[Billybob rules]

Ok for all of you IT guys out there i got a question for you. I was placing my order for my install date for my cable at my new place which is comcast out here and she asked me which speed i wanted. I have had the internet with them for a few yrs now and thought it was all the same with them. she told me that they have 3 speed types 4..6..8 mega something or gigo whatever(i am sure after you stop laughing at me you will know what i am talking about) well I have the 6 one right now and it seems to work just fine for me but will the 8 one really help out my online gameplaying speed? It is an extra $10 a month and I can pay it if I want but if it is a waste of money I don't want to fork it over.

[Homebuilt PC]

The 4, 6, 8 megawhatever is your download speed, which is great if all you do is google for farm animals all day.

For playing online games, you want to pay attention to the upload speed, the higher the better.

If the upload speeds are the same, see if they offer something like 'packet priority'. Most cable companies are offering that now with thier business class packages, it makes a HUGE difference.

[Tier is a Blind Mofo]

I loooooooove tech questions. Okay, first you must understand that internet speed is both your upload and download speed. Your upload speed is what you are sending out; like sending a file to someone or when playing online sending your info to the host. Your download speed is the speed at which you are getting info from other people or sites.

Now, the speed at which you are connected is measured in MB/s, Mb/s, KB/s, or Kb/s. Here is a little bit of info for you guys. MB/s is mega bytes per second. A capital "B" denotes bytes. Mb/s is mega bits per second. The lower case "b" denotes bits. You must remember 1 byte is 8 bits. Therefore a connection with 8Mb/s is really 1MB/s. KB/s is kilo bytes per second and Kb/s is kilo bits per second. Some people and even companies screw up by putting 10MB/s when really it's 10 mega bits per second (10Mb/s).

For playing online and hosting you want the most when it comes to upload speed. I'd say a good 1Mb/s upload would be a good place to start; of course the higher the upload speed the better. Verizon has FiOS which has a 5Mb/s upload and 30Mb/s download for $180 in my area. Time Warner has 1Mb/s upload and 10Mb/s download for $45.

Your download speed will not really help out when it comes to playing games if you have 6Mb/s right now and upgrade to 8Mb/s. But remember, with higher download bandwidth there is also a higher upload bandwidth. This means that the 6Mb/s you have now will probably be lower when it comes to upload speed than the 8Mb/s one. Time Warner (which has plans just like Comcast) has a 6Mb/s plan with 512Kb/s upload and a 8Mb/s plan with 768Kb/s upload. You want to ask what is the difference in upload speed when comparing the one you have and the $10 more one.

One last thing, 1000 kilobytes (1024 to be exact, but screw that) is about 1 megabyte. 1 megabit is roughly 125 kilobytes. Remember, B is not the same as b and 1B=8b; that's to say 1 byte is equal to 8 bits. Don't forget, cus there will be a quiz on Friday, hehe.

[brno34]

I can just add that I also have Comcast and moved up to their top package a few months back. I noticed an immediate improvement because I now have 768kb/s upload speed. All the other packages have only 384kb/s upload. The upgrade was an additional $10 a month. For me it has definitely been worth it.

[FantasyBarb130]

I have time warner road runner and I went with the premium package which took me from 6 to 8 and upload from 384 to 512, I got a notice that they increase the download speed to 12 but I don'r know if they increased the upload speed

[Nubs McCracken]

I use optimum online which is an offshoot of cablevision in this area my speeds test out well ever since they stopped limiting my account i had 2847 download and around 1500 upload or so ill have to test it when i get home.

[Billybob rules]

thanks for the info guys and gal. Iwill give them a call and see if the premium package has a higher upload speed and may give it a chance for a few months.
Bruno with a better upload speed what did you notice that was differant?

[brno34]

The main thing was that I could finally host games without too much lag.

[Billybob rules]

cool thanks. I called about ti and they tld me that the upload speed is twice as fast when i have the faster connection so i think i am going to give it a try.

[LazarusRook]

You will find it much easier to kill me.

[wnchstr96]

I have Comcast, and they just doubled my upload speed, but I noticed the download speed really didn't change. I usually get around 12 Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps up. Oh heres a link to test it. http://myspeed.visualware.com/