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DSL: how much better?

T

TravisBickle

Platinum Member
i read in a thread recently of big big download speed numbers. but can all sites support such fast downloads?
is DSL good at multiple downloads too? what are the speeds like the more disreputable little sites i'm fond of(😉) I do not want DSL just for Anandtech you know.
 
I typically get ~200k/sec with my DSL from most sites. I have seen it a little bit higher, and I have also seen it a lot lower though.
 
Depends on your provider, and your distance from the central office, I was only able to max about 38K/sec when I had it but I'm pretty far away from the CO.
Check out DSL Reports for a load of DSL info.
 
I have a 1.5MB ADSL line. I get "typically" 40-60 K per/sec from a "regular" site. If I get a good, connection though, I can easily go over 100K per/sec.
 
Remember guys, the K/sec number you are quoting is most likely the KiloBytes/sec. The best way to abbreviate this to avoid confusion is KB/sec.

When a DSL provider quotes you a line speed, it will usually be something like 384/128 which is 384 Kilobits/sec download and 128 Kilobits/sec upload. Assuming you get 100% efficiency (not likely in real world) that translates to 384/8 = 48 KB/sec.

The sync rate that the DSL modem adjusts to various alot depending on your line quality. Many lucky people get over T-1 speeds, others are stuck at barely above ISDN.

<< what are the speeds like the more disreputable little sites i'm fond of() I do not want DSL just for Anandtech you know. >>

Unfortunately it's difficult to say. It depends alot on the server connection the site has, not necessarily your own DSL connection. But at least you can be assured that the download bottleneck is alleviated for the most part at your connection side.
 
i notice a killer euphemism- it's called the
contention ratio
this means you have to share DSL with maybe 30 users. what the companies seem to be saying is that you will get a maximum, but they won't guarantee you any kind of speed at all. this is supposed to be fine for &quot;burst&quot; connections such as viewing web pages, but DSL is simply &quot;extravagant&quot; for viewing web pages- I mean, get real, you want it for downloading big files, morons.
i have this to say to DSL companies trying to sell me something for 4x my modem costs:
&quot;kiss my ass&quot;
 
I have a 384+/128 rated ADSL line.
I'm about as close as you can get to a CO.
Get ~1200kbps on downloads.
Most sites don't download that fast.
Then again, your DSL probably won't be that fast.
Multiple downloads work fine.

edit:
I've had it for over 1.5 years already.
'Contention ratio' has never come into play.
Isn't that a cable modem issue?
 
TravisBickle, certainly feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, with DSL you do not share your bandwidth with anyone. That is the beauty of it. Cable modems share bandwidth but DSL doesn't.
 


<< TravisBickle, certainly feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, with DSL you do not share your bandwidth with anyone. That is the beauty of it. Cable modems share bandwidth but DSL doesn't. >>



This is a common misconception with DSL vs. cable comparisons. DSL is shared almost the same way cable is, just further down the line instead of directly at the gateway. Over 90% of residential DSL providers (and resellers) oversell their backbone bandwidth to the customers, resulting in only moderate speed in burst rates. So imagine DSL as having a very large pipe, but a lot more people than any one neighborhood is connected to it. Probably entire cities are connected to this pipeline with DSL, which would be thousands or tens of thousands of customers. I can't explain it as well, but if you consult the DSLReports website, you will get a more clear picture of what I'm trying to say. 🙂
 
huh, I see how well good old AOL treats its DSL customers!
what I am getting at is a more general worry with internet providers, in that in the license agreement they squirm out of actually guaranteeing you anything except that you pay.
 
My view: If you can get DSL, get it. Don't whine about the friggin' price because there are people who connect to the net at 9.6k and will NEVER have DSL or cable, they are only faced with the option of satellite which is incredibly COSTLY.

SV
 
xDSL, unlike cable, has its own dedicated line so it doesn't matter how many people in your area have xDSL. But, the farther you are away from the phone company's office the slower your connection speed.

I have cable and I live in a poor neighbourhood where nobody has a computer so my cable internet is fast all the time. You see, with cable the more people who have it in your area the slower it is as everyone shares the bandwidth.
 
Luciferhaze, DSL has a dedicated line to the phone company, THEN from there everything is shared. Imagine having 24 users connected to a 24 port switch, then the switch is uplinked to the WAN. So one connection splits out to 24. Cable is a little different. An example would be, from the WAN, it is connected to a 4-port switch, each port connected to a 6-port switch. It also supports 24 users all in all. Each 6-port switch represents the neighborhood node. Regardless of DSL or cable, the number of people on-line at the same time will affect speed. It depends on the ISP whether to cap it or not. I have cable which is capped at 2mbit down/400kbit up. This rarely fluctuates, my lowest on the busiest time of the day is 1.7mbit down/ 340kbit up. How a system is affected by the number of users and internet traffic is dependent upon the ISP, its infrastructure and technology in place. This is true for both cable and DSL.
 
My Verizon is

640 down
90 up

When I'm downloading from a non-bogged server........it's always pinned.

Besides, web pages load a hell of a lot faster.

 
b=bits
B=bytes
My max is 120KB a second. It really depends on the site for me. The fastest once I get 120 and some I get like 10KB. But normally around 60, but it all depends ont he site.
 
mindspring dsl is great for me. I get 160 KB/sec anytime during the day (of course the other site has to be able to handle it). So if i ever get below 155-160, its not me thats going slow, its the other site. Best part is that I've paid about $5 for the last 6 months (gonna start getting charged in a week or two for $49.99/mn :/) All in all, I'm very happy. 🙂
 
All,

Yeah, I got DSL about a year ago from U.S.West, now Qwest and loved it. I was pinging around 50 on good HL servers and my downloads were like 50-75 KB/s or about 400-600 Kb/s. When I moved I decided to go cable. I was worried about the shared thing but figured what the hey, it's a good bit cheaper and theoretically the pipe is fatter. Now I ping a bit higher, but my DL has gone up to 100-200 KB/s. In the middle of the night I can easily hit 317+ KB/s--that's over 2.5Mbs!--from good sites like Microsoft, Zdnet/Cnet or fileplanet. I'm downloading the HL client 11041106@(11MB) at 178 KB/s right now--1.4Mb/s ain't too shabby. Oop, looks like my DL is done.
 
I have an ADSL line, I never knew the exact spec of my subscription. The first year to start it off, I get 80-85KB/sec from almost everywhere, that is like the maximum it can reach, it doesnt get higher/lower speeds from different servers and everything like the other DSL users do, I assume this is because my DSL line uses Static IP instead of Dynamic which is the one a majority of people use. Recently my line has be reduced to 40KB/sec, again its the same as before except I only get 40KB/sec from everywhere. Im certainly not happy about this and have been trying to figure out whats the cause of this reduction, havent called my ISP yet but I think they capped my line, even though I dont download much at all. So, here I am, hoping someone can explain to me whats gotten into my line. A quick speed test at DSLReports.com shows me the same thing, ~320Kbit/sec downstream.

And also, for those of you who get more than 150KByte/sec downloads, who's your provider? What plan do you use and how much?
 
i have pacbell. they BITE! i used to get 150k/s all the time (it's capped at that, since i'm only paying for 384 down). nowadays it's 30 on a good day and 10 on a bad day. thank goodness my contract is just about over so i'm gonna switch. but dsl works great.
 
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