download speed question

[Rulke]

Ok, so when I do speed tests on various sites, I am clocked at having a 1.5mps DL rate (which is what I pay for, so good). However, I dont think Ive ever actually downloaded anything at that speed (things that matter). The T.E.R.A fgt files for example, took me an entire day to get all 5 files that were 2.4 gig each. Or currently, I am downloading the Startrek MMO beta files at 185k/sec and at 6 gigs in size, will take aprox 1.5 hours. Whats the deal? Are these gimp speeds the fault of the hosts?

[Jefe]

Sup, Teresa. Nah, it's just ISP trickery. You're getting 1.5 Megabits per second instead of 1.5 Megabytes

1 Megabit = 128 kilobytes. So, 1.5 Megabits = 192 kilobytes. Which is consistent w/ your theoretical speed.

[virusiidx]

Basically, just take the bitrate and divide that by 8. That's your byterate. It's not really ISP trickery, but speeds are usually measured in bits (NIC protocols/wifi, etc..) while file sizes are usually measured in bytes. However, most download rates from browsers/torrents measure in bytes as well.

megabit = mb
megabyte = mB/MB

Notice the capitalization.

So since you have a 1.5mbps rate: 1500/8=187.5MBps. You reported 185KBps, so sounds about right.

[Rulke]

Sneaky sneaky. Thanks for clearing that up. Makes sense now.

[xopher]

Sneaky sneaky. Thanks for clearing that up. Makes sense now.

Not sneaky at all. That's the known and commonly used labeling system for networks. It's not the ISPs fault that you don't know your acronyms.

[Deadgye]

Basically, just take the bitrate and divide that by 8. That's your byterate. It's not really ISP trickery, but speeds are usually measured in bits (NIC protocols/wifi, etc..) while file sizes are usually measured in bytes. However, most download rates from browsers/torrents measure in bytes as well.

It's still trickery, there's really no reason not to use bytes. It's the same thing with hard drive manufactures using decimal gigabytes instead of binary like they should be.

Not sneaky at all. That's the known and commonly used labeling system for networks. It's not the ISPs fault that you don't know your acronyms.

Just because it's common doesn't mean it's not sneaky. Every hard drive manufacturer uses decimal gigabytes, but an overwhelming majority of people are still surprised when they turn on their computer and get less space then 'advertised'. Most people even think it's "file space the hard drive needs for itself".

Also: http://xkcd.com/394/

[virusiidx]

oops double post. on a cell phone. sorry.

[virusiidx]

It's still trickery, there's really no reason not to use bytes. It's the same thing with hard drive manufactures using decimal gigabytes instead of binary like they should be.

It's a standard in measuring speeds. Yeah, maybe its to the ISPs marketing advantage, but its still a standard. It's more of consumer ignorance for not knowing the difference, though I can see why.

Also, the reason hard drive manufacturers calculate in decimal is because that is also a global standard to measure computer storage devices. OSes report them in binary though because that's after it's converted into binary machine code.

[Deadgye]

Also, the reason hard drive manufacturers calculate in decimal is because that is also a global standard to measure computer storage devices. OSes report them in binary though because that's after it's converted into binary machine code.

I'm just saying it never should have become the global standard. There's absolutely no reason to use such that way of measuring other than to deceive ignorant customers. You can say they're using the correct SI units, but it's the global standard for giga to mean 1024^3 when in the computing field. Until 2000 JEDEC was the global standard, where at that point they switched it over to IEC. Storage is measured in binary when used, due to the fact that it works by having either a negative or positive charge (0 or 1). It should have either kept the old standard, which is 466GB = 466*2^30, or they should have updated to labeling it as 466GiB, never should it have become 500GB.

[Tajin]

Fight the system bro.

[virusiidx]

Yeah, what he said. ^ lol

[Deadgye]

One day, I'll change the system. Right around the time I convince everybody to get rid of decimal and teach hexadecimal in it's place.