Query

Kannon

Hi I have a small query.

I'm looking at getting broadband and i'm trying to decide on a package. Can somebody please explain what the difference is between say, 8MB d/w speed and 20MB d/w speed. What I mean is, does the speed affect how quickly your browser page loads up or is it say how quickly a movie downloads (i know this depends on other factors also), or are both affected equally by the download speed. Where does the upload speed come into it? Does this only come into affect when I attempt to upload something to the internet?

I do some financial trading and also some online gaming and i want to make sure I have a decent connection, howeveer I don't want to pay for a 20/24MB when an 8/10MB will do.

Thanks in advance.

MrThrifty

Higher the Mb/s the better... Pretty much literally translates as the download speed for webpages and files, assuming your computer/laptop isn't too old with not a lot of memory (2GB + should be fine). Upload relates to what you suggest, and it sounds like it's generally not too important for you although I'm not too sure when it comes to online gaming. You can always try the cheaper slower package and upgrade later if you need to I would guess.

Only thing to be aware of is that a package offering 10Mb/s may be referring to the max speed possible. Also, there's something called contention ratio which refers to how many other users might be sharing the connection and so a max of 10 people on a 10Mb/s package might in theory be worse than 5 people on an 8Mb/s connection. Not sure if that kind of stuff is still relevant though. Best to actually check the speed you are generally getting via a free download speed test website (just google this).