Bandwidth comparisons

How fast is my Internet connection? This is something I have often wondered about. People talk about T-1 lines, 56K modem connections, 11 Mbps 802.11b wireless connections, OC3 lines, and other terms… and I really haven’t had a good frame of reference to compare all these terms and speeds.

The Internet Frog PC Speed Test is a free website that provides excellent visual and numeric feedback about your current Internet connection’s speed, as well as things like “quality of service” which is quite important for synchronous Internet applications like video-conferencing and voice-over-IP (VOIP like Skype.) Also note there are often big differences in the downstream (what you are downloading) speeds and the upstream (what you are sending) speeds.

I have posted several different screenshots of speed tests I conducted recently, including:

• my wireless connection at home via a cable modem
• a wireless connection at work / university
• a wired connection at work / university
• a cell phone connection (computer through a bluetooth cell phone)

This illustrates the big differences between dialup/current cell phone Internet connections, wireless connections, and faster wired connections.

Of course many different factors go into actual connection speeds at a given time on a given date. These factors include:

• What time it is (the later in the day in North America, the more people seem to be online)
• the type of Internet connection you are using
• The Internet Service Provider’s connection to your location
• The Internet websites you are connecting to
• The amount of Internet traffic at the time you conduct the test
• Probably other things I haven’t heard or thought about

It is very interesting to note what these actual connection speeds were, and what the “theoretical” connection speeds should be. Quite different. Also, it is sobering to realize that the vast majority of rural school districts in our area of West Texas share a SINGLE T-1 line (1500 kbps of bandwidth, in the middle of the linked graphs/pictures) for everyone in the district. So when you see the AMAZINGLY fast connections of DSL and Cable modems, thinking that those connections are generally just for 1 user or a few people, versus an entire school district… you begin to see why the issue of connectivity to “The Last Mile” is so vital for rural schools. Most of the current promises of educational technology’s benefits hinge on bandwidth and high speed connectivity. Sadly, much of the rural schools in the United States (certainly here in West Texas) are literally “out of the loop.” This needs to change.

I’ll be podcasting on this topic soon.

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On this day..

• Reasons to Invest in Education – 2011
• 3 External Microphone Options for iPads (Nov 2011) – 2011
• Captions and Cross-References for Automatic Page Numbers in MS Word – 2011
• Pennsylvania Newspaper Article / School Tech Director Misrepresents CIPA – 2011
• Ready for the Creativity World Forum #cwf2010 – 2010
• Learning about the amazing iOS Square Credit Card solution – 2010
• Remembering the amazing Grape iMac: 266 mHz with a 6 GB Hard Drive – 2010
• Accessing the web where URL shorteners don’t work? Problem solved with Untiny – 2009
• Branching surveys and self-grading quizzes in Google Forms / Google Docs – 2009
• Ustream chat moderation lessons and Coursecasting opinions – 2008