Internet Download/Upload Speeds...

[Karlos]

...or is it a limitation of the internet.

It has to be that! :lol:

If you want faster upload speeds, pay for a SDSL connection. Or if you are really flush, get a leased line.

Otherwise, live with the limits of your existing ADSL.

[Karlos]

Im only using Sky's broadband for the moment as I got it at a bargain price, £30 for a year. I can get Virgin broadband here on a fiber optic line instead, but Im still curious to know why the upload speeds are only a fraction of the download speeds, is their a reason for this...

Yes. Finite bandwidth and the fact that most users download orders of magnitude more data than they ever upload. Very few people need fast upload speeds.

[Karlos]

So I take it then, that your stuck with the speed your provider gives you and there's no way possible a user can change this...

(mousehouse's 414 days estimate, look's a wee bit daunting even for an insomniac like me...  )

You aren't exactly stuck with it, you just have to pay rather more if you want better upload speeds.

[Karlos]

Now Virgin here are as far as I know the fastest providers, but for that money it doesn't seem worth it, when that person is getting a slower upload speed than I am, seems crazy to me...

Again, most normal users don't care about upload speed since the vast majority of their uploads are HTTP requests, for which 384kbps is ample.

Having just checked my router, my current connection is:

Down:2268 kbps
Up:285 kbps

That's almost 8:1.

According to the network stats on this machine, I've received over 440MiB of data this session but sent only 30MiB, so I'm actually underutilising my upload bandwidth here

[Karlos]

Lets see:

Downstream: 18383 Kbps
Upstream: 1023 Kbps

My, how the other half lives

My paltry 2Mb connection is the limit of the copper between my flat and the exchange (which I am about as far away from as you can get before you are closer to a different one).

I would have thought that if your not using it for a download then surely that speed/bandwith could be used for uploading instead...

You are thinking of your connection as a data path to the intertubes that only you are using. That's not how packet switching networks operate. As soon as your traffic hits the network, it's threaded into a vast multiplexed stream of other data zipping back and forth for other users too. Basically, whenever you aren't using your ISP's bandwidth to receive data, it's being given out to someone else that is. Most UK ISPs try to cram as many customers as they can on their main pipes, since they pay a lot for them and only bulk traffic makes a profit. They aren't going to hold onto precious bandwidth for you to upload data unless you pay a premium for it.

[Karlos]

Yes I have read it and found it quite interesting, as I have already said some of Pirus's post can be very informative & useful, but he doesn't have to be so snappy along with it or retort with a like it or lump it attitude.

Don't get your knickers in a twist.

For what it's worth, the above posts were positively verbose for Piru. His briefest and most directly to the point answer to a question is an amiga.org legend, standing at 1 character