tranfree issue 19 - 3rd October 2000

How To Check Your Connection Speed

by Alex Eames

I recently came across this site which allows you to check your precise connection speed right now! Go to...

http://computingcentral.msn.com/topics/bandwidth/ [unfortunately this doesn't work any more]

...and click on "speed test". It takes a minute or so to work (depending on your connection speed of course). Here's a couple of test results from my ISPs. All 3 using the same equipment -- Psion 56k Modem and same computer and phone line. I did them as close as possible to the same time.

The first figure is the line speed in kiloBaud (kilobits per second -- 1 byte = 8 bits). The second figure is in kilobytes per second...

• Sunday 16:05 GMT   Virgin.net   FREE
  42.5 kBps, 5.2 kBytes/s
  
  
• Sunday 16:06 GMT   Demon.net   11.75 GBP/month
  29.4 kBps, 3.6 kBytes/s
  
  
• Sunday 16:10 GMT   CompuServe   ~8 GBP/month
  28.1 kBps, 3.4 kBytes/s
  (CompuServe took two tries to get a connection.)

The astonishing thing here is that the Virgin.net connection is a FREE ISP and the other two are paid for!

I used to use Virgin as a backup ISP, but since I discovered that I usually get a faster connection on this equipment, I've been using them for my main dial-up connection.

They seem to perform better at any time of day than either of my paid-for providers. Now why is that? There's some things about the internet that I will never understand

It could be that the Virgin modems are more compatible with my Psion 56k modem. But how often is FREE stuff better than paid- for? Not very.

Anyway, have some fun with this. It can get addictive. But like all new toys, you'll probably be bored of it in a week or two

Alex Eames is the founder of translatortips.com,
editor of tranfree and author of the eBook...

How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator
http://www.translatortips.net/ht50.html

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