Broadband

[Bluebird]

Ok, probably a dull question so no smart-arse answers please only sensible ones [please ].

In my country retreat I've got an old laptop which works fine, the Broadband in 2MB [ is that megabite per seconds ?] and I use a Wireless Router Netgear DG834G I think.

The BB contract is up and I was thinking of switching and getting 8MB BB - however will this make any difference to what I actually see on my laptop ?

The questions being, in order to take advantage of the 8MB BB, is there a minimum spec wireless router & Laptop [ RAM & Processer Speed ] ?

Thanks for all helpful answers....

[oracleslave]

Ok, probably a dull question so no smart-arse answers please only sensible ones [please ].

In my country retreat I've got an old laptop which works fine, the Broadband in 2MB [ is that megabite per seconds ?] and I use a Wireless Router Netgear DG834G I think.

The BB contract is up and I was thinking of switching and getting 8MB BB - however will this make any difference to what I actually see on my laptop ?

The questions being, in order to take advantage of the 8MB BB, is there a minimum spec wireless router & Laptop [ RAM & Processer Speed ] ?

Thanks for all helpful answers....

I don't believe there is a minimum spec requirement within reason. I seriously have my doubts that you will get anything near the claimed 8mb speed though. Not even during quite times i.e. 4am

[Bluebird]

I don't believe there is a minimum spec requirement within reason. I seriously have my doubts that you will get anything near the claimed 8mb speed though. Not even during quite times i.e. 4am

ok, but surely the 8mb speed will be greater than the 2mb speed that is currently in place ? or is it just a scam and everybody gets the same speed ??

[oracleslave]

ok, but surely the 8mb speed will be greater than the 2mb speed that is currently in place ? or is it just a scam and everybody gets the same speed ??

No it will definitely be better. If you phone BT and ask they can actualy tell you what the likely speed will be. If it's out in the sticks though it is unlikely to be great.

[daviejones]

It will definitely be better, but exactly how much of it you will notice is up for debate. I would expect you to see most improvement in streaming media etc.

When they say 8MB, I think they actually mean that the 50 people in your contention all share the 8MB. I may be wrong though so I am happy to stand corrected. Are most connections set up with a contention ratio of 50:1?

[r0bly0ns]

The main variables on how fast your broadband will actually be are what your local phone exchange can handle, how far you are away from it and how many people are sharing it.

Nothing you can do personally I'm afraid.



In Internet speed measurements, MB is usually Megabit, and also mega = 1000 and not the usual 1024.

I'm not too sure on bits / byte conversions, but I think a byte is 8 bits

[KevinS]

There are a number of places on the net that will calculate your potential maximum bandwidth..

This is a good one: http://www2.farina1.com/ADSL/default.aspx

[Bluebird]

ok, so to take advantage of a "higher" speed will it make any difference if my laptop has a 1gz or a 2gz processor, or will the wireless determine the amount of data that the laptop will get ?

All I'm trying to get at is:

1. Will it be faster - which you seemed to have answered - yes.
2. Do I need to upgrade my laptop & router to make use of that ?
3. Do i need to upgrade both ?

[VectraMan]

Don't forget your actual WiFi speed. I'm on 8Mb, but the testers all give me about 3Mb download, but using sad old 11Mb WiFi I suspect it's WiFi that's the bottleneck. One day I'll remember to borrow a network cable and try it direct.

MB is megabyte, Mb is megabit, but networking virtually always uses Mb not MB.

[Bluebird]

BT say max is 6.5, average is 4.