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

[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 >>



True, I guess I didn't think about that.

 

[SiliconVandal]

Heck if I could connect faster than 9.6k I think I would pass-out and die. I live in the boonies and the lines are friggin' ancient. DSL is said to never be here, cable isn't offered this far from town, and we don't even have a 56k ISP, its an ancient trash ISP called &quot;Zekes&quot; that offers 14.4k. oh yes..thats right, 14.4k..

 

[Conroy9]

Silicon Vandal: Starband


but it's a bit expensive..

direcpc is also supposedly coming out with 2-way satellite access in 1 or 2 months

 

[Modus]

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 >>

Nope, wrong.

Modems transmit data 8 bits at a time, with one start bit and one stop bit. Therefore, to transfer 1 byte of data requires 10 bits. So a 48000bps connection will only give you 48000/10/1024 = 4.6875 K/s transfer speeds on uncompressable data. Now, most data compresses a little, making the transfers seem higher.

To check your actual troughput, download a fairly large (500k at least) .ZIP or .RAR file from a fast server (preferably your ISP's web site.)

Modus

 

[Supergax]

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



Actually, it is better to keep it closer to the max modem speed, so a 56k modem should have it set to 57600. From all my work doing tech support for an ISP, I have only seen it cause more errors with this raised. Another thing you may want to try is init strings, which no one has mentioned. I have seen many init strings help people with their connect speeds. Of course, first it would help if we knew what type of modem you have.

A couple good places to go to for modem problems:

808hi- Has a lot of good information on troubleshooting connection issues.
modemhelp- Tons of init strings, almost one for every modem out there.

 

[erniecc]

MichaelD - if you are getting 4k/sec with a 33600 connection, you couldn't ask for much more.

4k/sec = 32000
3k/sec = 24000

 

[MichaelD]

Yeah, after reading all the really great replies and gettin' educated, I've started to feel that myself. It just kills me to have to wait 30 seconds to download a roughly 3x5 (on the screen) image. I've gotten used to the T1 at work. Sometimes I get there early (if I need to download a big file ) and I'll download at 150k/sec or better. Watching the blue-bar progess meter zzzzziiippppppppppp across the screen is truly an awesome sight to behold. It's easy to get spoiled. Oh well, DSL, here I come! I've been looking at Earthlink.net. They have a deal right now. $30 setup fee, free DSL modem, free NIC card, $40/mo for 1.5mbs ADSL service. You have to sign a 1-year agreement, but what the heck?