Tuesday, March 6, 2007

ConsumerReports ISP How much speed do you need?

How much speed do you need?

Cable, DSL, fiber, and satellite all offer two types of speed, usually measured in Mbps (megabits, or millions of bits, per second): Download speed is the highest possible rate at which data can be sent to you. Upload speed, the highest possible rate at which you can send data, is usually slower than download. Many factors can affect your actual speed, including your computer and router, home wiring, and Internet congestion. The download times shown below have been adjusted to take those factors into account.



Download times for common applications

1.5 Mbps
(low-cost DSL)
5 Mbps
(cable)
50 Mbps
(fiber)

One 5-megabyte MP3 file

33 seconds

10 seconds

1 second

50MB worth of digital photos

5.5 minutes

1.7 minutes

10 seconds

125MB video-game demo

14 minutes

4 minutes

25 seconds

5-gigabyte high-definition movie

9 hours

2.8 hours

17 minutes




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