what are download speeds with a 56k modem?

[superraton01]

during the internet rush hour 5-9pm my d/l
are typically 2kbps, at other times
2-6 kbps is average. using go!zilla
which shows instanteous speeds, I see
a peak speed of 7.5 kbps at night, with
one second of 14.1 kb maximum iv ever seen.
Yet when I connect to my isp, it shows
a connnection speed of 46k. many people say these slow d/l speeds are
typical for a 56k modem. is this true
and why the slowness of d/l?

[Snuffy!]

Yeah, you connect at 46k, just like I usually connect at 51k on my 56k modem, but you can only download at a max of around 6k, and your downloads slow down at peak time, because heaps of other users are connected, and hogging all the ISP's bandwidth, so you get a slower d/l speed. Sometimes when you start a download, it will start off at a huge speed, like i've had 90kb for a couple of seconds before, but then it will quickly adjust to download at the speed of your connection.

[Richard_Cranium72]

A 44,000 connection will download at about 4.5k per second.

The terminology for computers took the scientists at Belvue Mental Institution many years to arrive at terms that had absolutely NO rhyme or reason.

Take "default" for instance, sounds like something is wrong, right ?

Here's a link to a glossary that will probably confuse more than anything else.


A bit is the smallest unit of information understood by a computer. A bit can take a value of 0 or 1.

A byte is made up of 8 bits which is large enough to contain a single character. For example the character 2 would be equivalent to "00000010" when represented in bits.

A Kilobyte is equivalent to 1024 bytes.

A Megabyte is equivalent to 1024 Kilobytes.

A Gigabyte is equivalent to 1024 Megabytes.

A Megabit is 1048576 bits.
http://homepages.enterprise.net/jenko/Glossary/G.htm

The good folks who came up with computer terms derived them from the famous old Chinese Philosopher " ConfuseUs "

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif
DrVette

[marcusbateman]

The fastest downloads I get with my 56k are only about 4.5 k/s and that's only on a good day!!

[Chief]

There are two systems out an more on the way,
for Satellite download/upload capabilities.
I use Direcpc, live in country. My ISP upload
is limted by the 56k modem, but my download
speed varies considerable. One time I downloaded a 9.3 meg livewire upgrade took
only 4 secs. On avg it downloads at 50 to 90 kbytes per., which according to micorsofts
speed test is about 500 k per sec. Gilat
at home is up/down via satellite.
Microsoft/directpc and some others will be
offering that svc soon. Oh I am not limited
by direcpc any more its 24/7 for 39.95 per
mo, plus you got your local ISP.

[Beemers]

Here are some tweaks I have prepared. If network traffic is high, even these tweaks won't help but when all is quiet they will give you a boost in your connection rates:

http://www.geocities.com/a3a17013/tippages/beemerswindowstips/contweak.htm

Cheers!

[RobRich]

Also, do not forget about various modes of compression. For v.90 connections, I enable both hardware and software compression. Since I surf mostly text heavy sites, it works out quite well. My average text transfer is 10-12 KBps with binary transfers averaging 4-6 KBPs. My average connect rate is 49,333 bps.

Later,
Robert Richmond

[qball]

DH has the best answer...

I may get this wrong, but the idea will stick.

You have a 56kbps modem. You measure the Download in kBps. The units are different! Annoying, isn't it.

5-6kBps is a good rate on a 56k connection. Most of the time you connect a little slower than 56k and remember it goes both ways, so some is wasted going the other way.