On 31 Aug 98 at 22:31, Earl Truss wrote:

> At 10:58 PM 8/31/98 -0400, you wrote:
> >and get a speed check on my modem. It reported for a file size of 1,335,032
> >(1.33k) [ZIP compressed]
> >with a speed of "1.38Kbytes/sec". The modem is a "generic" Davicom
> >Voice/Data/Fax 33.6". Is this a
> >good speed reported or am I at least close to having optimum speed?
> >
> This sounds quite slow.  A typical "average" transfer rate is about
> one-tenth of the modem's rating.  That is, a 33.6Kbps (thousand bits per
> second) modem should be able to handle a transfer rate of about 3.36KB/sec
> (thousand bytes per second).  I usually connect to my ISP at 26.4Kbps and
> get transfer rates of around 2.4KB/sec on most transfers.

  It used to be true that modems used 10 bits for every byte, so
dividing the modem bps speed by 10 gave you a maximum Bps throughput.
Since the protocol involves a bit of traffic back to the server,
actual download speed winds up being less than this -- that's one
reason why 26.4Kbps yields only 2.4 KB/sec.
  Another reason, though, is that it takes time for your signal to
reach the server, and time for its reply to reach you.  This will
depend on some factors you have no control over:  how fast the
server's net connection is, how fast the server hardware is (retrieve
that file from disk/tape...), how loaded the server is.  Some of
these will vary from one session to another.

  Trying to use a single session with a single server doesn't really
give you enough information to indicate whether your modem is slow.

David G

                                  -----
       **Need help with PCBUILD mailing list? Send an Email to:**
        Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]> or Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>