<tom23499@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1132373758.881341.316800@o13g2000cwo.googlegr oups.com...
>
> Vanguard wrote:
>> <tom23499@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:1132361185.875513.171700@g47g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>> > Can anyone tell me what is difference between the transfer rate of a
>> > HTTP download using internet explorer vs FTP download ? Also why is it
>> > that when I run a speed test from some sites I get 1.8Mb/s but when I
>> > download something I get 345KB/s ? Is that my browser is running slower
>> > then usual ?
>> >
>> > thanks all feedback welcome
>> >
>>
>>
>> Unless you are downloading from the same site that you used for the speed
>> test, and that site guarantees equal bandwidth for downloads as they do
>> for
>> their speed test, then don't expect different sites to give you the same
>> response. Obviously if a site is being hit hard, it needs to distribute
>> its
>> bandwidth amongst all concurrent connections. They may also choose to
>> throttle their maximum bandwidth for downloads. You are probably going
>> through a different route (set of hosts) to reach one site than you do
>> for
>> another, and each host will have varying bandwidth and a different load
>> of
>> connections at that time. You are not subscribing to a service with a
>> guaranteed minimum transfer rate and you cannot force other hosts or
>> sites
>> to provide maximum bandwidth just for you or force them to connect to
>> huge
>> trunks to provide you with as much bandwidth as you desire. You get what
>> they choose to give and what every host in the route between you and them
>> choose to provide. You are not in control of anything past your own
>> host.
>>
>> So how does a speed test comprised of downloading a few kilobytes to
>> maybe a
>> megabyte equate to you downloading from a DIFFERENT site a file that is
>> many
>> megabytes in size? A speed test is like taking a snapshot of the
>> highway.
>> Oh, look, there are few cars in that snapshot so it should be a breeze to
>> travel that way, but a snapshot a minute later shows a multiple car crash
>> that blocks the entire highway (actually just a lane block will do to
>> pile
>> up traffic). Snapshots are just that and cannot be used to provide
>> adequate
>> information that represents actual results in usage over time. Unless
>> the
>> sentence is a one-word sentence, you cannot tell what is the sentence
>> from
>> one word.
>
> Ahh I see so basically I really can't compare then a speed test vs
> downloading. Yes the speed test and download sites are different. I
> usually run a speed test from www.toast.net and download test from
> Microsoft.com. The difference is significant. I understand that the
> route the speed test and download take are very different dependent on
> each host bandwidth availability or restrictions. Thanks a bunch for
> the reply. Tommy.
>


You will find the speed test are erratic. You'll do a speed test and it
looks great, but another speed test a minute later from the same site looks
horrible. All you can really see is how much your provider may give you
when you happen to hit one of those "good" snapshots. Even if your own ISP
had a speed test, it would look wonderful but your ISP has no control over
other hosts in the route between you and the target sites that you want to
visit.