Is my DSL Internet speed 1.5 Mbps or is it 72 or 100 Mbps?

Hi Joe. You can check your speed here: TestMySpeed.com modem speed tests. Test internet connection speed. Bandwidth speed test Cable DSL

Ethernet, with the RJ45 connection that looks like a BIG phone plug(which are RJ11 or RJ12), is generally ONLY 10, 100, 1000 Mbps! So even if you had a 300baud connection, the connection to your computer would be 10,100, or 1000! Wireless connections are different, but I think the SLOWEST currently available is 11Mbps!

The speeds above are ABSOLUTE MAXIMUMS! So if you got a trillion Mbps ADSL connection(Not possible, but just as an example) and your computer said 54 Mbps, it would still work, but 54Mbps would be the FASTEST you could really go. BTW 54Mbps means you can receive about 5.4 million bytes per second. The SMALL b in Mbps means BIT!

As for the REAL speed? the 1.5 is the old standard MAX for a FULL ADSL, so that may be right. The speed on upload and download may be different though. Even 3Mbps is WAY below your limit, so it is probably worth it.

Steve

Hello waterotter,

I greatly appreciate the speed test link - thank you. From what I can tell, I think my speed is 1.5 (well, it's closer to 1.0, though this is the Wireless-G computer I am on, but that indicates that my maximum DSL speed is 1.5, not 54, 72, or 100).

Therefore, I would presume then that upgrading to 3.0 would be a benefit (i.e. I'd see greater speeds - maybe, say 2.5-3.0 - somewhere in that range - would that be correct?)

Again, I appreciate the link - thank you.

Please take care, keep up the great work, and have a good day!

Sincerely,

Joe Chengery III

Hello Steve,

I appreciate the info. - thank you.

Running the speed test, the download speed was just under 1.0 (about 950 Kbps) with my Avast antivirus on and about 1016 Kbps with it off (though I plan on keeping it on, despite the slightly slower speeds) and about 316-318 Kbps upload speed (I think the max. I can obtain is 384 Kbps). So, certainly the download and upload speeds are different (as to be expected with ADSL).

Regarding your example, though, the 54 Mbps is a lot lower than your 1 trillion example. In my case, the 54 Mbps is higher than 1.5 Mbps, so would I be surfing at 54 or 1.5? I'm guessing it would be the 1.5 because that's what my DSL company is giving me, or am I incorrect? That's why I wonder: Would 3.0 make any difference or would I still be getting 54 if that's what I'm getting now?

Again, I appreciate the info. and advice - thank you.

Please take care, keep up the great work, and have a good day!

Sincerely,

Joe Chengery III

I would consider upgrading. A call to your provider should clarify any questions you have.

Here is a link to test SpeakEasy: Speakeasy - Speed Test

There are many different site where you can test your speed, if you'd like to compare:

test my speed connection - Google Search

Hello everyone,

I appreciate all of the great info. and speed test links - thank you. I had planned on calling my provider just to see.

For the record, I did try the Speakeasy Speed Test (thank you waterotter) and here were my results:

Average of all 8:
1.31 Mbps - Download
0.32 Mbps - Upload

Chicago:
1.33 Mbps - Download
0.32 Mbps - Upload

New York:
1.34 Mbps - Download
0.32 Mbps - Upload

Washington DC:
1.35 Mbps - Download
0.32 Mbps - Upload

Atlanta:
1.27 Mbps - Download
0.32 Mbps - Upload

Dallas:
1.30 Mbps - Download
0.32 Mbps - Upload

Los Angeles:
1.30 Mbps - Download
0.32 Mbps - Upload

San Francisco:
1.30 Mbps - Download
0.32 Mbps - Upload

Seattle:
1.32 Mbps - Download
0.32 Mbps - Upload

A little amazing that the upload speed was exactly the same on all 8. As for the download speed, it hovered mostly around 1.10-1.29 throughout most of the tests, but on about 5 to 6 of them, there was a sudden jump in the threshold right at the very end of the test, boosting it up into the 1.3 range (except for Atlanta).

Like Gordon, my speed was improved on Speakeasy's test compared to TestMySpeed's, though not to the extreme that Gordon mentioned (mine was about .95 Mbps to 1.03 Mbps on TestMySpeed's, as compared to 1.1 Mbps to 1.35 Mbps on Speakeasy's).

So, I think it's reasonable to conclude that my speed is more in or under the 1.5 range and not 54, 72, or 100. :-)

I will certainly consider upgrading to 3.0 (as mentioned, though my host provides 6.0, I don't qualify for it, probably because I'm not close enough to the station, though I may ask just to be sure - not sure I'd upgrade to 6.0 anyway since it's a bit more expensive, but for the price mentioned in my post above, I'd certainly consider 3.0).

Again, I appreciate the info. and links - thank you.

Please take care, keep up the great work, and have a good day!

Sincerely,

Joe Chengery III

Hello sahaya,

A few questions to consider:

1. What is the Internet speed you're supposed to receive from your cable or DSL company? (i.e. What is the maximum speed you're supposed to receive - 1.5 Mbps, 3.0 Mbps, 6.0 Mbps, etc.)

2. Provided you don't pay for a higher speed plan (i.e. go from a 1.5 plan to a 3.0 plan, for example), you should make sure that all of your phone outlets have "filters" on them. "Filters" refer to microfilters that you place in each phone jack outlet in your home that shares the same telephone line as the high-speed Internet connection. Please see the following link for some illustrations on high-speed microfilters and inserting them into your phone jack outlets:

Verizon | High Speed Internet - Are your DSL filters installed correctly?

If you don't have microfilters on every phone jack outlet that has a telephone, satellite box, cable box (any device that uses the telephone line to send information) plugged into it, it will interfere with your telephone communications in terms of static and it will decrease your high-speed Internet speed, since both the voice communication and the high-speed Internet connection will try to use the same pathway along the telephone line to send information.

This is what the microfilter does - it moreless splits the telephone line into two lines - one "line" is for your voice communication, which only uses the low-end frequency range of the telephone line; the other "line" is for your high-speed Internet connection, which uses the higher-end frequency range of the line to send data from the Internet at high speeds.

That is why you can talk on the telephone and surf the Internet at the same time with high-speed Internet, something you can't do with dial-up Internet.

From my observations of the information you posted, I'm guessing that your maximum high-speed Internet speed is 1.5 Mbps - is that correct? If so, 1.09 Mbps is not bad, though you might be able to increase it a little bit. The speed also depends on the quality of your phone line (provided you are using a DSL service) or on how many other people in your neighborhood are using the high-speed Internet service (provided you are using a cable modem service). If you're using a Cable service, they offer higher speeds than DSL, but the disadvantage is that everyone in your neighbor hood shares the same cable line - therefore, during peak times when virtually everyone is using their high-speed Internet, your connection speeds will be much lower, as low or even lower than DSL connection speeds. When there aren't many people using the cable line, your speeds will be much faster.

Provided you have DSL (which offers slower speeds than Cable, but your connection speed is only dependent upon the quality of your telephone line and Internet traffic, not on whether the rest of your neighborhood is online or not), if your phone line is older and provides static when you talk on the telephone, your Internet speed will likely be affected and you won't achieve close to top speeds (you'll rarely achieve top speed - that is more the threshold you can reach, NOT where you expect to be all the time; the closer you can reach the top speed on average, the better your Internet connection is). The only remedy here is to replace the telephone wiring inside of your home - this will likely require contacting your local telephone company and having a professional change the telephone wiring inside of your home, which will cost considerable time and money. Deciding to do this is up to you, but unless your line is in really poor shape, is probably not a necessary option.

Additionally, your upload speed will be slower - most people have what is called "asymmetrical" DSL, meaning that download speeds will be faster than upload speeds, since most people utilize the Internet to bring up Web pages and download audio, video, and text files. Businesses that have their own servers and are constantly uploading and changing their websites will often purchase "symmetrical DSL," meaning that the download and upload speed are the same. Of course, symmetrical DSL costs more than asymmetrical DSL, another reason why most people will purchase asymmetrical DSL, which is likely what you have since your download and upload speeds are different.

Another thing to consider - you can run tests like the one at scanmyspeed.com several times and come up with various numbers - it's unlikely the number will be exactly the same or even very close each time you run it; there will be variation due to the Web traffic that is going to Scan My Speed's test servers at the time you run the test.

Also keep in mind that your speed may appear faster if you run the test more than once, but that is likely because the test Web page is indexed in your browser's cache, thereby enabling the Internet connection to submit the Web page faster. To run more accurate tests each time, you should clear your cache first before running each test.

Hopefully, this information proves useful to you - if you have any more questions or need further advice, please feel free to post again or to PM or email me via the forum.

Good luck in improving your Internet speed. :-)

Take care and have a great day!

Joe Chengery III

This is what I've always heard. Say you have a cable speed of 100 mb/s. This is the total bandwidth, not the actual download speed. From what I have been told is that you can basically divide this by 100 give or take a few and you get your download speed. This actually works in my house as on the wireless, I'm getting 55 mb/s and when I download, the speed is usually about 500 kb/s or so, up to 600 kb/s. I'm not sure if dividing by 100 gets you the exact number but a 100 mb/s would mean about a 1 mb/s dowload speed. Just another way to look at it. Maybe I've heard completely wrong.

Joe,

I think all of these numbers are good. It looks like you are getting results of data speed between devices.

My desktop is connected to my router by a CAT5 (standard network) cable. The speed is indeed 100 mbps between the PC and the router.

Laptop, wireless N, like yours 70 something Mbps between the laptop and the router. Okay you get the idea.

Your ISP is controlling the speed at which you upload and download to your modem and hence the router.

1.5Mbps is fine for building sites, Warrior Forum'ing, etc. If you do a lot of downloading, 3.0 or 6.0 Mbps is real nice.

Hope this helps.


Joe Mobley