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Jan 23
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You know how many minutes your cell phone plan allows. How many text messages you can send/receive or how much data you can use to surf the Internet. You know how many channels you pay for and if you can or can not use long distance. Sounds pretty obvious right?
Well it is, because most people (including myself) are always checking to make sure you are getting the correct services you are paying for. Well, what makes your Internet connection speed any different? Do you know how fast your download or upload speeds are? Do you know what you’re suppose to be getting?
Initial DL/UL Speeds
I checked myself recently as I was noticing some pretty slow download speeds for a few items(Pdocasts, iTunes music, etc) that were normally not so bad. So I went to SpeakEasy Speedtest (http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/), a great site which shows you your download upload speed. From my own experience, I know that I have a 20mbps/3mbps connection. 20mbps, or megabytes per second, is a relatively standard connection in my area. The upload speed is a bit slower than I’d like, but it’s all the plan offered. I was expecting to see my speeds somewhat comparable to what I’m paying for, but when I ran the process, I was a bit shocked (and annoyed) at my results. 12mbps down? I’m paying for much more than this and now I completely understand why thing felt “off”.
After Diagnostic Tweaks
It may sound crazy to some, but I’m a work from home employee and even though 12mbps is plenty for most, for me it’s just not going to cut it. Between my home machines, work machine, mobile devices and home server, I need as much speed as I can get. I’m always on-line, always streaming content so I notice these hiccups. Nevertheless, after a few quick diagnostics on my end (resetting the modem and router) and a quick call to my cable company’s tech support … I was pleased with the changes. Back at 20+mbps, back to my normal … back to downloading.
Do you know what your DL/UL speed is? Are you getting what you pay for?