Full ADSL bandwidth on 384k line?

SlowHands

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Ok so the wonderful people from Telkom actually came yesterday morning to install my line. I was gonna go for the 192k line, but decided to rather take the 384k line, as it's simple to see that it's just plain more value for money...

I did a speed test here and I got a download speed of 52.4kb/sec...is that correct?

Sorry if it seems like a stupid question, but I'm very new to ADSL.

Regards
SlowHands
 
2 things, they might have been slow to actually limit you to 384k which does happen.. or they installed 512k and might bill you at 512k..

Its up to you, notify them to make sure you dont get billed or take the freebee and hope they dont notice it.
 
This happened to me personnally: I applied for a ADSL line at my home. My company pays for my phone (because it is used for support). I applied for a 192 but because the phone account is in the name of a business a Business 512 was installed and billed for. I was not warned that this was going to be the case. But I must say, I find the speed very useful and so I did not complain about the change.

You might want to check that this is not the case with your ADSL installation. Is your phone account for a home user or a company?
 
Then again, I applied for a 384k, and got 512k. Been like that for almost 6 months now.
 
The same happened to me (applied for a 384, got a 512), and they billed me for a 512k line.

I lodged a dispute and was downgraded and duly credited.
 
I think that u do actually have a 384 line, your speeds will always be inflated for the first week or two until telkom sorts you out. you should be getting +/- 40 KB/s on a 384. People on a 512 line gets your kinda speeds.
 
well download a file as opposed to a speed test and check when it bottoms out should start off at over 100 and drop to around 39 or so
 
I have the same thing, been 3 weeks roughly now... getting a lovely constant 50kbps but don't tell them about it ;) And i received my phone bill, was charged for a 384, so if they stuffed up. Not my Problem :D
 
Okay, remember, the speed test is local, so the probability of your 384k hitting 52kb/s is highly likely. Do a couple of tests and see how it averages out.

The "max" it should go is around 48kb/s, but it's possible to get a bit higher than that at times (a spike or two) and that the test could have been wrong.

Remember, with 512k, you should be seeing around 64kb/s in bandwidth (especially locally)
 
noone said:
Okay, remember, the speed test is local, so the probability of your 384k hitting 52kb/s is highly likely. Do a couple of tests and see how it averages out.

The "max" it should go is around 48kb/s, but it's possible to get a bit higher than that at times (a spike or two) and that the test could have been wrong.

Remember, with 512k, you should be seeing around 64kb/s in bandwidth (especially locally)
...more likely that Telkom haven't set the DSLAM correctly yet. All the ports are default configured for 512. After a few days...or weeks...or months, they'll get around to it and the speeds will drop to 40-42K on a 384. This is pretty standard for Telkom ADSL.
 
mine averages 50-52.4 with dap on international download *shrugs* we'll see next month..

Sigh i realised the other day when i upgraded to a 6gig cap, it's hardcap :|
Oh well, only 5.5 for me for the month, then again, if tel*kum impliment local capping, it won't matter :P
 
Hey guys, thanx for all the replies and information! My download speeds from international shows that I'm getting in the low 50's still, but I will reply here again if / when they do change it, and what the billing shows end of next month.

Thanx again all.

Regards
Slow
 
You guys on DSL should *all* get a great speed cos Telkom is so ****ing overpriced that their network is underutilised.
 
arf9999 said:
...more likely that Telkom haven't set the DSLAM correctly yet. All the ports are default configured for 512. After a few days...or weeks...or months, they'll get around to it and the speeds will drop to 40-42K on a 384. This is pretty standard for Telkom ADSL.

Actually, all the ports are defaulted to 2048Kbps...
The throttling is software based, not hardware...
 
ScrnScrm said:
Actually, all the ports are defaulted to 2048Kbps...
The throttling is software based, not hardware...
Noted, but then the software setting is default at 512K, and they don't usually get round to setting it correctly for 384k (or 192) for a few days after installation...
 
correct :D sometimes they dont get to setting it at all. best thing to do is to hold onto the telkom installation that you sign... just so that you have proof in case of a billing query!
 
Ok guys just to make things clear for the folk who don't understand all this speed jargon and how to calculate maximum download speeds.

On a 384kb/s connection the maximum theoretical speed is 48KB/s and on a 512kb/s the maximum is 64KB/s

The main thing to remember is 8bits = 1Byte (384kbits /8 = 48KBytes and 512kbits /8 = 64KBytes)
 
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