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Internet Stuff
There are now a growing number of club members who are connected to the WEB.
At a club meeting recently I was asked about modem speeds, or to be more precise the apparent lack of speed , It seems a misunderstanding exists
Between the meaning of BITS and BYTES.
Right so you`ve got a 56k modem but your web browser says your downloading at 3.8k/……. Huh??
Well modem speeds are generally quoted in BITS per second , while browsers use BYTES … ( CHARACTERS )…. Per second. There are eight BITS in a BYTE and 1,024 Bytes in a Kilobyte.
Confusingly there are only 1,000 Bits in a Kilobit.
To convert the 3.8k/s browser speed into Kilobits per second ( which is how your modem speed is rated) you need to multiply by 1,024 to find the number of bytes being transferred per second ( 3,891 ), then by eight to find the number of Bits ( 31,129 ,000) .
Divide by 1,000 and you`ve got the speed in Kilobits per second … 31,129
Still not anywhere close to the prescribed 56k bps of your modem is it ??
That's because 56Kbps is only ever achieved in impossible to emulate in the real world conditions, and the Internet probably isnt delivering data to your modem at 56kbps anyway. So much for BT PSTN LINE technology…...
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