DSL speeds

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:04 pm

Looking on-line at Verizon DSL the have the following speeds.
Up to 768K/128K
Up to 3.0M/768K

I checked my DSL speeds and they were in kbps download and kbps upload speed.

Is the "k" the same as "kb" and what is the "m".

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:11 pm

Kbps = KiloBits Per Second
KBPS = KiloBytes Per Second
Mbps = MegaBits Per Second
MBPS = MegaBytes Per Second

yes the "K" means the same thing in each line.

the M Stands for Mega

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:23 pm

Short answer: When referring to bandwidth, "k" and "m" always refer to bits, not bytes. Proper semantics dictate that Mb/Kb = Megabits/Kilobits and MB/KB = Megabytes/Kilobytes. Of course, when has that stopped anyone from using them incorrectly?

Long answer: Technically the transmission medium is independent of how many bits make up a byte (almost always 8, but it can be either 7 or 9 on older systems). Plus, you wouldn't want to advertise your DSL as being 96 Kilobytes/second... 768 Kilobits is a much more marketable number.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:47 pm

Given that bandwidth is always measured in bps, why would anyone advertise KBps? If they advertised in KBps then it would be simply for anyone to see when the system is NOT making X KBps.

By using the smallest unit (b) then they can rest assured that only true geeks can be bothered doing the Xbps/8/1024 = KBps to rate the connection.

My DSL is rated at 2Mb/s and I consistently get 98% of that in downloads

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:56 pm

Thanks for the info.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:32 pm

network data-transfer (throughput) is in decimal values, data storage (hardrive) is in binary values.

kbit = 1000 bits (throughput)
kB = 1000 bytes (throughput)
Mbit = 1000 kilobits (throughput)
Gbit = 1000 Megabits (throughput)
Tbit = 1000 Gigabits (throughput)

Kibit = 1024 bits (harddrive)
KB = 1024 bytes (harddrive)
MiB = 1024 kibibytes (harddrive)
GiB = 1024 mebibytes (harddrive)
TiB = 1024 gibibytes (harddrive)

but i do find it funny how HD Mfgs use a decimal size to define the size of their hard drives (until vista arrives)

<-------( F/W MOBI MATH )------->

MobiFoo DSL is advertised at 2.0Mbps

Mobi world = 2048 kbps (Kibit binary)
Real world = 2000 kbps (kbit decimal)

Mobi world 98% usage= 2007 kbps (Kibit binary)
Real world 87.5% = 1750 kbps (kbit decimal)

How can you be using 98% when DSL has a 12.5% overhead?

Mobius wrote:...By using the smallest unit (b) then they can rest assured that only true geeks can be bothered doing the Xbps/8/1024 = KBps to rate the connection.

My DSL is rated at 2Mb/s and I consistently get 98% of that in downloads

your download rate is more like 145-175 KB sec (as depicted by IE/Firefox) on a good day!!

On my current connection I average about 392 KB sec, yet my old OOL conect in NY it was 850 KB sec.
Can calculate what my download speeds were at?

Comcast _ _ _ _ / _ _ _
Optimum _ _ _ _ / _ _ _

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:42 pm

Well as we all know OOL will beat any other Cable ISP hands-down.

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:52 pm

Can you tell me if you think it would be worth the extra $ to go with the higher speeds. I'm looking at the $14.95 package or the $19.95 package that jumps to $29.95 after 3 months.

Don't mind spending the $ if the speed will be that noticeable.

Here's the page I'm looking at http://www22.verizon.com/ForHomeDSL/cha ... efault.asp

Edward · Post by **Edward** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:58 pm

It isint just the advertised provider it is your clossness to their servers the waty their servers connect to the WWW as well. You need to test each to know.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 6:18 pm

Assuming you are in range, you would notice the difference between the two. At 768k you would download at about 90k/sec max, at 3.0M you would download close to 350k/sec. At 350k/sec most pages load instantly, a 1 MB video will download in less then 5 seconds, streaming videos will play instantly, etc.