[peastew]

hello hello everybody. Since before i can remember my family's internet connection has been seemingly capped at around 160kbps or so. Not until i checked my dad's AT&T bill did i realize we've been paying for a 1.5mbps download speed. AT&T customer service insisted that all connections were perfectly fine, and really said nothing helpful within the hour we were on the phone.

Now this is where it really starts baffling me. after doing internet speed tests on at&t's site, 2wire's site, and speakeasy, they all tell me my connection is fine as well, at a healthy 1.3mbps downstream and 300kbps upstream. and during these tests i have a few network meter things going on the sidebar and such, all telling me its at about 160 during these tests.

I thought i'd try another thing. I started a large download on the game platform 'steam', and it was going at a steady 160kbps as usual. then i ran the speakeasy speed test while the download was going, and it yielded a result of about 900kbps, or somewhere in that area.

As of now I've tried nearly everything but i can't seem to break this 160-170kbps barrier. I really wouldn't mind so much, but i'm paying for a connection that should be almost 10x than that! If anybody could help me at all with this, i would GREATLY appreciate it. thanks!

[JohnWill]

You are confusing bytes and bits. A 1.5mbit (1500kbit) connection will transfer 187 8 bit bytes. Since there is protocol overhead, a 160kbyte/sec transfer is full speed downloads. You are getting all you are paying for.

[peastew]

ahhh thank you very much! while dissappointing, that answers everything.