Cable Modems to be 1000x faster in 2008

James Emory · October 16th, 2005, 03:05 PM

I don't know why you mentioned a limitation in my machine because I'm surely not complaining about being able to transfer 300 MB upstream in 20 minutes! That is fast as hell for that file size!! Though your effort is appreciated, all of this tech talk is not helping me understand the situation. I would like to know what the transfer time says in the progress bar when you transfer a 300 MB file or a group of files equal to 300 MB to a remote server via your cable connection. Technical specs or theory don't matter to me as much as when I click (paste) files into an ftp directory on a remote server and see the estimated time of transfer, which has always been accurate to within a few seconds. The bottom line for me is transfer time. You said you were getting 2 megs up with cable. I don't see how unless there is a higher rate that you're paying for faster upstream.

A. J. deLange · October 16th, 2005, 04:30 PM

First off let's be sure there isn't confusion between Mbps which is millions of bits per second and MBps which is millions of bytes per second. 1 MBps = 8 Mbps. Lets also check the math: 300 MByte = 2.4 Gigabits. 2.4 gigabits in 20 minutes is .12 gigabits or 120 megabits per minute which, given 60 seconds in a minute is 2 megabits per second. This is the upload rate which Cox gives to its cable customers in parts of its service area where FIOS is available. This is also the uplink rate that FIOS makes available. Cox does not charge extra for this in areas where they are threatened by competition from FIOS.

I have not looked at ETA's when uploading from home - only the rate. The indicated rate I have observed is usually over 200 MBps and frequently close to 250 MBps which is 2Mbps. This is my reason for saying that Cox is equal to its promise. If I have a 300 MB file and a rate of 2Mbps the time required is going to be 20 minutes. I will do a transfer tomorrow and note the ETA as well as the rate.

The reason I mentioned the limitation on your machine is because a T3 is capable of going much much faster than 300 MB in 20 minutes. A full T3 could transfer 300 MByte in 2.7 seconds. The fact that you are seeing a rate this slow is from some other cause. The server is limiting how fast it will accept data or the link from your machine may be the bottle neck. While a 802.11g wireless link can handle 54 Mbps (27 times greater than 2 Mbps) that rate only pertains when the signal strength is good. I understood that you were accessing the WiFi net of the public library from the parking lot - i.e. outside the building where the signal strength will be low. When this is the case the link slows down appreciably. That MAY be what is "limiting" your transfer to 2 Mbps.

I hope this doesn't read as more techie jargon. If it's in the blood there isn't much you can do about it.

James Emory · October 16th, 2005, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A. J. deLange

I have not looked at ETA's when uploading from home - only the rate.

It doesn't matter to me where you do it as long as it is a cable modem so I can compare it to my cable modem. I think I see now that you are just saying that I am missing out on what the full strength could be for T3 because of various factors. Just to let you know, I do have a Linksys 54g card that I use at home with a wireless Linksys router but when I'm portable, away from home, I just use my laptop's internal 802.11b card. I will call the library to see if my Linksys 54g card will work with their network, then retest if it does.

A. J. deLange · October 20th, 2005, 02:22 PM

Today I uploaded a 174 MB file from my home system over the Cox furnished Scientific Atlanta cable modem. Fugu (the transfer application) indicated that the ETA would be 14 minutes for this file and that the transfer rate was 208 KBps which is 1.664 Mbps.

James Emory · October 20th, 2005, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A. J. deLange

Today I uploaded a 174 MB file from my home system over the Cox furnished Scientific Atlanta cable modem. Fugu (the transfer application) indicated that the ETA would be 14 minutes for this file and that the transfer rate was 208 KBps which is 1.664 Mbps.

Lucky dog!! I still have to go to the liebarry to get that kind of upload speed. I just tested a 300 MB file upload on my Comcast cable modem with a wireless Linksys 54g card and router at 54Mbps and the ETA for the transfer said 1 hour and 54 minutes. What I don't understand is why my laptop's onboard internal card said its transfer speed was 11 Mbps and it indicated the same time to upload the same file. As I said earlier, that same file would take only 20 minutes at the library even with my internal card. The 54g may be even faster.

October 16th, 2005, 03:05 PM	#31
James Emory Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 1,892	I don't know why you mentioned a limitation in my machine because I'm surely not complaining about being able to transfer 300 MB upstream in 20 minutes! That is fast as hell for that file size!! Though your effort is appreciated, all of this tech talk is not helping me understand the situation. I would like to know what the transfer time says in the progress bar when you transfer a 300 MB file or a group of files equal to 300 MB to a remote server via your cable connection. Technical specs or theory don't matter to me as much as when I click (paste) files into an ftp directory on a remote server and see the estimated time of transfer, which has always been accurate to within a few seconds. The bottom line for me is transfer time. You said you were getting 2 megs up with cable. I don't see how unless there is a higher rate that you're paying for faster upstream. Last edited by James Emory; October 16th, 2005 at 03:41 PM.

October 16th, 2005, 04:30 PM	#32
A. J. deLange Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: McLean, VA United States Posts: 749	First off let's be sure there isn't confusion between Mbps which is millions of bits per second and MBps which is millions of bytes per second. 1 MBps = 8 Mbps. Lets also check the math: 300 MByte = 2.4 Gigabits. 2.4 gigabits in 20 minutes is .12 gigabits or 120 megabits per minute which, given 60 seconds in a minute is 2 megabits per second. This is the upload rate which Cox gives to its cable customers in parts of its service area where FIOS is available. This is also the uplink rate that FIOS makes available. Cox does not charge extra for this in areas where they are threatened by competition from FIOS. I have not looked at ETA's when uploading from home - only the rate. The indicated rate I have observed is usually over 200 MBps and frequently close to 250 MBps which is 2Mbps. This is my reason for saying that Cox is equal to its promise. If I have a 300 MB file and a rate of 2Mbps the time required is going to be 20 minutes. I will do a transfer tomorrow and note the ETA as well as the rate. The reason I mentioned the limitation on your machine is because a T3 is capable of going much much faster than 300 MB in 20 minutes. A full T3 could transfer 300 MByte in 2.7 seconds. The fact that you are seeing a rate this slow is from some other cause. The server is limiting how fast it will accept data or the link from your machine may be the bottle neck. While a 802.11g wireless link can handle 54 Mbps (27 times greater than 2 Mbps) that rate only pertains when the signal strength is good. I understood that you were accessing the WiFi net of the public library from the parking lot - i.e. outside the building where the signal strength will be low. When this is the case the link slows down appreciably. That MAY be what is "limiting" your transfer to 2 Mbps. I hope this doesn't read as more techie jargon. If it's in the blood there isn't much you can do about it.

October 20th, 2005, 02:22 PM	#34
A. J. deLange Major Player Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: McLean, VA United States Posts: 749	Today I uploaded a 174 MB file from my home system over the Cox furnished Scientific Atlanta cable modem. Fugu (the transfer application) indicated that the ETA would be 14 minutes for this file and that the transfer rate was 208 KBps which is 1.664 Mbps.