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Friday, September 25, 2009

Internet Connection Speed Test

 
I think I have a pretty good internet connection but many of my friends tell they have much faster connections. Here's a site that tests your upload and download speeds: Speedtest.net.

I don't know how reliable these are, but here are my results (avg. of five trials):

          DOWNLOAD:  8290 kbps
          UPLOAD:        8080 kbps

I'm pretty happy with my connection through the University of Toronto. Are there better ones out there?



There's another speed test at InterFrog.com. It gives a difference result for upload speeds.

In the first student labs we ran back in 1987 we downloaded DNA sequence files via a 28.8 kbps modem. That was 22 years ago and the connection speed has only increased about 300×. Doesn't Moore's Law say that the improvement should have been more than 1000-fold?




8 comments :

Anonymous said...

25994 down, 14919 up.... Santa Monica FIOS

-DG said...

10715 down 4402 up Dalhousie University.

And Moore's Law really only talks about transistor density, which tends to be closely correlated with processor clock speed but inexactly.

Unknown said...

Dribble. I salivate at the thought of Mbps speeds. Things are abysmal here in the pointy end of Africa.
Cape Town: Down 517; Up: 283

Mike said...

In 1987, a 28.8kbps modem would have been insanely fast; I bought my first 2400bps modem in 1990, and I remember 14.4kbps (or 16.8kbps at most) being what everyone lusted after at the time.

Bayesian Bouffant, FCD said...

Using SpeedTest.mini, avg of 5 trials:
Download: 11042 kbps
Upload: 9979 kbps

Using an "official server at Speedtest.net," avg of 5 trials:
Download 89.96 Mbps
Upload: 19.12 Mbps

Rob Beiko said...

Oops, I think the pigeon dropped the memory stick.

Anyone have a spare homing pigeon?

Anyone?

Rob Beiko said...

Fine, 2500 down, 1000 up, or about 4-5 Cape Town Units.

My understanding was the pointy end of Africa was the best place for Internet access (although maybe that was specific to wireless...)

I spent my first paycheck ever on a sound card, and my second on a 14.4 modem. Which I then used to connect to 2400 baud BBSs.

DK said...

Are there better ones out there?

:-)

My home connection is as fast as your university's (UL only; cable subscription limits DL at 1/4 of capacity). My work connection is ~4X of your DL and ~2X of your upload. And that's because kids at our IT support run this really shitty firewall that significantly slows things down.