.

Another point is that ISPs (especially SAIX) shape accounts like crazy. You can get massively different speed to international sites during different times of the day.

That does shed ALOT of light on my subject!
1 thing still is like now im getting 368KB upload... Does it then mean that im getting 3mb?

 

[milomak]

If it is showing 368kB/s on your uploads, then yes you are uploading at about 3Mbps. If it is showing 368kbps, then no.

 

[PostmanPot]

It would be +-384kbps upload, which is about 40kB/s.

 

[Ekhaatvensters]

That does shed ALOT of light on my subject!
1 thing still is like now im getting 368KB upload... Does it then mean that im getting 3mb?

Actually it doesn't, the speeds you are getting (on speedtest.net) are in kbps, i.e. the theoretical max of your line is 4096kbps.

The thing is those speed tests are single threaded, and will usually give you much lower speeds that what you will actually get browsing and downloading files. Try a local speed test to see what your line is actually capable of. Then try a download from a good international server with a download manager.