Dear sweet Internet Gods (my connection speed)

[Nev]

I always knew that for some reason I had a fast connection at my apartment. Today I used CNET's web download tester to actually check it.

The speed I got was around <b>4400</b> kbps. DEAR LORD!

For reference, slow DSL is usually around 384 kbps, fast DSL/dedicated T1 is 1500 kbps, and T3 goes from 6000-30000 kbps (this is my understanding anyway).

My friend told me cable usually shares bandwidth in a neighborhood. Something tells me most people in Palms don't have cable internet. I am very, very seriously reconsidering moving when my lease is up now, and I'm not even joking. I'll gladly put up with crackheads to get 2/3 of a light T3 at cable rates.

[Tortolia]

After Cox did the speed upgrades to the network here, I tested at 5166 kbps down, 1689 kbps up.

If I paid a bit extra each month I'd be upgraded to the 15 megabit downstream package, but even I can't figure out what the fuck I'd do with that much throughput.

[Nev]

Wow. What are you using - cable, T2...?

I could use more upload speed. After running a few more tests it seems a more accurate number seems to be somewhere from 3.5 to 4.5 Mbps, and ~350 kbps up. If I want to start serving a small personal page and message board (and I think I do), more upload speed might be indicated.

[Tortolia]

Cable.

[Nev]

With 15 Mbps?... That's, what, about 2MB/sec...

Hmmm.

Write a Napster download bot that just basically uses Napster protocols to download every song every written? Start your own porn site?

[Imakeholesinu]

SBC is going to blow that out of the water soon with it's fiber in 2007 to debut in San Antonio. 30MBPS up/down for $30 a month.

[Nev]

<------------- Begins looking at apartment listings in San Antonio

[Tortolia]

They're rolling out fiber slowly but surely in this area as well. When it becomes more widespread I can certainly re-evaluate my connection choices.

[SineSwiper]

My friend told me cable usually shares bandwidth in a neighborhood.

I work at the NOC for a cable company. I hate this myth. It's stupid. Everybody "shares" bandwidth. This server shares bandwidth with whatever other VPS are around it. Microsoft.com shares bandwidth with whatever else is using their OC48s. It's all relative.

They are implying that the 3MB limit you have on your connection is being shared by the whole neighborhood. That's a lie. Every node is set up to accomidate how much bandwidth is required for it. We can boost the channel width to whatever we need (within reason), or we can physically split the node, or we can load balance the node to several upstreams.

Of course, what IS accurate about DSL is that it requires a maximum of 5 miles between you and the central office. That's it. Even in the 4-5 mile range, you start to get iffy speeds. Nevermind that DSL is fucking slow anyway.

BTW, I've got a 6Mbps/512Kbps account. Tort, how the fuck can Cox even get away with a 15Mbps package (most modems can't handle 9Mbps), or the 1.5Mbps upload? It seems like Cox is overselling their bandwidth, especially with all of the P2P chewing up the upload. (P2P is our upload enemy, since too many wankers seem to leave their damn program turned on 24/7.)

And I'm not holding my breath with the fiber to the home deal. I got a feeling that it's going to be a fucking nightmare for techs to troubleshoot physical problems on that end. Fiber is expensive, and it doesn't bend well, and you need a mobile lab to repair anything.

If I want to start serving a small personal page and message board (and I think I do), more upload speed might be indicated.

Check your AUP first. We don't allow it here, at least not without an expensive business choice account.

[Nev]

Well, shit. You're right. Section XIV of the "prohibited use" policy bans serving anything outside of a LAN. What's the rationale behind all that?

[Tortolia]

This area is very, very tech-heavy, and they've built up quite an infrastructure to go along with it.

I've never had problems with my cable connection or line quality - even outages are rare at best. I don't know how they pull it off, but they do extremely well.

As for p2p, I haven't noticed any major issues with that. The default bittorrent port range is capped pretty low, but if you get a client that lets you specify a different port range, no problems - I've pulled as much as 500kbps down off a single torrent before (and that was before the cable upgrade).

[SineSwiper]

Well, shit. You're right. Section XIV of the "prohibited use" policy bans serving anything outside of a LAN. What's the rationale behind all that?

Cable is designed for more download than upload, so the network is configured as such. Servers suck up a lot of upload, and that sort of activity is considered to be business-level usage anyway. It's just like why the business telephone service is a lot higher than the residential service. It's not that it's any different, but you're going to be using it's a helluva lot more as a business.

Besides, it's also a security risk to allow all of these dumbass customers to have hackable servers getting compromised and using our network for their hacking purposes. (We get enough from viruses as it is.)

As for p2p, I haven't noticed any major issues with that. The default bittorrent port range is capped pretty low, but if you get a client that lets you specify a different port range, no problems - I've pulled as much as 500kbps down off a single torrent before (and that was before the cable upgrade).

Yeah, we're working on getting that sort of activity capped at the backbone. In other words, something like 40Mbps of total upload for BTs into our KY backbone. The technology doesn't work by ports, so there's no way to bypass it, but it only affects uploading, not downloading. Even then, the upload isn't too bad at certain times of the day.

[Tortolia]

I tend to cap my BT uploads at 30-40K anyway. My ratios are vastly skewed towards the leech end, but I'm still contributing, and it never affects my DL speeds much anyway.

[Imakeholesinu]

I've never had any problems with my DSL at my mom's or my dad's. They both have the same SBC package of 1.5mbps down/28KBps up. I've had two outages in the three years I've had it. I bought the cheap SBC DSL when I went to school and lived with the sorority chicks and that went down twice while I had it. Not sure if they are still running it there or not.

[SineSwiper]

DSL isn't bad if you can actually get it, but availability is a problem, especially if you're not near a CO. I still like the faster speeds on cable, though.

[Kupek]

Web pages load about as fast as my computer can display them. That's about all I care about.

Well, except for watching trailers off quicktime.com. That's nice.

[SineSwiper]

I still download stuff from BT, the net, etc. All of them are better than satellite, though. My friend has it, and traceroutes take literally 2-3 seconds per hop because of the slower-than-dial-up upload.

[Garford]

I hate you all.....

The ISPs in Australia sucks. I barely get over 140kb/s download on the fastest ADSL connection avaliable for my region, and my connection at my Uni barely hits 300.......

I miss my cable connection back in Singapore......