How fast exactly is a 360mb broadband internet?

[DGaming]

17 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Any speeds given on the data plan are "up to" speeds. Technically, anything up to 360Mbps could be correct. However, if you get around 40Mbps on a 360Mbps connection, there is definitely something wrong. 

 

Normally technicians can test the maximum speed of your line in and give you an estimate of the speed you can expect. If the line in speed is over your plan's maximum speed, then you should be looking for speeds near 360Mbps. 

Sooo I should expect an answer of something over 360Mbps? And If I get anything below that means I will never reach 360mbps speeds? Also I made a test in speedtest.net on the internet that im using atm (which is really bad btw). And I got as a ping result, 39ms, but the thing is I pretty much never get that much ping. For example in Overwatch I get around 80 ping usually, so are the results in speedtest.net, the maximum u can achieve or something?

[Oshino Shinobu]

9 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

The units were binary from the beginning, the change to introduce decimal units is more recent and not adopted by everyone. So a gigabyte can be either 1024 or 1000 megabytes depending on which system you use.

It may not be accepted by all, but it is still an international standard supported and defined by IEEE and SI (the decimal side by SI). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1541-2002  https://standards.ieee.org/findstds/standard/1541-2002.html

 

The distinction is important because of the rapidly increasing capacity of storage devices. Before, the difference in units was small enough to be basically negligible. At the very least, it should be clarified whether the decimal or binary definition of Megabytes, Gigabytes etc. is being used, but it's easier to use Mebi, Gibi or MiB, GiB than typing (decimal) or (binary) after each time. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

3 minutes ago, DGaming said:

Sooo I should expect an answer of something over 360Mbps? And If I get anything below that means I will never reach 360mbps speeds? Also I made a test in speedtest.net on the internet that im using atm (which is really bad btw). And I got as a ping result, 39ms, but the thing is I pretty much never get that much ping. For example in Overwatch I get around 80 ping usually, so are the results in speedtest.net, the maximum u can achieve or something?

You could get a quote of 700Mbps or 200Mbps. That really just depends on your individual circumstances. 

 

39Ms ping is the ping for the server that was used for Speedtest. Ping times are more reliant on the location of the server being used (in terms of hops required, not just distance) as well as many other factors. 

[themctipers]

30 minutes ago, iiNNeX said:

I'm on Virgin Fibre internet, and I get 200mb as part of my package.. however I actually get 240-250mb depending on the time of day, so downloads usually peak at 24-25mbps according to Steam/Origin/Uplay. 

 

It's epic

I get 100/10 as apart of my package

200/~11 is what i actually get

 

[LAwLz]

6 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

I believe you may have this backwards.?
(see article https://www.quora.com/Is-1-GB-equal-to-1024-MB-or-1000-MB)

You need to read that post more carefully.

To summarize:

Kilo means 1000. It's a standard unit of measurement.

 

When counting in binary, the maximum value you can write jumps from 512 (10 bits) to 1024 (11 bits). So to make things simple they just said "fuck it. Let's call it kilo despite not being exactly 1000". This rounding error grew bigger and bigger as computers could store more and more info.

 

To fix this problem, new units were introduced.

Kibibit

Mebibit

Gibibit

Tebibi

and so on...

 

If you look at a file in Windows and Android, it should say "MiB" instead of "MB". Other OSes like OS X and a lot of GNU/Linux distros will in fact label a kilobit correctly as being 1000 bits.

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

The units were binary from the beginning, the change to introduce decimal units is more recent and not adopted by everyone. So a gigabyte can be either 1024 or 1000 megabytes depending on which system you use.

Well a kilo has meant 1000 since 1795 (going even further back if you take into account that it is based on the Greek word for thousand).

It's not what I would consider a "recent thing not adopted by everyone".

[DGaming]

17 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

You could get a quote of 700Mbps or 200Mbps. That really just depends on your individual circumstances. 

 

39Ms ping is the ping for the server that was used for Speedtest. Ping times are more reliant on the location of the server being used (in terms of hops required, not just distance) as well as many other factors. 

Okay that just gets me even more confused lol. So when the technician is finished and I run the speedtest.net, how much ping and download speed should I expect? Because from what I gathered from you, there is no way of knowing if the guy did his job correctly, since I can get a very wide number of Mbps? And yes I can download a torrent with a lot of seeders, but how do I mesure the download speed while the file is downloading?

-Again, Thank you

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, DGaming said:

Okay that just gets me even more confused lol. So when the technician is finished and I run the speedtest.net, how much ping and download speed should I expect? Because from what I gathered from you, there is no way of knowing if the guy did his job correctly, since I can get a very wide number of Mbps? And yes I can download a torrent with a lot of seeders, but how do I mesure the download speed while the file is downloading?

-Again, Thank you

Well, you should look for large variations compared to what you're paying for (even though it is "up to"). If you get significantly less than 360Mbps (200Mbps, for example), then I would call up your ISP and ask if there's a problem. They may give you a weak answer such as "it can take a while for new connections to configure properly" in the hope you'll suck it up and leave it be. If they do, then call them again later and say the problem persists until they do something to fix it. 

On the other hand, you can sometimes get speeds higher than what you pay for. In which case, I would keep your mouth shut and enjoy the higher speeds. 

As for ping, it's hard to say. It completely depends on where the server is in relation to you, as well as your ISP's routing functions, how many hops it takes to get the server, the packet priority and many, many other things. Personally, I'm very close to my ISP's exchange and the area I'm in isn't very populated, so I get around 2ms ping with SpeedTest. For games, my ping can vary between around 20ms to 80ms for servers in the UK and even more so for servers outside of the UK. There's not really any ping you should expect, as they can vary so much depending on your individual circumstances. 
 

For speeds, I would be looking for 300Mbps +, though you're not guaranteed to get that. Normally you can accuse ISPs for false advertising if the speeds you get are significantly different from what they say, even if they're "up to" speeds. However, the definition of "significant" in these sorts of cases is extremely vague. 

[DGaming]

17 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Well, you should look for large variations compared to what you're paying for (even though it is "up to"). If you get significantly less than 360Mbps (200Mbps, for example), then I would call up your ISP and ask if there's a problem. They may give you a weak answer such as "it can take a while for new connections to configure properly" in the hope you'll suck it up and leave it be. If they do, then call them again later and say the problem persists until they do something to fix it. 

On the other hand, you can sometimes get speeds higher than what you pay for. In which case, I would keep your mouth shut and enjoy the higher speeds. 

As for ping, it's hard to say. It completely depends on where the server is in relation to you, as well as your ISP's routing functions, how many hops it takes to get the server, the packet priority and many, many other things. Personally, I'm very close to my ISP's exchange and the area I'm in isn't very populated, so I get around 2ms ping with SpeedTest. For games, my ping can vary between around 20ms to 80ms for servers in the UK and even more so for servers outside of the UK. There's not really any ping you should expect, as they can vary so much depending on your individual circumstances. 
 

For speeds, I would be looking for 300Mbps +, though you're not guaranteed to get that. Normally you can accuse ISPs for false advertising if the speeds you get are significantly different from what they say, even if they're "up to" speeds. However, the definition of "significant" in these sorts of cases is extremely vague. 

Okay thank you a lot for the detailed answer. Lastly I would like to ask you again, how do you measure how fast a file is downloading? For example if Im downloading a torrent with uTorrent, how do i check with what internet speed the file is downloading? Thanks

[Oshino Shinobu]

3 minutes ago, DGaming said:

Okay thank you a lot for the detailed answer. Lastly I would like to ask you again, how do you measure how fast a file is downloading? For example if Im downloading a torrent with uTorrent, how do i check with what internet speed the file is downloading? Thanks

Most torrent (or any download client such as steam, Origin or web browser) will have the speed that files are downloading at. Most of the time, they will be quoted in MB/s rather than Mbps. To convert it, you literally just need to multiply the download speed by 8 to get it in Mbps. (45MB/s *8 = 360Mbps)

[DGaming]

17 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Most torrent (or any download client) will have the speed that files are downloading at. Most of the time, they will be quoted in MB/s rather than Mbps. To convert it, you literally just need to multiply the download speed by 8 to get it in Mbps. (45MB/s *8 = 360Mbps)

Wait there is a difference between mb and mbps? Because the internet Im getting, it says 360Mb, not Mbps?

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, DGaming said:

Wait there is a difference between mb and mbps? Because the internet Im getting, it says 360Mb, not Mbps?

The difference is between MB (megabytes) and Mb (megabits). Technically, MBps and MB/s are the same thing and Mbps and Mb/s are the same, but they're typically quoted as MB/s (megabytes per second) and Mbps (megabits per second), though it is not always the case. 

[DGaming]

17 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

The difference is between MB (megabytes) and Mb (megabits). Technically, MBps and MB/s are the same thing and Mbps and Mb/s are the same, but they're typically quoted as MB/s (megabytes per second) and Mbps (megabits per second), though it is not always the case. 

Got it, thanks. Also sorry if Im asking any really stupid questions, as I said, dont know anything about internet.  Also, when you say I should look for a torrent with a lot of seeders to test the speeds, how much does a lot mean exactly? ^^

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, DGaming said:

Got it, thanks. Also sorry if Im asking any really stupid questions, as I said, dont know anything about internet.  Also, when you say I should look for a torrent with a lot of seeders to test the speeds, how much does a lot mean exactly? ^^

100+ is a good number. You can still get fast speeds with only a few seeds, but the more the better generally. 

[DGaming]

17 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

100+ is a good number. You can still get fast speeds with only a few seeds, but the more the better generally. 

Yes of course  Thanks. Also I have an idea, what if I also test the speeds by just jumping into an Overwatch game and checking how much ping I get ^^ Would that be a good way to test as well?

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, DGaming said:

Yes of course  Thanks. Also I have an idea, what if I also test the speeds by just jumping into an Overwatch game and checking how much ping I get ^^ Would that be a good way to test as well?

It's a fairly good practical test for how the connection will be for gaming, but not good for testing bandwidth. 

[DGaming]

17 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

It's a fairly good practical test for how the connection will be for gaming, but not good for testing bandwidth. 

Fair enough, Ill still do it just to test for gaming. 

Now I know this is off topic, but do you know much about NAT type? Because the main reason why Im getting this really good internet is because the one I have right now, I get strict nat in some games like Rainbow Six Siege. And when I try playing with my friends, either I cant join their squad or when I do it takes forever to find a game with me in the squad. I know its obviously really bad to have strict nat, but Im just wondering why I have strict nat in some games, and in others I dont? And before you tell me about the ports in my router... I dont have a router, my internet is wireless, its a hotspot  Yeah, I know its bad haha, especially when you game, but im not the one who got it, it was my dad, and lets just say he doesnt understand about internet AT ALL.

[Oshino Shinobu]

2 minutes ago, DGaming said:

Fair enough, Ill still do it just to test for gaming. 

Now I know this is off topic, but do you know much about NAT type? Because the main reason why Im getting this really good internet is because the one I have right now, I get strict nat in some games like Rainbow Six Siege. And when I try playing with my friends, either I cant join their squad or when I do it takes forever to find a game with me in the squad. I know its obviously really bad to have strict nat, but Im just wondering why I have strict nat in some games, and in others I dont? And before you tell me about the ports in my router... I dont have a router, my internet is wireless, its a hotspot  Yeah, I know its bad haha, especially when you game, but im not the one who got it, it was my dad, and lets just say he doesnt understand about internet AT ALL.

Having strict NAT isn't bad. It's actually good for security, but just happens to play some havoc with some games. 

You will have a router. Without one, you'd have no internet access, or you'd be paying for a dedicated IP address for every device on your network and NAT wouldn't even be needed. 

[DGaming]

17 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Having strict NAT isn't bad. It's actually good for security, but just happens to play some havoc with some games. 

You will have a router. Without one, you'd have no internet access, or you'd be paying for a dedicated IP address for every device on your network and NAT wouldn't even be needed. 

No, I know I will have a router now with the new internet, but Im saying I dont have one now, with the one Im using atm  Because its wi-fi basically, hotspot from my phone. So there is no way I can get my nat type to open  Which is annoying

[Oshino Shinobu]

Just now, DGaming said:

No, I know I will have a router now with the new internet, but Im saying I dont have one now, with the one Im using atm  Because its wi-fi basically, hotspot from my phone. So there is no way I can get my nat type to open  Which is annoying

Ah, okay. A router is still a part of the network, but you just don't have one on your side. 

 

NAT (Network Address Translation) is basically a technology to translate between your wide area network address (the address of your router, or the address of your entire network [same thing, different way of looking at it]) and the local IP addresses on your network, allowing devices on the local network to have their own addresses without the need for multiple external addresses. Strict NAT can basically limit what services are allowed to communicate with devices on the network. It's quite common for some games to have more issues with NAT than others. Most NAT problems with games can be solved by opening specific ports on the router (you'd have to research which ports) for the IP address of the device you're playing the game on (you'd want a static IP on that device). Rebooting the router and client would be sensible steps before port forwarding, though, as there are some security risks when port forwarding. 

 

Those are things to concern yourself with if you get issues once you have the new connection, though.