Broadband Internet speed rip-off

[alanb]

It really pains me how slow my Broadband connection is. The only thing "Broad" about it is the price. So I started looking into it and thought I would share my findings for other frustrated Australian internet users.

The Broadband speed tests you generally see on web sites are flawed and no indication of the speed you are actually getting. Why? Service providers give them priority and restrict speed on other sites. PC Magazine wrote their own application which tests actual downloads from popular sites such as Google and the results are as you would expect, really slow. For example, today I used a internet speed meter which says I have speeds of 5,554 kbps, my plan says it should be 20,000 kbps and the actual speed of downloading my ISPs home page is a pitifully slow 1.61 kbps today as I write this. The best I have ever seen is about 300 kbps but on average I would say that my ADSL is slower than dial-up should be, ranging from 4 - 36 kbps.

I'm posting this to spread the word and so that hopefully we can let the ISPs know by popular opinion they can't pull the wool over our eyes forever. Check it out for yourselves and then, if you agree, post this information everywhere you can. Broadband in Australia is costly compared to North America and they still screw us over by not delivering on promised speeds. I know the internet is sometimes just "busy" or overloaded with traffic at certain nodes, but it appears to have been "busy" ever since I got my Broadband connection. Hell, I would even be happy if I just got consistent speeds of 1,000 kbps of the 20,000 kbps promised.

You can read the full articles at PC Magazine:

Article 1

Article 2

And download their speedtest utility at:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1960251,00.asp

or look for

"SurfSpeed: Test Your Surfing Speed for Free" at http://go.pcmag.com/utilities.

You can add your own sites to test. Try your ISPs home page for one, you wont be surprised with the results. It will reflect a speed more in line with how long it takes to actually download pages and not that of some stupid speed test that shows speeds you can only dream of.

Alan

Edited July 19, 2007 by alanb

[Hendrik]

Alan

I have an iinet 24mbps connection. When I download from Microsoft I get a constant 8000kbps download per download (could never get more than 2 going at once) or a 50MB file in under a minute.

The only downside about the connection is the anticipation that is lost when you download iTunes or mp3's.

Good luck with your connection.

[ptlabs]

I have an iinet 24mbps connection. When I download from Microsoft I get a constant 8000kbps download per download (could never get more than 2 going at once) or a 50MB file in under a minute.

Inability to get more than two parallel downloads is probably an Internet Explorer limitation, not an ISP issue

Peter

[werns75]

i agree with ptlabs......there are ways to hack the registry to get around the file download limitation, otherwise, go check out REGET (google it to get webpage) - its a utillity for throwing your downloads in a queue and you don't have to bother with keeping track of them

[alanb]

Alan

I have an iinet 24mbps connection. When I download from Microsoft I get a constant 8000kbps download per download (could never get more than 2 going at once) or a 50MB file in under a minute.

The only downside about the connection is the anticipation that is lost when you download iTunes or mp3's.

Good luck with your connection.

I had never heard of iiNet before and is seems they operate here in Townsville. As soon as my current contract expires Ill give them a try.

Thanks for the info.

[Hendrik]

Thanks Gents

I will go fiddle in my already not-so-lekker settings and registry.

[woodag]

I had never heard of iiNet before and is seems they operate here in Townsville. As soon as my current contract expires Ill give them a try.

Thanks for the info.

Just because iiNet can provide a service in your area does not mean you will get a 24mbps connection. If you are on an exchange where they have installed their own equipment, and assuming that ports are available, you can get their ADSL2+ service that they call broadband2+ (actual speed will depend on distance from the exchange and how good the line is). In other areas iiNet resell an ADSL service provided by Telstra - iiNet call these plans broadband1 and generally speaking they are not as good value as the broadband2+ plans.

From a quick look at the iiNet site it appears that they do not offer broadband2+ in Townsville, but you can check for yourself by entering your telephone number at

http://www.iinet.com.au/products/broadband/

Also take a look here:

http://www.adsl2exchanges.com.au/viewexcha...p?Exchange=TNSF

[Annette]

Another thing to keep in mind is even if you can get ADLS2+, the speed and quality of the connection is still only dependent on the cabling in the area. We were told by our ISP that speed varies from street to street and even within one street, depending on the type and age of the cabling on your street and even in your own house . We are on ADSL 2+ and never get more than about 500 kbps.