File sizes and timings - Crete internet with makeITcrete.com

'Real' timings for file sizes & connection types or a k is a k is a k.... isn't it???

Q. I don't understand why my connection is supposed to be 512k and my downloads and speed tests show it at 59k or something like that. What's going on?

A. Virtually every new internet pc user will ask this question at some time so don't worry if you too are having trouble working this one out.

There are two factors at play here. The first is that the speed of the connection is measured in Kilobits and the size of your file is in KiloBytes. As a byte is made up of eight bits the maximum file size you can download in one second on a 512k line is approx 64KiloBytes. The second factor is that the rating is the maximum and depending on time of day and number of users connected to an ISP's local node you can reasonably expect to see up to a 20% defecit in speed. You should hope to be downloading at least 5 KiloBytes/sec on 56K and 50KiloBytes / sec over 512K connections. Approx times taken to transfer data can be seen below

File Size	Example	over 56K Dialup	over 512K ADSL
20 kB	Simple .html webpage inc 300 words text	4 secs	0.5 sec
50 kB	Full page picture on website	10 secs	1 sec
100 kB	.wav audio clip (8 secs)	20 secs	2 secs
500 kB	.mpg video clip (5 secs)	100 secs	10 secs
1 MB	100,000 words of text (.txt)	3.5 mins	20 secs
5 MB	.mp3 audio track	17 mins	1.5 mins
10 MB	Utility Program	35 mins	3.5 mins
50 MB	Full album - 10 tracks in .mp3 format	3 hours	17 mins
500 MB	Feature film .avi at low quality	1 day 6 hours	3 hours
120 GB	Modern PC Hard Drive capacity	1 year!!!	1 month!!!

First posted online at makeITcrete.com - 25th July 2004

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