What's your internet speed?

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You don't really need gigabit. The Wall Street Journal recently did a study of use of bandwidth and discovered that an "average" user who has 8-10 devices in the home, streams movies on two of them and music on another two, plus two folks surfing the 'net, needed somewhere around 35-40Mbps to do all of that with no issues. I'm only at what I am because my provider has two tiers for upload: 10 or 35, nothing else. So I get gigabit down to get my 35 up. As soon as a fiber optic provider comes along and offers something better, I'm gone...
 

Rod


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I guess I was always aware of the fact that we in Australia are a bit behind when it comes to internet services so here is an example of what's available in Australia from out National Provider. Note that even the top domestic plan is a 100/20 plan so if you wanted 100/40 (which is the maximum domestic plan) you would be paying and additional charge. Screen Shot 2020-10-19 at 9.21.27 am.png Screen Shot 2020-10-19 at 9.34.48 am.png
 

Rod


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This is what we have. Yes you might think we are living in the dark ages but it's cheap and fills our needs. We have first of the "Unlimited" plans, listed at AU$69.00 but we had a pre existing contract for the same plan for AU$59.00 and when we renewed it recently in order to upgrade from ADSL to fibre under the NBN (National Broadband Network) we qualified for the 6 month introductory offer so we got it at AU$49.00/month. Screen Shot 2020-10-19 at 9.40.42 am.png
 

Slydude

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I've noticed something interesting about the way many users think about their internet speed. Their typical speed will be fine on most days. Then something they want to do doesn't work well enough (gameplay issues, stream buffering, etc.). The immediate assumption is that these issues are due to a lack of speed. Little/no consideration is given to other possible causes. Of course, providers are more than willing to take advantage of this thinking.

I must admit I've fallen prey to this line of thinking a time or two.
 

chscag

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Those are expensive plans Rod. I thought my ISP was overcharging, but after looking at what you fellows in Australia are paying...... o_O
 

Rod


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I agree, you can see why I have to "shop around". Everything is expensive in Australia! :mad:
 

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Wow, talk about ongoing interest in a topic. This thread dates back to 2011. Back then bobtomay was getting a 28.60Mbps download rate now we are talking download rates of 300-450Mbps.

Are we paying for more than we need?

Older ongoing threads like this are definitely interesting...in how in an unplanned way they track how things change over time.:)

As far as speeds. If folks have a cable modem setup (from their cable TV company)...many times the bandwidth is "shared" among your immediate neighbors who are on the same node (nearest cable company control point). This can mean (for example) 10-20 of your immediate neighbors are sharing the same bandwidth.

Thus (for example) if someone has a 100Mbps cable modem service...at peak times of the day (usually evenings from around 7pm -10pm on weekdays)...and maybe all day on weekends. If each household is demanding a lot of bandwidth...you won't get the full maximum advertised bandwidth. Many times (in the fine print of contracts)...your cable TV company does not promise that you will get the full advertised 100Mbps 100% of the time...especially at peak times.

The other thing to keep in mind...the 100Mbps maximum speed is usually ONLY possible via direct cable connection (hard wire ethernet cable connection to your cable modem/router). As soon as you start using WiFi...the maximum possible speed starts to drop (even if you're sitting right in front of your cable modem/WiFi router). And the further you get from your WiFi router...generally the slower the WiFI speed.

Thus if someone has a 100Mbps cable modem internet service from cable TV company...if it's the peak time of the day...plus using WiFi a good distance from your WiFi router...you might only get 40Mbps or less (unless you move closer to the router and/or it's an off-peak time). And all this assumes you have no bottlenecks in your system:

- slower coax cable splitters
- too many coax splitters
- older/slower quality coax cable in your walls
- older slower ethernet cable
- etc.

As far as cost. Luckily in my area we have fiber optic as one of our choices (1 gigabit/1000Mbps) internet service...which costs pretty much the same as 200Mbps service from a cable TV company (thus why not get fiber).:)

- We usually get about 750 Mbps download/750 Mbps upload if connected via Cat 7 ethernet cable.
- This drops to about 350 Mbps via WiFi right in front of the WiFi router.
- This further drops to about 200-250 Mbps if at 2nd floor home office (30 feet away & old home with thick/dense walls & floors).

With different internet plans...different internet providers...phone line vs. coax able vs. fiber...hardware in the home (older vs. newer)...the internet speeds you actually get at your electronic device endpoint (computer, phone, tablet, etc.)...can vary widely!

- Nick
 

Rod


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Hahaha, anything between 1.5Mbps (last night) and 50Mbps (this morning) dependent on.........??? It's Bali.

Screen Shot 2021-05-19 at 11.07.29 am.png
 

krs


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I thought my ISP was overcharging, but after looking at what you fellows in Australia are paying...... o_O
Seems everyone in Canada also thinks their ISP is overcharging for internet access.
What annoys me to no end is that one here (and I assume in the US as well and possible other countries) one has to haggle like on a flea market to get a decent rate.
I urrently have 100/0 FTTH which was listed at $C70.-per month - with haggling and promotions I got it for $C35.- per month, the this year the standard rate went up to $c80.- and the best I ould do was $C50.-
At least the the speed is very consistent at 110/11 every time I check and in the last three years with FTTH I have not had a single outage (that I'm aware of).
Max speed offered her via FTTH is 1.5Gbit, but for a family of four where everyone uses the internet pretty much all day, even the 25/10 plan would be fast enough I think - however that only saves $C10.- per month
 
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All of this talk shows why Elon Musk wants to create StarLink. Broadband Internet world wide through satellites. That should drive all of these petty companies batty!
 
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chscag

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My ISP lately has been advertising 1GB speeds (fiber network). I could get it for 1 year at a special price but after that the cost goes up considerably. If I was running a business with multiple machines, I would probably go for it, but for just home use those speeds are not needed.
 

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My ISP changed my speed to 1.5Gbps/940Mbps for one month on a trial basis.
When I checked the speeds from the modem, I did get these speedswith a ping of 2 or 3 msc, but over WiFi, the download speed to a 2018 MacBook Air topped out at about 350 Mbps but in practice I didn't notice any real difference compared to my normal 100/10 plan.
With an upload speed of 940 Mbps I thought I could perhaps use this fast connection to run my websites using a server at home and save a few bucks paying a hosting site, but the ISP specifically forbids that.
 
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