What speed do I need?

I have been doing some tests on speedtest.net and the results have been
very variable ... from 500 to 3500 kbps ... and I'm now wondering about
what speed is needed.

What speeds are needed for different Internet uses?
--
Chris

Chris wrote:
> I have been doing some tests on speedtest.net and the results have been
> very variable ... from 500 to 3500 kbps ... and I'm now wondering about
> what speed is needed.
>
> What speeds are needed for different Internet uses?

Well text only browsing you find that 56Kbps is good enough.

256Kbps is just about enough to keep up with streaming video of modest
quality.

And modest graphic content on web sites.


The higher speeds show up foir ME mostly when downloadig the massive
updates - 60MByte+ - that computers seem to need these days to stay safe
from attack..and thatrs not an unknown e-mail size or file transfer size
for me either when pulling large graphic objects around.

"Chris" <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
news:csN2zJAZj+vHFwf+@[127.0.0.1]...
> I have been doing some tests on speedtest.net and the results have been
> very variable ... from 500 to 3500 kbps ... and I'm now wondering about
> what speed is needed.
>
> What speeds are needed for different Internet uses?

Whatever is needed so you don't get bored waiting.
You can download videos at 56k if you can wait days for them.

If its a news clip you need to stream then 256K+.

Windows updates don't need speed as much as always on as they will download
and install in the background even on a slow link.

From experience I would say you want at least 8M for web pages so they
appear almost instantly these days. ;-)

Chris wrote:

> I have been doing some tests on speedtest.net and the results have been
> very variable ... from 500 to 3500 kbps ...

Who's your ISP ?

Graham

> Who's your ISP ?
>
> Graham

I think your hoping its virgin media and probally is, as long as those
test were with the same server each time

There are really on two speeds which you will need. Going for anything
less then 2meg is just a waste of money because the prices will be so
close. 2meg is the lowest many ISP's go these day and that is enough
for web browsing with large images and streaming video. Many 8meg
packages are also fairly cheap but that normally is sold as upto 8meg
which means you might not actually get that depending on the distance
from the telephone exchange and line quality. 8meg is fine for most
stuff on the net today and gives quite a nice download speed and for
most(but not all) people will give a higher speed over a 2meg package
because of different technologies, but that does depend on the ISP.

On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:35:21 +0000, Chris <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:

>I have been doing some tests on speedtest.net and the results have been
>very variable ... from 500 to 3500 kbps ... and I'm now wondering about
>what speed is needed.

Speeds will vary a lot unless you have a dedicated connection. That
would you cost you a lot.

>
>What speeds are needed for different Internet uses?

Text messages are OK with any speed above 50Kbps

For movie downloads you need as fast a speed as possible.

Steve

--
Stephen Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software Ltd
EasyNN-plus. Build Neural Networks. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast the Future. http://www.swingnn.com

naza wrote:

> > Who's your ISP ?
> >
> > Graham
>
> I think your hoping its virgin media and probally is, as long as those
> test were with the same server each time

It's Pipex actually. Another one to avoid.

Graham

Steve Wolstenholme wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:35:21 +0000, Chris <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:
>
>> I have been doing some tests on speedtest.net and the results have been
>> very variable ... from 500 to 3500 kbps ... and I'm now wondering about
>> what speed is needed.
>
> Speeds will vary a lot unless you have a dedicated connection. That
> would you cost you a lot.
>
>> What speeds are needed for different Internet uses?
>
> Text messages are OK with any speed above 50Kbps
>

Text messages come across a 300 baud modem adequatetely...

> For movie downloads you need as fast a speed as possible.
>
> Steve
>

Ijn teh end what you can get will be dicated by the line length and
quality to the echange, or the cable if you have it.

MOST people are on fixed ASL or ADSL max. No point in NOT going for MAX,
and you will get as fast as it can give you basically.

It averages at about 2.5Mbps over most customers. I get about 3Mbps for
example. Some get more, some less.