How fast is a 64kbps Dedicated line ?

[sampahnetgua]

I'm a little confused here.
A friend of mine says a dedicated line is faster than share line, which I agree.
But we disagree about how fast a 64kbps dedicated line actually is.
My understanding is, when the speed is only 64kbps (even on dedicated line) , the speed is around 5 KB/sec during download or browsing. My friend says differently. He says a 64kbps on dedicated line IS FAST, even fast enough to watch Youtube or Skype uninterupted.
I'm completely confused here. Is 64kbps on dedicated line is NOT like what I think.....a 64 kilobit/sec performance....like a dial-up modem ?

Ex, if I use it to download file with IDM, how fast will I get ? My understanding is....still around 5 KB/s download speed. Am I wrong ????

 

[Rifter]

thats like 56k modem speeds buddy. I think id stick with cable/DSL if i were you. No way in hell he is using skype with a 64kbps line he's blowing smoke up your ass.

 

[sampahnetgua]

Thanks for confirming my suspicion.
I think he was trying to fool me D:

 

[RadiclDreamer]

64kilibits divide by 8 and you get 8Kilobytes per second, not quite enough to do skype or youtube. Your friend is an idiot.

And the 8K is without any overhead, errors, etc, so actual data as far as files etc, is lower.

 

[Rifter]

Thanks for confirming my suspicion.
I think he was trying to fool me D:

no worries.

The only thing i can think of is maybe he has DSL at 64KBps not 64kbps. DSL is usually listed this way and 64KBps on a dedicated line would be alright.

 

[mammador]

64 kbps? Hasn't broaband reached his part of the country yet, or is he in a mid-1990s time bubble?

 

[spidey07]

A 64k line is exactly that. It's somewhat faster than 56k modem but just barely. That's because it's a full duplex clock of 64k up/down. It's painfully slow compared to modern broadband but if that's all that's available you could look to ISDN which is two 64k channels. Doing any kind of video would be very painful but for general browsing it would do.

 

[MtnMan]

64kilibits divide by 8 and you get 8Kilobytes per second, not quite enough to do skype or youtube. Your friend is an idiot.

And the 8K is without any overhead, errors, etc, so actual data as far as files etc, is lower.

Plus the protocol overhead and latency, divide by 10 gives a more realistic goodput.

 

[sampahnetgua]

Thanks. I guess he is an idiot.
I asked him because I'm about to change my provider.
The provider has many types of services. One of them is a 3 Mbps cable modem (shared) which I'm interested in, but they also have dedicated lines with 64kbps, 256kbps upto 3 Mbps.
The 64kbps subscription is about 2x more expensive than 3Mbps cable.
When I asked him he explained that the 64kbps dedicated is definitely more expensive because it's in fact faster. I guess he was just bubbling empty.

Update: Apparently 64kbps is the guaranteed speed, but it is upto 1.5Mbps. But the guaranteed speed is ridiculously low. Another friend has subcribed to the provider's 3Mbps cable, and he said he could get around 160-200 KB/sec download speed most of the time (using accelerator). I guess I'll subcribe to their 3Mbps cable then.

 

[zCypher]

Take any broadband over any "64kbps dedicated" connection.
Even a 3mbps cable or ADSL connection will still easily give you well over 300KB/s transfer rate. 3mbps (megabits per second) is equal to 375KB/s (kilobytes per second), obviously you won't get 100% of that speed but it's certainly enough to get youtube and skype comfortably.

People often use "shared" as an excuse not to get cable. I guess it depends on your particular situation, but I've never experienced any issues with my cable internet. Ok that's not entirely true, I did go through a rough patch when I first had the service but it's been consistent and trouble free since.

My employer is an internet/phone provider where I live, and it guarantees at least 75% of its download speed. If your 1.5mbps only guarantees 64kbps, I'd definitely go with cable instead.

 

[spidey07]

The Internet is all shared at the point closest to the line nomatter what technology. Yor fried is an idiot.

 

[MtnMan]

Thanks. I guess he is an idiot.
I asked him because I'm about to change my provider.
The provider has many types of services. One of them is a 3 Mbps cable modem (shared) which I'm interested in, but they also have dedicated lines with 64kbps, 256kbps upto 3 Mbps.

Yep, he's an idiot.

Cable is a shared topology......... BUT remember that the capacity of the local loop serving your neighborhood is capable of much faster speeds. When you subscribe for 3 meg service, that speed is set in the cable modem, not on the wire coming into your house. You should expect to get 3 meg speed 99%+ of the time.

I am on a 12 meg plan, and <gasp> sharing bandwidth with neighbors, yet I get 12 - 16+ meg speed even in the supposed busiest times of the day, late afternoon/early evening. I have had cable internet since 1999, have always heard the urban legend about "your neighbors will slow you down" and it has never been the case.

 

[greenhawk]

Update: Apparently 64kbps is the guaranteed speed, but it is upto 1.5Mbps. But the guaranteed speed is ridiculously low. Another friend has subcribed to the provider's 3Mbps cable, and he said he could get around 160-200 KB/sec download speed most of the time (using accelerator).

for the first, it sounds like marketing. It is proberly the 1.5Mb/s connection, that is SHAPED down to 64bit/s as the suppler needs it to be.

In which case, it is nothing special. In this country they tell you the fastest rate and the shaping speed is in the small print. I think your friend has been given it the other way around making the 64kbit/s connection sound so good.

As to shared cable, all is fine I found when I last used it at a place several years back, but the issue then was most of the neibours were uni students like me, so the connection was crap most of the time as p2p was running 24/7. No chance to get the advertised 10Mb/s speeds.

Personally, I look at quota before speed as it is the only constant to measure with. Rhe 1.5Mbit/s is adsl of some type and while it may be shaped/speed limited, the only time issues should normally occur are from the ISP to the internet. With cable, you have the local users also effecting your ability to use it.

 

[RU482]

I have had cable internet since 1999, have always heard the urban legend about "your neighbors will slow you down" and it has never been the case.

I dunno, I had mediacom back in 07 and during peak hours, the service would noticeably slow down (even speedtest type tests were slower). After midnight, back up to peak speeds.

About the time they first started offering 20meg service, we no longer had the issue (and our 10meg service went from 8meg peaks to 12meg)

 

[alkemyst]

64 kbps? Hasn't broaband reached his part of the country yet, or is he in a mid-1990s time bubble?

There are many rural areas where 56K modems are as good as you get unless you go satellite.

 

[Specop 007]

The Internet is all shared at the point closest to the line nomatter what technology. Yor fried is an idiot.

This is a big thing to remember. Its going to be shared at some point along the path. The whole "shared" argument isnt really valid.

 

[MtnMan]

I dunno, I had mediacom back in 07 and during peak hours, the service would noticeably slow down (even speedtest type tests were slower). After midnight, back up to peak speeds.

About the time they first started offering 20meg service, we no longer had the issue (and our 10meg service went from 8meg peaks to 12meg)

That could very likely be mediacom's lack of segmenting their network to save a few $$. Has not been an issue with Charter, at least here.

 

[mammador]

There are many rural areas where 56K modems are as good as you get unless you go satellite.

True. But I don't get how people can still have dial-up nowadays.