Why do people care about modem connection speed...it doesn't matter!

[MichaelD]

I'm just airing my thoughts here. There's a poll going right now about "modem" connection speed. Maybe I'm just ignorant here, and if I am, please correct me.

I connect at 33,600. But I never, never, never download any faster than 4k/sec. 99% of the time I download at 2.5-3k/sec, which is pitifully slow.

Short of editing registry keys (which I've no idea how to do) I have all my modem settings tweaked. Have highest connection speed set at 117500 (or whatever the heck it is), etc.

My point is, why brag that you connect at 45,000 or whatever. What speed (how many kb/sec) do you download at? Isn't that what matters. I feel the flames nipping at my heels already! Where's my mini-gun?

 

[Bleep]

Put a 14.4 or 28.8 modem in your machine and see for yourself how much difference it makes. The problem is with the a-sinc speeds allowed on phone lines. If i am hooked up at 49000 or so I can download at around 5.9 sometimes 6.
bleep

 

[Barrak]

I oftet get dowload speeds at 5 or 5.5 with my 56k modem, and if I kick in the second modem I get 9

 

[MichaelD]

Hmm. Ok. I have a V90/K56 flex modem. How do I connect at faster than 33,600? Downloading at 6k/sec would be a dream come true for me.

 

[Vincent]

Take the download speeds you see with a grain of salt because your modem also compresses data. If you're downloading a text file, you may get download speeds that seem higher even though the actual number of bytes per second passing through the phone line is not higher than whan you're downloading some other kind of file.

 

[Syborg1211]

Also, your connection speed also depends on the quality of your phone lines. I can connect from my house at 50666 but at a friend's house I can only get 38000. The main reason for this is that their neighborhood is on the less expensive side. (not to seem like I am better than them or anything but it's true!) I suppose the people that contructed their area skimped a bit on the phone lines.

 

[MichaelD]

Wahhhhh! I live in a run-down neighborhood! Wahhhhhh!

Actually, my apartment complex is about 15 years old, so I guess the wiring wasn't as good back then.

Here's another question: The phone line for the modem runs thru a surge supressor (as it should, I beleive) before it gets to the modem. Do you think this is affecting my connection speed? Just curious, but I even if it was, I would not NOT route it thru the strip because a voltage spike thru the phone line wouldn't just smoke the modem, it may smoke your mobo and everything else too.

 

[bacillus]

<< Ok. I have a V90/K56 flex modem. How do I connect at faster than 33,600? >>


try looking at your modems website in the first instance for any upgrades or newer drivers for your modem.
if you have more than 1 telephone plug point, try disconnecting all telephones/faxes etc bar your modem &amp; check the speed. the length of the lead to your modem ,especially if you use an extension cable, can affect your speed to a degree.
alternatively,your problem could simply be that you have a poor line. there is no harm in asking your telephone company to check it &amp; probably turn up the gain. I wouldn't mention your modem as the lines are for voice so say your line is noisy!

 

[Workin']

<< Actually, my apartment complex is about 15 years old, so I guess the wiring wasn't as good back then. >>

My house is 56 years old and I connect at 45333. The problem is likely in your outside phonelines and the way they are configured back to the telco. Nothing you can do about it except move.

 

[Slacker]

your connection speed is not constant, if you connect at 50666 or 28800 your connection will fluctuate, connection speed is just that, the speed at the time you connected.

 

[Shagga]

Correct me if I'm wrong but, the connection speed displayed is the connection between your modem and the computer isn't it?.

Recently I changed ISP and found I could not connect faster than 40,000bps whilst b4 I could get 45333 most of the time but my DL speeds have not changed at all. Which leads me to belive that my original statement might be true.

 

[bacillus]

<< . Which leads me to belive that my original statement might be true. >>


sorry, Shagga but what statement is that?

 

[BadMuleS]

move for better connection, thats right sell your $100,000 house so you can pay $40 a month for a better connection, yep thats what i would do lol o i get cable modem n/m

[que rant/]cant live without it neither, anyone try to take it from me ill slice ur throat[/end rant]

 

[Shagga]

Bacillus -

<< the connection speed displayed is the connection between your modem and the computer isn't it >>



Sorry....did you miss it?

 

[BigLance]

Of course connection speed matters !

At my house

Line #1 21.6k 2.2 kb/s
Line #2 52.0k 5.75 kb/s

Oh boy is there a difference !!

 

[Riverhound]

Guess you guys don't know how your download speed relates to your connection. Your connection is mesured in bits, while your download is in bytes. There are 8 bits to a byte. So if you connect at 52000bits your max download will be 6.5bytes. 52000/8 = 6.5 So if you connect faster, your max download will be higher, its simple math. Hope this helps some of you.

 

[Slacker]

just because you connect at a certain speed does not mean you have that speed throughout the session.

 

[Riverhound]

Yes but it does tell u the average. If u connect at 28.8k your not going to be downloading anywhere near 6k/s. If you connect at 52k you will probably download from 4-6k depending on the server your downloading from.

 

[ahfung]

To be honest, I really don't care about modem speed since I got my ASDL connection.

No offense, once you get used to broadband internet, 33.6 or 56Kbps really doesn't matter much. Modem is only good for fax which needs 14.4 or 28.8Kbps at most.

 

[BigLance]

Yea, well not all of us are in an area where a broadband type of connection is available... to those of us, the connection speed does matter !

 

[LordSandMan]

<< Short of editing registry keys (which I've no idea how to do) I have all my modem settings tweaked. Have highest connection speed set at 117500 (or whatever the heck it is), etc. >>



Well, actually this is the serial port speed (I thought it was 115000, but I might be wrong - it's been an awful long time since I've had an analog) . IE the speed between your cpu and your modem. Setting this anything over what your modem connects at won't do you any good. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[BD2003]

The speed you connect at IS the speed you will download at, roughly divided by 9. It can change during your connection, but it wont show it in the status window.

Who cares about megahertz anyway?

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Try this:
Download a uncompressed file, such as text file,
you'll see a high download rate at your browser,
and you'll feel happy.

(This is because of using compression protocol.)

 

[MichaelD]

Nice little discussion we've got going on here!
Riverhound - thanks for the math..it did two things. Educated me and depressed me!

Lessee here: I connect at 33,600bps tops. That's 4.2k/sec download speed...as opposed to the 80-100k/sec with the T1 line at work. Waahhhhhhhhhhhh! I ususally never see more than 3k/sec at home anyway.

DSL is definitely in my future, just when is the question. Depends on when or if I move. Heck, maybe a different apt will have better phone lines and I'll stick with my dialup modem.

HERE'S ANOTHER QUESTION:
Where I live, Southwestern Bell is the phone company. Their website has a &quot;check if DSL is available in your area&quot; applet. They tell me that I cannot get DSL where I live.

If I go to the Covad website they tell me that I can get DSL where I live. What's the deal? I want to stay away from cable modems because of the bandwith issue.

 

[Conroy9]

lordsandman:
I believe you want a higher modem->computer speed than modem->phone line speed, so that you can take better advantage of hardware compression

michaelD:
i know when i ordered my dsl last year, bell atlantic said that dsl would not be available in my area for another year, but an ISP said it was available already
i ordered through the isp and had dsl in a few weeks
(the best part was they sent bell atlantic over to install the line for them and gave me free installation

i don't know what your situation is, but it's possible.

if you can't get dsl, i don't see why you would stay away from cable modems..