Dumb Question: How fast is 10mbit?

aeonrevolution

aeonrevolution

2[H]4U
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Aug 30, 2004
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I'm looking at upgrading my Charter account from 3mbit to 10mbit. The price, after tax, will be roughly $30-40 extra bucks bringing it to $80 before taxes. Keep in mind taxes will shoot it up to like $115 or more.

Anyways I was just wanting to check in at what speeds this would give me. I'm usually averaging around a 2.5mbit - 2.7mbit connection now and download speeds cap off around 375kb/s and upload speeds around 30kb/s.
 
8 bits in a byte - but there is TCP overhead of 10%. And if you have a QoS service running on your OS, it can reserve an additional 10% of your ethernet connection's bandwidth (this will probably only affect you if you are using a 10mbit NIC)

So...

10mbit / sec * (1024 kbit / mbit) * (1025 bit / kbit) = 10,485,760 bit/sec * (1 byte / 8 bit) = 1,310,720 byte / sec theoretical max.

Minus 10% = a little over 1 megabyte/sec


but of course this will depend on the servers you are downloading from... many have bandwidth capacities per user, etc. If you are downloading from peer-to-peer networks, you will definitely notice the difference. If you are downloading game demos, shareware apps, etc, from busy servers, you probably wouldn't notice that much of a difference.

IMO, save your money unless you need the higher bandwidth. Do they have any "hidden" rules like Comcast does? (i.e., download more than 80 GB in a month -> warn you. Do it a second time in 6 months -> suspend your service.

You would run into that "invisible ceiling" a lot faster at 10mbit :)
 
hey! this is [H]! faster is ALWAYS better! If only one could overclock one's internet connection.. and watercool..

although I'd love to be able to pay 110 for a 10mbit connection. Heck, I'm paying around 60 for my dsl line and it's a quarter of that speed.
 
In 1983 I was on CompuServe at - get this - 450 baud. Why's that matter? It was a 300 baud modem, "overclocked" to get 450 baud, seriously. It was a timing variable you could change in the VidTex software people used to access CompuServe with the Commdore series of computers. I had an eternally cool C64...

People might think it's no big deal but but but... that was a 50% boost in speed, and after staring at text appearing onscreen at 300 baud for 3 or 4 years seeing that stuff ZIP onscreen at 450 was a watershed moment, lemme tell ya.

There were three people in the US accessing CompuServe at 450: I was the first, then I showed two friends how to do it on their C64's also. Was fun times, and I even had several CompuServe guides verify my connect speed and were stunned at how it was happening.

Another benefit was a 50% speed boost at no additional cost. Those were the days before unlimited everything and 300 baud connects were $.10 a minute or $6 an hour. 2400 baud connects were $.25 a minute ($15/hr) and heaven forbid if you were rich on a 9600 baud connect it was $36/hr.

Oh the fun times I had... memories now, only memories. :)
 
What I don't get is Where are you that they charge almost 50% tax on broadband connections? That is just out there.
 
I have charter too. I have the 5mb/512kb service and it fits my needs just fine. I don't use much p2p, but the extra up/down is noticeable for my vpn connect to work. Rarely do I notice any impact to speed when working and wife/kid are using the connection. Anything I do notice is the upload speed maxing out at times. No complaints about service availability/outages since they upgraded some infrastructure in the area.

I'd think that if they offer the 10mb in your area, the 5mb should be available too. I suggest bumping up to 5mb at first. If you feel the need for more, they'll gladly let you upgrade at anytime. You can also drop back to 3mb w/o problems. Check it out and see if you can benefit from some bundled package if you also have tv and/or phone with them. Be sure to see what others think of the quality of service in your area, broadbandreports.com should be your first stop.

HTH.

Ike
 
I'm looking at upgrading my Charter account from 3mbit to 10mbit. The price, after tax, will be roughly $30-40 extra bucks bringing it to $80 before taxes. Keep in mind taxes will shoot it up to like $115 or more.
Click to expand...
That's quite a premium for bandwidth that isn't guaranteed.

Charter takes a 38Mbps node and shares it between 50-150 customers. They cap each customer at 3Mbit, 5Mbit, or 10Mbit, but the bandwidth you see depends on what others in your neighborhood are doing at a particular time. If all your neighbors do is browse the web, then your Internet throughput will be very good. On the other hand, if you've got a few people down the street with the 10mbit plan running torrents 24/7, you are not going to see anywhere near 10mbit real-world throughput.

As other posters have said, with 10Mbit service, you should be pushing between 1.00 and 1.25 megabytes per second. If you see anything less at any time during the day, then Charter oversold their bandwidth in your area. Just about every larger site on the Internet is capable of at least 5Mbps (500 kilobytes per second), and many like Microsoft.com, Apple.com, and various trailer sites will sustain 50Mbps (6+ megabytes per second).


<-- FiOS @ 50Mbps
 
I'm not sure if its just a Missouri thing, but the taxes on our cable related items are ridiculous :eek:
 
aeonrevolution said:
I'm looking at upgrading my Charter account from 3mbit to 10mbit. The price, after tax, will be roughly $30-40 extra bucks bringing it to $80 before taxes. Keep in mind taxes will shoot it up to like $115 or more.

Anyways I was just wanting to check in at what speeds this would give me. I'm usually averaging around a 2.5mbit - 2.7mbit connection now and download speeds cap off around 375kb/s and upload speeds around 30kb/s.
Click to expand...

A easier way to convert the numbers is to just divide by 8 to convert from megabit (Mb) to megabyte (MB).

3Mb / 8 = .375 MB = ~375 KB

10Mb / 8 = 1.25 MB = ~ 1250 KB

Calebb's method is more precise of course :)


RoBo said:
10mb is a 10mb file in 10 seconds.
Click to expand...

That is incorrect. A 10mb connection downloads at 10mb per second (theoretical maximum) so it should be able to download it in 1 second assuming you're able to reach 10mb per second speeds in actual usage (which is rare.)
 
A couple suggestions for folks using Charter internet. I've used Charter for many years and every year I negotiate with them for a pre-paid annual plan. I ask what deals they have, if they don't have something to my liking I tell them I can't afford it and will have to cut back on services. Then they can start changing their tune. I pay a year at a time for internet service and get a fairly good deal for doing such. I'm locked in for that year and cannot stop service without penalty however. If I move to another area with Charter the plan stays in effect.

Last August I worked a deal for the 3 meg service. At the first of this year I got an email from them out of the blue stating that they increased my bandwidth to 5 meg for no additional cost. I will continue to get 5 meg until the end of this year. If I do nothing at the end of the year it will go back to 3 meg. If I want to I can pay for 5 meg next year. (unlikely since I will soon need to re-negotiate another annual plan with them)

I'm actually interested in what I'll swing with them this year since DSL is finally available at my house. If I start singing that tune with them I may get a very good deal.
 
i pay about $90 after taxes for my charter 10mb line and i get about 1300k/sec easily.

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I hate Charter. They are overpriced and continually bump up prices every couple months and claim it is to provide better value.

Luckily, I am moving into a new house in less than a week and will be switching to AT&T
 
Last Result:
Download Speed: 11456 kbps (1432 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1526 kbps (190.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

Coming at you from northern NJ with Comcast. I pay about $34/month. :D

(I used www.speakeasy.net/speedtest with NY datacenter)
 
calebb said:
Do they have any "hidden" rules like Comcast does? (i.e., download more than 80 GB in a month -> warn you. Do it a second time in 6 months -> suspend your service.
Click to expand...
I have Comcast cable and have downloaded 100+ GB/month before without any such warnings. No phone calls. No emails. No non-electronic mails.
Is this something recent (last few months)? Is it only in certain regions?
 
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