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I have a 1 MB dsl connection and i am getting around 100 kb/s downloading speed. I was wondering if its right or i should expect more?

Infact my real question is what it really mean by 1 MB internet connection? To me its like my ISP divide 1 MB for 8-10 people and everyone then gets around 100 kb/s?

This is my ISP home page, you can see for more details if anyone has any confusion what i am really looking for.

http://www.ptcl.com.pk/contentp.php?NID=190

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what do these speed tests tell you? speakeasy.net/speedtest and dslreports.com/stest – quack quixote Dec 12 '09 at 15:41
are your router ADSL2+ enabled ? – Revolter Dec 12 '09 at 16:09
@Revolter I dont think so, its simple ASDL – itsaboutcode Dec 12 '09 at 17:05
I think you mean you have a 1Mb connection, not a 1MB – MDMarra Dec 12 '09 at 17:17
@MarkM i think you are right, but you know that when they advertise they use the word "mega bytes" not "mega bits" and now i can see why i am getting 100 kb/s. – itsaboutcode Dec 12 '09 at 17:24
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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

ISPs typically advertise in MegaBITS per second, you're measuring in KiloBYTES per second. And then, you never get everything you're paying for, so 100kB/s on a 1Mb line seems about right to me, unfortunately!

Example: I have an 8 megabit/s line, meaning I should get 1 megabyte/s. I get close, sometimes, but most of the time I get about 2-300kb/s.

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yah thats basically confusing! if there advertisement is MBs then why we are getting speed in Kbs? – itsaboutcode Dec 12 '09 at 14:09
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Because ISPs want to make their services look better, but nobody measures anything in bits, they're too small. It's just another way for companies to try and trick us into thinking we're getting more than we are - but they all do it, so it doesn't really affect our choices! (Only our hopes and dreams :() – Phoshi Dec 12 '09 at 14:11
Every ISP I have ever known has measures speeds in either kilobits or megabits, NEVER kilobytes or megabytes. Conversion factors and line protocol waste apply as everyone has said. – Mokubai Dec 12 '09 at 16:04
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up vote 4 down vote

1 Megabits (Mb) = 1024 kilobits (kb), To convert to kilobytes (kB), you simply divide by 8, since there are 8 bits in a byte.

you should have arround 1024 / 8 = 128 kilobytes (kB) download speed, so 100 kB is great.

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he said he has 1MB internet connection speed not 1Mb – Am1rr3zA Dec 12 '09 at 14:59
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thats what's the IPS are saying, I think they were just writing in uppercase ... marketing ... – Revolter Dec 12 '09 at 15:24
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I think you are right in your calculations, its megabits not megabytes! But these advertising companies just confuse you on TV when they say its megabytes! – itsaboutcode Dec 12 '09 at 17:26
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In general, they don't say Megabytes. If you look on the website linked, it says "1Mbps". Most consumers simply don't pay attention to Mbps vs MBps. – Andrew Coleson Dec 12 '09 at 17:33
@Andrew Yah you are right. – itsaboutcode Dec 12 '09 at 17:42
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up vote 3 down vote

With line-protocol overhead, you should count 10 bits for the transmission of each 8-bits byte.

So, if your speed is 1 Mb/s (rather than 1MB as you wrote), then you're getting exactly the right speed as promised by your ISP.

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