What's your internet connection speed?

[Sam]

Okay, thanks - I feel better now.

Actually, as DJ says, it's a miracle I'm even online!

[d_kendal]

Hi Sam,
This might make you feel even better. I'm in Canada in the middle of a reasonably big city (Edmonton) and when I tried the bandwidth test I got poor too!!
the results looked like this:

Dial-up Internet speeds in Canada

average: ************************

your speed: ****

56k modem: *************

ouch. and I'm not even in the middle of nowhere

- David

[Sam]

Interesting, David. Do you suppose this crowd has got an ulterior motive?

[d_kendal]

Lol, I wouldn't be too suprised. everybody seems to be getting the same message

- David

[BigAl]

Yesterday morning, I tried it from the university. I'm not sure what kind of link they have to the outside world, but it's pretty fat, so I said ISDN. Gave me >300kb/s, yet it said the speed was average!!!

So I think Sam and Dave are right in thinking there's a plot somewhere .

[DJ Dubovsky]

After that there is no way I'm going to even tell you what my test said. Looks like I may have started something here. OOPS
DJ

[d_kendal]

well I just got my ADSL hooked up and i love it! it took me a while to actually get it because it costed so much more than dial up but im very glad that i switched, it's definitely worth the price. when i was using 56k my top download speeds were about 4-5 kbps but with the DSL i'm getting over 150 k per second. I just downloaded a 200 MB file in about 25 minutes, its great!

- David

[Mike Needham]

1mb at the moment but upgrading to 2mb in September - you can never have too much bandwidth.

[JBCaffrey]

I have a 56k modem but rarely get connected faster than 34400. I blame it on the phone lines. I live 14 miles from the White House. You'd think the service would be better.

[Sharon Brunson]

JB

Have you had the phone company test your lines...(I once worked for AT&T). There are things they can do to 'boost' your line but you will have to be persistent to get them to do it.

Sharon

[Mike Needham]

It surprises me that so many of our 'cousins from across the pond' only have dialup access, I thought most of you had cable access and broadband connections. I would venture to say that all my friends and colleagues have minimum of 512, with many on more. Britian is fast becoming a broadband nation

[d_kendal]

I've been surprised too, I thought i was one of few to still be using dial up, but i was proved wrong. I think a lot of people are just waiting for the prices to come down some more. I think the price is worth it though, you may have to pay twice or 3 times more then you do for 56k, but the speed of it is many times as fast.

- David

[gland]

In the Dallas Tx area DSL runs about $50 per month. My 56K dialup is $8 per month. I usually hook up around 50K so it's not too bad. I'm waiting for the prices to come down.

Gary

[d_kendal]

$50 american? ouch.. over here in canada it costs me $25 cdn a month for the first 6 months then $35cdn (about $25 US) a month after that. for my dial up it cost $100 cdn a year and i hooked up at about 45k usually.

- David

[jeaniesa]

Yes David, our cable bill is $48/month! That gives us 1.5 Mbits/sec maximum download speed. We just got e-mail from AT&T informing us that they are now offering "UltraLink" service which gives a max download speed of 3 Mbits/sec for just $80/month! (DSL is not available where I live.) Wow - $25/month for DSL sounds great! AT&T definitely has a monopoly in this area.

Jeanie

[d_kendal]

is AT&T the only provider you can get DSL from? here there's a lot of different companies offering ADSL.

- David

[jeaniesa]

It's different in different parts of the country. Where I am (Colorado), Qwest offers DSL service, but it's not available in my neighborhood (I'm outside city limits). So my only choice is cable - and the only cable provider is AT&T. If I want a fast connection, AT&T is my only choice. But, I guess I should be thankful I have that choice at all given that I live in an "unincorporated county area".

Jeanie

[ravenmd]

829.6 kilobits per second
Is what I just got from this test. I'm pretty happy with that.
DSL line here in Montreal provided by local phone company.

Same price as David.. $35 cdn/month

I've had this line for 4 years now and can't even imagine living without it. Often thought of moving to live in a more rural area but the prospect of losing my DSL line is a serious deterrent.

[Mike Needham]

I wont go into the whys and wherefores (in part because I dont know many) but if you have an analogue connection, if you phone the engineers (I speak only with UK experience) and ask for the "gain" to be increased on your line, dont worry if you sound mad, they will know what you mean

Its been so long that I forget the details or the terminology, but also make sure that your phoneline is not split or shared.

[d_kendal]

I tried the test again and i got 731 kb per second the first time 1 mb per second on my second try.

- David

[Steve Taylor]

Originally posted by Chris W.
Oh Tom,

I just love hearing your responses, it's like you're right next door to me...same type of lifestyle and conditions...LOL.

Yes we have only one choice for internet connection out here in the middle of nowhere and no good prospects in the near future of getting out of the 19th century.

There is the option of satellite for you, it's fast, but it isn't cheap.

Steve

[cinderella]

Barb wire fences double as phone lines and when the cows rub on them we get interesting responses. We've come a long way here from party lines and being disconnected after 3 min. on a phone call to having about a 48Kbps connection that frequently cuts out. The Guadalupe Valley Tel Coop here in Central Texas sloowly makes improvements and brings us the latest technology about a decade late.
So I voted in the 28kbps group.

[Nick Carter]

Reading some of these posts has made me feel a lot better about 'telstra' here in Australia. I live in the country just outside Brisbane, and the best I can get is about 32.4 kbs, its an old line and not likely to be upgraded for a while, but when logged on its continuous until my time is up, 4 hours.

[eagle]

Originally Posted by thomasgeorge

The entire phone system up here is best described as dismal. The lines are bad.. Its annoying but I like the isolation so I can live with the less than rapid speed. Tom

If you have the money, look into Directv's satilite internet service called DirectPc

[Swampy]

I've come a long, long way. Started with a 300 baud coupler modem back in 1983. Went through all the incantations of dialup up to 56kb. In 2002 I was able to get DSL (512 down/128 up). I have recently resubscribed to DSL at 3mp down/512 up.

Life is good

[aylaah]

hahaha oh dear.

Thanks for the link (I know this is an old thread), I tested my *supposed* 1.5mb speed. Guess what I got - 168kb. Charming. And I pay for this because....?? Its slower than the slowest ADSL offered here of 256kb - being phased out to 512mb minimum adsl.

The adsl2 is only new here (the 8mb speeds) and very limited in where it'll work.

Guess who will be having a friendly chat with their ISP this evening!