Speed tests measure file transfers in one direction at a time. Especially with satellite services, raw speed is only part of the equation. The other factor is latency, or the time it takes for 1 bit of data to travel from source to destination.
You measure latency with a PING utility or command. Ping gives you the amount of time it takes a small amount of data to travel from your machine to a distant machine and back again. Since the ping time is round-trip (a to b to a), the latency is 1/2 of that number (a to b OR b to a). (Some sources will tell you that ping time is the latency figure, but if you assume that when buying dedicated bandwidth from a telco you're going to be disappointed because telcos are quote ping/2 for latency.) Latency increases with the distance the data must travel, whether wired or satellite. Trouble with satellite is to get from a to b, your data has to travel into space and back to the planet. Even at the speed of light that makes for significant delay. Satellite providers say that latency doesn't hurt web browsing but it still makes it slower overall than the same speed connection with lower latency. Each time your browser must transmit data out (to fetch another portion of the page you are viewing for example), you incur the latency delay. The more complex the web page, the greater the impact of latency. Carl -----Original Message----- From: Windows Home/SOHO [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Dykes Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 5:12 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Connect Speed Test Are the speed test sites and tests fairly reliable? With my DirecWay connection I get readngs of 775/200, or thereabouts, with speakeasy, but it sure doesn't seem that fast! Thanks, Jim -- ---------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Is your picture included in the Official Win-Home List Members Profiles Page? http://www.besteffort.com/winhome/Profiles.html If not, write to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
