# Your Internet Connection Poll



## ScottW (Nov 19, 2003)

I am curious on how you connect to the Internet.


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## fryke (Nov 19, 2003)

2048 kbps downstream, 400 kbps upstream. Cablecom Switzerland just upgraded my line (from 600/200) and reduced the price at the same time (~50 USD per month). Nice, nice, nice.


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## Arden (Nov 19, 2003)

Earthlink diesel engine running under the hood here.


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## Urbansory (Nov 19, 2003)

SBC DSL, I'll never go back to dial up, but damn do i miss the T3 connection my college had.


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## dixonbm (Nov 19, 2003)

Comcast Cable....dialup...I haven't done that in over 5 years...that was back in the stone age of computing. I can't imagine that people still do that.  Even my father who did dial up when he travels no longer does it.  He's got wifi service with T-Mobile. Whenever he's in an airport he goes to an airport lounge. If he's in NY or LA he just stops outside a starbucks and grabs his email on his G4 PB.  Dial Up is a thing of the past! History!


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## Ripcord (Nov 19, 2003)

A friend of mine at work is picking up cable AND DSL because he wants the added speed that a second link will give him.  He's such a nerd.

Then I realized that the way the utilities are run here, I can actually get DSL from Verizon AND RCN, while at the same time get Cable modem from RCN and Comcast, for *4* lines.

...But I'm not that nerdy =) 

(I actually have cable TV from Comcast and RCN right now - RCN has just never turned off the jacks from when the previous tenants lived here, even after I've called them twice about it.  So instead I have a TV in the bedroom to take advantage of it - beats paying to have them set up a second jack, or running the cable myself...)


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## mr. k (Nov 19, 2003)

Cable from earthlink... *zoom*
Ultra Fast, I think it was sunday night at like 1 am once I got 800kb/sec downloading from developer.apple.com!


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## pds (Nov 20, 2003)

Still dialing up in Cairo, but thinking of taking a plunge into the shifting world of Egyptian DSL...


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## steven_lufc (Nov 20, 2003)

NTL:home is my ISP on cable modem

600down, 128 up. enough for what i do. 

some companies do offer home users a 1mb service but its not heard of much - fryke, 2mb must scream 

maybe the uk are behind everyone else in telecommunications, some regions don't even have broadband at all yet


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## Darkshadow (Nov 20, 2003)

Oh, there's regions in the US that don't have broadband yet, too.  UK's not the only one. 

Comcast cable here, too.  Though I've never cared to check the up/down speeds.


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## Urbansory (Nov 20, 2003)

i ran a few tests, the CNET test returned 1024 kbps
Another from a different test returned 1064 kbps
Another site 1397 kbps
Mcafee (http://promos.mcafee.com/speedometer/test_3000.asp) 6.482 MBps

Still not all that fast when compared to my old college connection, because that thing could take 650mb in under 15 seconds, and I was shocked when it did.


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## djarran (Nov 20, 2003)

Earthlink DSL at home - 1.5Mb/128Kb, and I consistently get close to the published speeds.

At the office, even though I have to use a Windoze PC, we do have a 10Gb fibre connection, so I don't suffer for bandwidth ;-)


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 20, 2003)

SBC Yahoo! DSL down here in Texas -- 1.5Mbit down, 128k up... and yeah, it sucks trying to upload big files.  Downloading screams, though.


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## djarran (Nov 20, 2003)

Addendum - At home I use IPNetMonitor Pro which includes a bandwidth monitor and gives you a very good idea of your download/upload speeds at all times, without having to rely on a utility like CNET's, which reports my office connection speed as 128Kb!

http://www.sustworks.com/site/prod_ipmx_overview.html


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## cybergoober (Nov 20, 2003)

Cable at home.

Not sure what we have at work, except it rawks.


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## cybergoober (Nov 20, 2003)

Hmm. Tried that link that Urbansory posted.
Not sure how accurate that is though.
I'm at work BTW.


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## nervus (Nov 20, 2003)

Cable: Chello.nl
 ::angel::


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## bobw (Nov 20, 2003)

Comcast cable. Just waiting for 12/1/03 when their bumping the speed from 1.5 to 3.0 in my area.


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## Urbansory (Nov 20, 2003)

I was wondering how accurate it was myself, because I don't think thats right. But if it is, I definitely can't tell from the way some sites load.


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## chevy (Nov 20, 2003)

fryke said:
			
		

> 2048 kbps downstream, 400 kbps upstream. Cablecom Switzerland just upgraded my line (from 600/200) and reduced the price at the same time (~50 USD per month). Nice, nice, nice.



Net2000 is still on the "old" 600/200 and will go smoothly to 2000/400 by Jan 1st.


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## chevy (Nov 20, 2003)

Mozilla has much better results than Safari, and I tried both several times !


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## Urbansory (Nov 20, 2003)

IE seems to give a more realistic reading.

1.1Mbps (151.98 KBps)


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## steven_lufc (Nov 20, 2003)

rawks?? 

that good or bad?


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## Shotokan (Nov 22, 2003)

Road Runner here.  Was #1 in the US at one point, not sure if it is anymore but they just upped the speeds for us again.  Coming from ADSL, cable is a dream.


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## Total Konfuzion (Nov 22, 2003)

Comcast 1.5mb Cable(soon to be 3mbit) in Massachusetts.


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## j79 (Nov 22, 2003)

Urbansory said:
			
		

> i ran a few tests, the CNET test returned 1024 kbps
> Another from a different test returned 1064 kbps
> Another site 1397 kbps
> Mcafee (http://promos.mcafee.com/speedometer/test_3000.asp) 6.482 MBps
> ...



That macafee one is weird.... My results were:

87.781 Mbps 
(10.973 MBps)

i only wish....

dslreports says: 1436 kbps


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## Trip (Nov 22, 2003)

I love my comcast, and the 3 MBPS upgrade was a nice touch.


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## tsizKEIK (Nov 23, 2003)

well. i just moved appartments 1 week ago and have to wait for my new setup.

in my old a appartment there was a LAN network setup for the whole building and it was 10mbit. yes it was amazing. oh.,. and it WAS FREE (included in rent costs)

anyways. the connection i am about to get will probably be  adsl or xdsl of some kind and its speed will be from 8 to 26 mbit (it depends on the network around here). 8mbit is amazing. but im sure id prefer 26 mbit. oh and all this will cost around 35 euros per month  cheerz mates.


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## senne (Nov 23, 2003)

Telenet Cable. I think its 1Mbps down. Up, max speeds of 35Kb/s


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## senne (Nov 23, 2003)

hmm.. Is this test right?  

> Cable


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## Cat (Nov 23, 2003)

I've got a 512/128 cable connection from Casema/Wanadoo for  29,95 monthly.


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## ora (Nov 23, 2003)

steven_lufc said:
			
		

> NTL:home is my ISP on cable modem
> 
> 600down, 128 up. enough for what i do.
> 
> ...



Check out Bulldog DSL, they do deals were you get 512 daytime, then 1 or 2 mb overnight at a very reduced rate. I think the 1mb version is about £25/month, which is pretty competetive (but you need your own router), and is more widely available than the 2mb (which seems to be London only).

Getting it next week, when i move into my new place!!! Moving from student grime to bachelor pad heaven, can't wait!
Still doesn't compare to my access at university though, am on main transatlantic net link, and have had 1mbyte/sec from apple support (movie download in 40 mins)

ora


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## mr. k (Nov 23, 2003)

no, that's outrageous.  Unless it takes you less then a second to download anything under 100Mb...


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## hulkaros (Nov 23, 2003)

DSL 512/128 supposedly but it is more like 128/64


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## Urbansory (Nov 23, 2003)

Safari returns incorrect results with that test. Try it in IE, you get a more realistic result.


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## dave17lax (Nov 23, 2003)

ElCoco, how do you like SBC? I am in Dallas with SBC, and the speed is actually pretty awful. I pay 50 bucks monthly and get consistantly low speeds (768/128 advertised, 300/100 actual). 

I have a buddy who lives in Greenville (podunk town) that pays $40/mo total for cable tv AND 1.5MB cable internet. The bastard.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Nov 23, 2003)

Hehe... dave17lax: I'm in San Antonio, and the DSL was flaky here in the beginning about 5 years ago, but its improved phenomenally.  The advertised speed is 1.5Mbit down/128k up, and I get pretty close to that.  The advertised rate is $49.95/mo., but they're running specials at $30/mo. for the first year -- however, my year is already up and they're still only charging me $30/mo.!

I'm thinking about switching to Time Warner Cable internet, though, since they just upped the speed to 3Mbit down, $30/mo. for the first 6 mo.  The thing that's getting me looking at cable is the faster download speed, and the fact that DSL upload speed is total crap.  Cable I think is synchronous, so i'd get the same upload speed as the download speed.

Try calling back the DSL company you've got DSL from and complain that you're not seeing speeds close to the advertised speed.  That's what I did, because they put me on a 384 down/128 up plan in the beginning, and I simply called back and told them that I was supposed to be getting the 1.5/128 package, and they switched me over without any questions, with no rate change!  If it's SBC/Yahoo! DSL, you should have the same kind of luck that I did...


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## macnewguy (Nov 23, 2003)

Cox Cable


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## Urbansory (Nov 23, 2003)

Well compared to what I had during my college years, it is bad, but I guess it is fast enough, I don't have any problems. I pay $26.95. Only bad thing is if you cancel out before you have the service for a year, you will owe $200. And i might have to cancel, and I really don't want to pay that $200.


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## tsizKEIK (Nov 24, 2003)

steven_lufc said:
			
		

> NTL:home is my ISP on cable modem
> 
> 600down, 128 up. enough for what i do.
> 
> ...




in sweden almost every connection is at least 1mbps and many of us here in stockholm have 10mbit..  (tops 26mbit) and there thinkin of bringin 100 mbit to private users (us) .. currently only companies can have 100 mbit (works with optical fibre cables )


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## bozzo (Nov 24, 2003)

in bulgaria we have devided the speeds for local bulgarian traffic and international ... i have 16mbit/4mbit international vs. 100mbit/100mbit bulgarian a small ISP i have ... :]]


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## mdnky (Nov 25, 2003)

Shotokan said:
			
		

> Road Runner here. Was #1 in the US at one point, not sure if it is anymore but they just upped the speeds for us again. Coming from ADSL, cable is a dream.


 It's not #1 for sure.  I also know quite a few people on roadrunner in the Cincy area, all are very disappointed with it.  Most only see 1/2 the advertised speed even at off-peak times, and one actually saw dialup speeds during peak times consistently.  Not to mention the horrible upload speeds of what, 128k.


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## Urbansory (Nov 25, 2003)

Yea, uploading on SBC is a joke. I know road runner is huge up in Rochester, NY, they swear by it, I would have had it, only $19.95 a month, had i elected to stay in Rochester.


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## Shotokan (Nov 28, 2003)

mdnky said:
			
		

> Most only see 1/2 the advertised speed even at off-peak times, and one actually saw dialup speeds during peak times consistently.  Not to mention the horrible upload speeds of what, 128k.



WOW!  Sorry to those people.  I am in the midwest and the network out here has yet to see its limit.  128k uploads???? Not here. 3mbs down and 512k up.  And I get those speeds consistently. EVERY TIME.

From bandwidthplace.com


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## Arden (Nov 30, 2003)

Do you guys see much downtime, with either DSL or cable, or even dial-up?  One of the problems with DSL (vs. cable) used to be that service would unexpectedly go down from time to time; however, I think the only downtime I've ever seen here has been on this side.


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## dave17lax (Nov 30, 2003)

I've had dsl since '99 or 2000, with three different companies at three different locations. The only down time I've had was differences in getting set up. Two took a week and the other took a month. But once it was up, it was up.


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## Urbansory (Nov 30, 2003)

I've had down time a few times, maybe 3 weeks ago when there was some problem and I was down about 3 hours. Other times are when they update things late at night, when i generally will be working on projects until I begin to nod off.


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## mr. k (Nov 30, 2003)

My cable has never gone down, it's been real reliable.  But I've only had the service for probably 6 months.


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## mdnky (Dec 1, 2003)

I've had DSL since...ugh...it's been awhile, maybe 5-6 years now at the house, the FD I ran at had it in both stations for 2 years, and I've had it at 4 locations in my offices over the past 4 years.  

At the house we've gone down a handfull of times at most:

Twice when the phone connection to the house went bad, Two were caused by careless drivers deciding that the telephone poles either didn't need to be there or who just wanted to test the safety of their vehicles by driving throught them (FD), and a couple of times when power went out.

The FD ones never went down, then again the telephone company was next door...so that may have been a reason.  To my knowledge our offices never died either, of course those were business class and had priority over residential services.

Then again, the two from the line connection at the house were the only ones that cable would've prevented MAYBE...but the others would have killed cable one too.  I can tell you the Cable TV service here sucks, goes down all the time...so I would assume the internet would with it.


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## Arden (Dec 4, 2003)

I must be missing something here... what's FD?


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