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Don’t get fooled by Broadband providers

I have seen a lot of people, and even my tech-loving friends getting fooled by Internet Service Providers (ISP). The ISP have a completely different language when it comes to data speed and downloading, so many people unaware of this might just complain about slow speeds, high bills, etc.

Here is what can most-likely fool you when selecting a Broadband plan:-

Data Speed

Most broadband services provide a data speed of up to 2 Mb/s. Now many people complain that they do not get a speed higher than 200 KB/s. Are you crazy? That plan said a speed “up to” 2 Mb/s, and they have provided a speed of 200 KB/s, which means the speed provided is 1.6 Mb/s. Confused? Let me explain it clearly:-

Mb/s = Mega Bits per second

MB/s = Mega Bytes per second

Kb/s = Kilo Bits per second

KB/s = Kilo Bytes per second

Now, according to computer data size units;

1 Byte = 8 Bits

or;

1 Bit = 1/8 Byte

So if a service is providing a speed of 2 Mb/s, then your maximum speed will be 256 KB/s, but due to some server restrictions, you will never obtain a perfect 256 KB/s speed. And if a service provides a speed of 2 MB/s, then you will get a speed up to 2 MB/s. Got it?

For Example, Airtel Broadband in India provides a speed of up to 16 Mb/s, that means, your highest speed will be 2 MB/s or 2048 KB/s.

For simple calculations, divide the “Mb/s” value with 8 to get the “MB/s” value.

Data Download Limit

Though I always prefer an unlimited data download plan, many people might go for a 1 GB or 2 GB data limit plan. Now, there are some people who think that only by downloading anything, like music, movies, or games, they will use this limit. If you think so, you are not living in the 21st century. Whenever you surf the Internet, your browser downloads images, Java scripts, flash content, cookies, text, and other complicated material in it’s specified folder, which might get deleted after a specified period.

So even if you are not downloading anything through the browser, you are actually downloading content just by browsing. People lacking this piece of information get hefty and fat bills, which may even force them to discontinue using the service. It is always advised to keep checking your usage using the service provider’s website, or the software provided by it.

Data Speed

Now that you know that you are authorized for just 256 KB/s or so speed, still you might complain that whenever you download some music, movie, software, or something else, the download speed is restricted to 50-170 KB/s.

This is most likely due to server load, which is very much during working hours. You will experience a much faster speed during late hours, that is after midnight. Another reason for this problem is that the site from which you are downloading the data exists on a poor server.

For example, when you download something from any site, then you might get a speed of 50-100 KB/s, but if you download something from sites that exist on fast servers, like Google sites (YouTube, Orkut, Gmail, Docs, Adsense), Apple, Intel, Microsoft, etc.

Guess what? I downloaded some hardware drivers from Intel and Windows Se7en Beta version from Microsoft’s official site and I got a whooping speed of 220 KB/s to 240 KB/s on my 2 Mb/s connection.

Hope you will not get fooled by the Broadband companies now, be smart.