Xfaxman
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Cheap $20 a month Stand Alone Unlimited Rural Internet through AT&T Wireless
- Thread starter zimy
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- Views: 274856
Welshman
Platinum Member
I'm not using a Mobley, but since we're talking about speeds - what is the correlation between upload speeds and download speeds? My many speed tests usually show my download speeds to be somewhat close to the speed that my provider shows I should have, but my upload speeds are very low, erratic and sometimes non-existent. What controls this, and what can I do about it?
cqaigy2
Super Member
The people you are buying your Internet access are for the most part, responsible up to the point where they hand off to you and your network.
Most cases, it's not beneficial to spend the money on getting symmetrical upload and download, it cost money to do that. Reason it's not beneficial to most of us, is we typically download a lot more data than we upload.
buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
Unless you are providing web services on your servers, you really don't need blazing upload speed.
Welshman
Platinum Member
I'm not expecting "blazing" speed. For example, this morning's tests showed upload speeds of 430kbps, 0kbps, 2.7kbps, 5kbps, and 3.2kbps. In some cases, I'm not able to log into my bank account before the site times out.
BigBlue1
Elite Member
Upload speeds are usually 'close' to download speeds. By 'close' I mean often around 20% of download speeds. Not typically an order of magnitude lower. And definitely not low enough to not be useful. The numbers you cited for upload speeds seem abnormal given any modern ISP plan, even 'bottom end' of 1.5-2 Mb/s.
My first suggestion is to test with another device on your network, preferably on a wired connection. If the speeds are consistent then call your ISP.
As for why they are lower in the first place, that because most people tend to need to download way more than they upload and they typically don't upload large quantities of data. So provider prioritize their network plan in order to offer better download speeds and be competitive.
Rob
kcflhrc
Veteran Member
To say download and upload speeds should be within 20% of each other is just false info. In a perfect fiber world maybe. But is not the norm. Each carrier has packages they sell. The higher download speed you buy the higher upload speed you get, but rarely is within 20%. One package we sell is 80/10 but if you step up to 100 meg then it's 100/50. Like I said, each carrier and market is different. Bigger cities you will be able to get Gig Service on fiber, but in rural America you are going to typically be on copper and speeds are going to be around 10 at best, closer to the remote the faster the speeds. CAF mandates minimum 10 meg. Distance doesn't affect fiber.
BigBlue1
Elite Member
I said typical. As in pretty much every residential data plan I've ever seen advertised had an upload speed in the neighborhood of 20% of download speeds. Not exact, sometimes more or less, but closer to 20% than 1% or 50%, typically. If your experience is different then I guess we live in different markets.
And in any event, my overall point was that exceptionally slow upload speeds, such as those reported by the guy I was replying to, are not normal.
Rob
Welshman
Platinum Member
Thanks for that. I have two desk top computers in the house - both hard wired. The speed tests are comparable with each.
I've called Century Link and they tell me that when they test, my download speeds are close enough to my "plan" and they can't do anything about it. When I ask about upload speeds, they say they have "no control" over that. My "plan" by the way is 512kbps - the fastest they can offer at my location.
This plan has been tolerable - it's only been in the last few weeks that I've been experiencing what appears to be inconsistencies and extremely slow uploading.
Yesterday, by the way, I went to the Century Link site to confirm what speeds were available at my address. It came up with "no service available at that address"!
