do potential internet speeds (i.e. 3mbps dsl vs. 6mbps cable........or the like) have much...

Difficult to say, because it so vastly varies between internet providers, location, time of day, even the type of modem you use. Will paying for a faster service actually give you a faster connection? Yeah, unless something is really not right with the provider. Will you get the quoted speed all the time? Almost certainly not.

Personally, I think it's important to realize that internet in America sucks big time. Not only do you pay the most for some of the slowest speeds in the developed world, but what you pay for is basically just an idealized max bandwidth, not a guaranteed minimum by any means. Despite physical and practical limitations, ISPs all too commonly throttle bandwidth and cap users' bandwidth usage.

for torrents? oh very much so

for browsing, not really

Quote:

Originally Posted by uzziah 

i ask because, the best i have ever been able to get on any setup is like 1mbps down, total, of like six different bittorent downloads. usually it's less than that.

To clarify, you understand the difference between a megabit and a megabyte, right?  Utorrent would be reporting about 128KB/s at that speed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark2410 

for torrents? oh very much so

 

for browsing, not really

Try being stuck on a 1mbit connection for a while.  Youtube sucks.

oh i forget about youtube, tbh its always slow anyway no matter what connection i ever seem to use.

I have a 4.5mbs connection (off and on) and youtube still sucks for me some days. 

My downloads also cap out ~500kbs. I get unlimited bandwidth though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirkpitt45 

I get unlimited bandwidth though.

I guess you haven't heard about "usage based billing".  All the major ISPs are about to ram their bandwidth caps down the throats of the resellers.  Bell is doing it right now, Rogers, Videotron, etc. will be able to do it starting this summer.

Thanks for ruining the internet and making Canada the communication technology laughingstock of developed nations, guys.

It does make a difference (for me anyways).  Ever since I got fios (fiber optic) I can torrent, watch youtube videos, surf the internet, and play an online game all at the same time with a decent connection.  Before that, with dsl, my internet would slow to a standstill whenever I torrented or streamed videos.

You're also paying for reliability sometimes.  Back when I had dsl it would annoy me to hell when my internet decided to go down for a minute in the middle of a starcraft game and stuff.

Downloads are limited both by your capacity and the download server.  Just because you're capable of downloading at 10mbps doesn't mean that the server will give you data at that rate.  And torrents very rarely go above 1mbps, those are based on the number of seeders.

erm has anyone mentioned anything illegal? the op said he used torrents, he didint say he torrents harry potter film or whatever that could be thought of as copyright infringement

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob_McBob 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirkpitt45 

I get unlimited bandwidth though.

 

 

I guess you haven't heard about "usage based billing".  All the major ISPs are about to ram their bandwidth caps down the throats of the resellers.  Bell is doing it right now, Rogers, Videotron, etc. will be able to do it starting this summer.

 

Thanks for ruining the internet and making Canada the communication technology laughingstock of developed nations, guys.

That's nice. 

There is no "usage based billing" yet. Bell is imposing bandwidth restrictions, but 30gb a month is far more than enough for the average user. The only reason you'd need more is if you too downloaded lots of stuff as well. In which case you could just switch to Videotron which is still unlimited no?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirkpitt45 

That's nice. 

 

There is no "usage based billing" yet. Bell is imposing bandwidth restrictions, but 30gb a month is far more than enough for the average user. The only reason you'd need more is if you too downloaded lots of stuff as well. In which case you could just switch to Videotron which is still unlimited no?

The policy is specifically called "usage based billing" so I don't understand why your reply is so condescending.  Bell will be rolling it out in February.  DSL resellers have started to contact customers and inform that they no longer receive unlimited internet usage.  Some companies like Yak have just left the market because there is no way to compete.  On 5mbit service, customers will receive 25GB, and pay $2/GB up to a monthly maximum of $60.  You aren't allowed to go over 300GB.

I am very concerned that you believe 30GB is a reasonable limit on a broadband connection at a time when media is increasingly distributed over the internet.  Netflix is finally available in Canada.  Services like Steam have been available for years -- if I buy a game it might be up to 15GB.  This sort of punitive billing scheme is a huge step back for Canadians, and completely out of line with other developed nations.  It also allows ISPs to give extremely preferential treatment to any similar services they operate themselves by not charging for the bandwidth.  Doing it on a per customer basis rather than allowing bandwidth wholesalers to buy up blocks of bandwidth to share among their customers only amplifies this effect and is exactly what Bell and other companies want.

Both Rogers and Videotron have filed applications with the CRTC to force cable resellers to apply bandwidth restriction policies to their customers.  In addition, Videotron only operates in a few parts of Eastern Ontario.  So no, unlimited from Videotron is not an option for me, and will probably not be an option for anyone after this Summer.

I'd say my reply was justifiably condescending. You just blamed bit-torrenters for ruining the internet because they download large amounts of data. Yet downloading a 15gb game from steam is completely ok? Since obviously anything to do with bit-torrents is illegal. I don't think the average user is going to be downloading 15gb games every month...  

Canada is not the only place in the world with bandwidth limits. We're just behind the times as usual and it hasn't been widely implemented yet. I don't see why it's such a big deal, more and more people are consuming more and more data, infrastructure has to be upgraded in order to accommodate that. If you want to download your steam games then you better be prepared to pay for it. 

Do I like that? Obviously not, but am I gonna go around starting pointless arguments about it? Nope. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirkpitt45 

 

I'd say my reply was justifiably condescending. You just blamed bit-torrenters for ruining the internet because they download large amounts of data. Yet downloading a 15gb game from steam is completely ok? Since obviously anything to do with bit-torrents is illegal. I don't think the average user is going to be downloading 15gb games every month... 

You misunderstood what I was saying.  I didn't mention BitTorrent in my original post.  That comment was directed at the ISPs I talked about in the previous sentence.  I don't blame anyone for using their internet connection, and there are plenty of legal reasons for using BitTorrent.  Re-read everything I wrote with that in mind.