>> The router displays the connection speed. That's the rate at which it
>> can
>> exchange data over the phone line - the rate betwwen router and
>> exchange.
>
> Only in this case, it isn't. It's showing the maximum protocol
> speed, not the (likely) data rate between the modem and the exchange,
> which is generally the limiting factor.
That's not what Scott's original mail said; he quoted :-
ADSL Firmware Version A2pB022c.d20e
Modem Status Connected
DownStream Connection Speed 8032 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 448 kbps
VPI 0
VCI 38
...Which is the connection speed.
> Not really. The maximum speed of the ISP's data network is likely
> to be many order of magnitude faster than the maximum speed of the
> line between house and exchange, assuming low contention(*).
Methinks you assume too much :-)
A number of ISPs are *notorious* for giving rubbish actual data
throughput. The good and the bad frequently change places on that score -
with some exceptions, natch.
So even though the ISP might have a huge headline rate, once divided by
the number of users on it, it might not achieve the rates they're
selling...
> (*) OK, not necessarily a good assumption, but let's assume that the
> ISP in question is sufficiently gung-ho about throttling heavy users.
It would be a better assumption to assume that almost all ISPs are simply
trying to get their costs as low as possible. If that means the mean data
rate falling during periods of heavy usage, most of them just don't care.
Vic.
