I have Gigabit download speeds, but why don't files at a Gig download in 1 second?

[Actual_Criminal]

I have had Gigabit internet now with 3 providers in the UK. Don't get me wrong, certainly is fast compared to previous speeds, but let's say i'm downloading a game from Steam or a movie, it is never 1 second and much longer unlike what is advertised.

 

This happens even if downloading onto an NVme SSD (Samsung 980 Pro) which is supposed to be really good speeds.

 

Yet, when I do a download speed test, it shows I have just under a Gig in download speeds (around 900mb). - I have also noticed that the download speed gets quicker the longer the download is, as it will start slow and get faster like a snowball. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

You might be getting confused between bits and bytes. 8 bits is one byte, so a gigabit internet can download at about 120mB/s. So a 1gB file would be expected to take 8 seconds to download(likely a bit longer).

 

The other issue is not all links to servers are gigabit, so there may be a slowdown in some other part of the internet or isp equipment, or the server is not able to supply data at that speed.

 

What speeds do you get downloading in steam? This is often a best case scenario 

[BondiBlue]

Gigabit =/= gigabyte. One gigabit is equal to 125MB, not 1GB. A lot of it also depends on the speed of the servers you're downloading content from. It's great that you have a fast connection, but if the server that's sending you a file doesn't have a connection that fast then you're limited by their connection, not yours. A lot of things online won't transfer at gigabit speeds for this reason. 

[matt4realz]

When you purchase these "plans" from your ISP, you're not buying the exact speed, but rather, bandwidth. Every location around your area, has certain cell towers that accommodate to everyone in your area.

 

Purchasing a faster speed from your ISP is like buying a bigger piece of the pie. You're still susceptible to perhaps others in your area that have a faster speed than yours, as well as the overall area's usage. Also, Gbps is Gigabits and not Gigabytes, 1 Byte = 8 Bits.

[Actual_Criminal]

8 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You might be getting confused between bits and bytes. 8 bits is one byte, so a gigabit internet can download at about 120mB/s. So a 1gB file would be expected to take 8 seconds to download(likely a bit longer).

 

The other issue is not all links to servers are gigabit, so there may be a slowdown in some other part of the internet or isp equipment, or the server is not able to supply data at that speed.

 

What speeds do you get downloading in steam? This is often a best case scenario 

Ah it appears I might be confused then. 

 

On Steam I get around 100-110mb per second roughly.

[Lurick]

1 hour ago, Actual_Criminal said:

Ah it appears I might be confused then. 

 

On Steam I get around 100-110mb per second roughly.

Steam, by default, displays in bytes (denoted with a capital B) KB/MB/GB/etc. You can change to bits in the settings and it will show in Mb (lowercase b for bits).

110MB is about gigabit after accounting for overhead of packets.

[wseaton]

The speed your ISP advertises is the speed to their nearest switch. It is not the speed you get connecting all over the world. Your internet connection goes through all kinds of of pier network providers, etc. Ideally as ISPs update their speed levels the over all 'web' increases it's speed as well, but reality is not the case. 

[PyCCo_TyPuCTo]

On 6/14/2022 at 4:27 PM, Actual_Criminal said:

I have also noticed that the download speed gets quicker the longer the download is, as it will start slow and get faster like a snowball. 

This is due to tcp window size getting bigger as the download progresses. the packets in the beginning will be smaller, and if there are no errors (re-transmissions) the file transfer protocol will increase the next packet size, while overhead remains the same. This gives you a better ratio of user data to overhead, resulting in higher download speed.

on fiber, errors are rare, but if an error does happen and packet needs to be re-transmitted, then the window will get smaller and you notice a slight drop in speed before it goes up again. Happens a lot on DSL lines. Fiber is usually pretty good, errors are rare.