SunBroadbandWirelessSoftwareManufacturer of ADSL, VDSL, HomePlug, analogue modem IP telephony, wireless, Skype DECT, DECT, DVB. Use our NEW speed test tool to test how fast your broadband or mobile internet connection really is. Read broadband news, information and join our community. EWEEK delivers breaking tech news, the latest IT trends, and indepth analysis daily. For more than 30 years, eWEEK has kept tech professionals ahead of the IT curve. A Guide to Broadband Speed. For lots of us internet users, wireless broadband can be a real headache, sometimes we pay top dollar for a service that promises high speeds, only to let us down at the first possible hurdle. So what factors determine the broadband speed you receive and why dont we always get the speeds we expectHow can you find out how fast our connections are And how can you ensure that downloads happen at the speed you want This broadband speed guide will attempt to answer all of these questions. What are broadband speeds Before you carry out a broadband speed test it helps to know what broadband speeds are and how they are measured. There are plenty of advantages to broadband over a dial up connection. For one, you dont have to worry about not using your internet and phone at the same time. However, the main reason that most users made the switch from dial up narrowband to broadband is that broadband is much, much quicker. This means that with a broadband connection you can view webpages much faster than with dial up. You can also download emails much quicker too. So instead of wasting time waiting for loading screens, you get your information much quicker with broadband. Uploading information with broadband is also much faster compared to dial up. If youre unsure, your upload speed is basically the time it takes to upload information from your computer on to the internet. A good example of this would be putting a video on You. Tube, adding your C. V. to a job site, or uploading pictures to social media sites. With the ever increasing popularity of the likes of Facebook and Twitter, upload speed is being considered much more nowadays, when previously it was only majorly judges by consumers who uploaded a lot of information. There are other advantages of a high speed broadband connection though. It helps when listening to music or watching video footage online, ensuring quality is kept to a suitable standard. Pdf Import Libreoffice. Broadband is also especially good for online gamers, wholl suffer from lag if their internet connection isnt fast enough. Also, broadband is fast enough to cater for multiple internet users, whether they be on computers, smartphones, tablets or games consoles, meaning you wont all be fighting over the internet like you would the bathroom in the mornings. Simply put, the key to enjoying your time on the internet often comes down to your speed of connection, especially if youve become accustomed to faster speeds. How are broadband speeds measuredThe speed of the broadband connection you receive differs depending on a number of factors which we will examine later in this guide. However, speed of connection is normally measured in megabits per second Mbs, unless of course you have an extremely slow connection, which will still deal with kilobits per second Kbs. The higher the number of bytes you are able to download per second, the faster the connection. For example, a cheap broadband package regularly offers download speeds of up to 3. Mbs, whilst a more expensive connection could offer upward of 1. Mbs, around fifty times faster. Compare this to the standard dial up connections of a few years back and you could receive speeds as slow as 5. Kbs, making the better broadband connections 3. What broadband speed do you needBefore going all out with your broadband connection, take a quick look at your internet usage as a household, as sometimes is might actually make sense to go for a less expensive option which will suit your needs, rather than an expensive one that you wont be using as much. Basically, just because super fast speeds are available, it doesnt mean that you should necessarily pay for them if you use the internet infrequently. Here are the speeds we recommend at moneysupermarket. Light broadband internet users If you dont use the internet all that often, maybe just a few times a week to check emails and briefly surf the web, theres little point in paying for high speed downloads. There are many packages available at around 3. Mbs, which are cost effective starter packages and should be suited for your needs as a household. Besides, if you do feel a little held back, you can always upgrade to a faster connection at a later date. Medium broadband internet users If you find yourself on the internet each day of the week, maybe scrolling through your Facebook feed, checking emails, watching videos and maybe streaming some television services, youre likely to be in the medium usage bracket of broadband users. Download speeds should be fairly important to you, whilst upload speeds might not be as much of a forethought for you. If youre in this bracket you should probably look for a service of around 1. Mbs to keep you going each month. Heavy broadband internet users For serial internet users out there who use the service to its full potential, and by this we mean spending hours on end watching cat videos on You. Tube, downloading films and music regularly, streaming hours worth of TV shows and playing online games until the early hours, youll be safely considered a high usage customer. Download Game Love Chess'>Download Game Love Chess. You should definitely put download speed as a priority in your broadband search, and seriously consider an unlimited download limit along with a decent upload speed. The generally accepted speeds for you should be upward of 3. Mbs, but serious users should look for services offering maybe 1. Mbs to be safe. What affects the broadband speed you receiveNumerous surveys across the UK have confirmed that broadband users paying for 8. Mbs service often suffer from speeds of around 2 3. Mbs, less than half the speed they think theyre getting. An unfortunate few even suffer from drops in speed during peak hours to a complete snails pace, sometimes taking several minutes to load a simple web page Thankfully, to find out your internet speed, you can use the moneysupermarket. But, if you are struggling to match your expected speed, it could be down to a few factors, so dont go switching just yet. Distance from the exchange  If youre still having your internet connection go through your phone line, then this can be a major reason why you might be suffering from slower speeds. Put simply, if youre closer to the telephone exchange, youll get a faster speed, but if youre not so close, you can expect a diminished pace without a doubt. Unfortunately, there isnt a whole lot you can do about this unless youre willing to move house to secure a shorter exchange distance. Remember, this only applies if your internet runs through your phone line, cable broadband isnt affected by this problem. Find out the broadband speed you can get in your area with this broadband speed test. Exchange contention ratio  It makes sense that if a lot of people are working through one telephone exchange, then your connection will likely suffer. Many internet service providers ISPs use a contention ratio which caps the number of people that can share any said exchange normally around 5. Some ISPs actually prioritise your bandwidth based on the package you buy meaning customers with a more expensive package will be given priority over customers paying less. Number of connections in your home  A common issue which often causes headaches, if multiple devices are hitting your broadband at once, its likely that the speed of your connection will drop. There isnt too much you can do about this, but if you have a higher speed to begin with, you shouldnt drop too far in terms of pace.