[koantemplation]

I've just got broad band and according to the speedtest I should have 10Mb download speed, but when I download a file via Firefox, I am only getting 1.2Mb at the most.

I'm not sure if it is Firefox that is the problem or the download site.

Is it known that Firefox limits downloads?

Cheers.

[Stig]

It will be the download site.

An easy way to answer your own question would be to try another browser.

[mac2708]

Just because Speedtest shows that you have a download (bandwidth) speed of 10Mb/s does not mean that you can download files from every site at this speed

For example
http://www.speedtest.net/result/2494213024.png

http://postimage.org/image/m0v21092t/

[koantemplation]

I thought it might be the download site but I wasn't too sure.

I've just tried downloading Unbuntu distro and that only downloaded at 1.2Mb too.

Does anyone have a site for a copyright free file that they know will download at more than 1.2MB?

[albertd]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

I've just tried downloading Unbuntu distro and that only downloaded at 1.2Mb too.

Does anyone have a site for a copyright free file that they know will download at more than 1.2MB?

Is it Mb (megabits) or MB (megabytes), because there is a world of difference?

If your test speed is 10 Mbps down and your actual download speed is showing as 1.2 MBps then that is more or less the same speed.

[bobcar]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

I thought it might be the download site but I wasn't too sure.

I've just tried downloading Unbuntu distro and that only downloaded at 1.2Mb too.

Does anyone have a site for a copyright free file that they know will download at more than 1.2MB?

You need to be clear with the MB and Mb, You would expect to get a file download of around 1MB with a test speed of 10Mb.

EDIT: I must type faster.

[koantemplation]

Firefox is reporting a download speed of 1.2MB/sec.

With the Speedtest site reporting a DL of 9.86 Mbps.

One of the reasons I'm surprised it is 1.2MBs is because I was getting that speed with my 3 mifi device at night, which I thought could only do 4Mbps at most.

[albertd]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

Firefox is reporting a download speed of 1.2MB/sec.

With the Speedtest site reporting a DL of 9.86 Mbps.

Those are more or less the same speeds.

1MB = approx 8Mb.

[koantemplation]

Originally Posted by albertd

Those are more or less the same speeds.

1MB = approx 8Mb.

The reason I'm surprised is because I was getting the same speed with a Huawei E586 mifi device.

It's all confusing to me as I have difficulty judging amounts, and distances.

But thanks for clarifying things.

[Alan F]

As others have said you are confusing Mb/sec with MB/sec

1 MB/sec (MegaBytes/second) = 8 Mb/sec (Megabits/second)

Speedtest reports Mb/sec, Firefox/Ubuntu download reports MB/sec.

[koantemplation]

Originally Posted by Alan F

As others have said you are confusing Mb/sec with MB/sec

1 MB/sec (MegaBytes/second) = 8 Mb/sec (Megabits/second)

Speedtest reports Mb/sec, Firefox/Ubuntu download reports MB/sec.

Yes I know that.

But when I was using the Mifi device, I thought 3G couldn't go faster than a 3Meg Broadband line, and that I was downloading at 1Meg. (by that I mean similar to when they say 1Meg BB).

But this means my Mifi device was downloading at the same speed as a 10 Meg BB line.

[albertd]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

But when I was using the Mifi device, I thought 3G couldn't go faster than a 3Meg Broadband line, and that I was downloading at 1Meg. (by that I mean similar to when they say 1Meg BB).

But this means my Mifi device was downloading at the same speed as a 10 Meg BB line.

Your comments are still just as confusing because now you have reduce it to "1 Meg" there is no clue as to whether you mean Mb or MB.

If the 3G was at 1Mbps then that is nothing like your Broadband running at 10Mbps and would be reasonably fast, but if the 3G was at 1MBps (about 8 Mbps) then it certainly would be very fast for 3G and probably reading incorrectly.

You really must get to grips with the units if you want to make these comparisons.

[koantemplation]

If it takes 1 and a half mins to download a 100MB file, what speed would that suggest?

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

Yes I know that.

But when I was using the Mifi device, I thought 3G couldn't go faster than a 3Meg Broadband line, and that I was downloading at 1Meg. (by that I mean similar to when they say 1Meg BB).

But this means my Mifi device was downloading at the same speed as a 10 Meg BB line.

I have a 3 mobile dongle, uses 3G just like the MiFi. I get pretty consistent 7Mb/s connections out of it. So not entirely unreasonable that you could get similar or even faster so plausible you wouldn't notice a huge difference compared to the land line broadband.

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

If it takes 1 and a half mins to download a 100MB file, what speed would that suggest?

If you ignore any overheads then that is 100/90 MB/s or 1.11MB/s. Which is equivalent to 8.88Mb/s.

Which would be consistent with a 10Mb/s line.

[koantemplation]

Originally Posted by chrisjr

If you ignore any overheads then that is 100/90 MB/s or 1.11MB/s. Which is equivalent to 8.88Mb/s.

Which would be consistent with a 10Mb/s line.

Originally Posted by chrisjr

I have a 3 mobile dongle, uses 3G just like the MiFi. I get pretty consistent 7Mb/s connections out of it. So not entirely unreasonable that you could get similar or even faster so plausible you wouldn't notice a huge difference compared to the land line broadband.

Cheers for the info.

I'm just so surprised the Mifi device was giving me such speeds.

I was thinking that I was getting the equivalent of a 1 Meg BB line, so that when I got a 10 Meg BB line I would be able to down load at 10MB/s (firefox).

But at least now I don't have to worry about download limits.

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

Cheers for the info.

I'm just so surprised the Mifi device was giving me such speeds.

I was thinking that I was getting the equivalent of a 1 Meg BB line, so that when I got a 10 Meg BB line I would be able to down load at 10MB/s (firefox).

But at least now I don't have to worry about download limits.

It is very easy to get confused when people mix and match m and M or b and B as though m = M and b = B which they do not.

1MB is 8 billion times as big as 1mb yet many people think they are the same. So hardly surprising that people get confused when they have a 10Mb/s broadband connection but only download at 1MB/s, if they think 10Mb is ten times as fast as 1MB.

Once you know that broadband speeds are measured in bits and downloads in Bytes, that m is not the same as M and b is not the same as B, then a 1MB download on a 10Mb line is not such a surprise.

[koantemplation]

Originally Posted by chrisjr

It is very easy to get confused when people mix and match m and M or b and B as though m = M and b = B which they do not.

1MB is 8 billion times as big as 1mb yet many people think they are the same. So hardly surprising that people get confused when they have a 10Mb/s broadband connection but only download at 1MB/s, if they think 10Mb is ten times as fast as 1MB.

Once you know that broadband speeds are measured in bits and downloads in Bytes, that m is not the same as M and b is not the same as B, then a 1MB download on a 10Mb line is not such a surprise.

So am I right in thinking that for every 10Mbs extra of BB speed = 1MBs of speed on Firefox?

So 20Mbs would = 2MBs download speed?

30Mbs = 3MBs? etc etc.

[cat666]

Whatever speed you should be getting divide by 8, to find your download speed. So with a 10MB connection you will be downloading at 1.25m/b per second max.

Essentially this just converts bits into bytes.

[cat666]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

So am I right in thinking that for every 10Mbs extra of BB speed = 1MBs of speed on Firefox?

So 20Mbs would = 2MBs download speed?

30Mbs = 3MBs? etc etc.

Almost but not quite. It makes the maths easier dividing by 10, but the actual conversion is to divide by 8. If you use 10 you sell yourself a bit short but the figure isn't a set figure anyway.

[MassiveDynamics]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

So am I right in thinking that for every 10Mbs extra of BB speed = 1MBs of speed on Firefox?

So 20Mbs would = 2MBs download speed?

30Mbs = 3MBs? etc etc.

I have a 30 megabit per second (Mb) connection, the normal maximum download speed is 3.6 megabytes per second (MB).

You will not see the theoretical maximum speed because there are additional data packets for error correction etc.

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by koantemplation

So am I right in thinking that for every 10Mbs extra of BB speed = 1MBs of speed on Firefox?

So 20Mbs would = 2MBs download speed?

30Mbs = 3MBs? etc etc.

Not quite true.

1 Byte equals 8 bits so 8Mb = 1MB. However that does not allow for any overheads in the downloads. There will always be extra information sent alongside the file you are downloading to ensure it gets from the source to your hard drive correctly.

A very rough rule of thumb is to simply divide the speed in Mb/s (bits per second) by 10 to get the download speed in MB/s (Bytes per second). It works most of the time. Fairly obviously the faster the broadband connection the faster the download, in theory anyway.

But the speed of your broadband connection is not the only factor that determines how fast you can download. The data can only travel as fast as the slowest link. If the source of the file only has a 1Mb/s upload link to the internet then it matters not whether you have 10Mb/s or 10Gb/s broadband. You can only download the file at the 1Mb/s (about 100kB/s) uplink speed of the source.