Real vs. Theoretical broadband speed

What can you expect from your ISP in return for your money? You might notice that for various reasons your Internet speed might be lower than the declared speed that you paid for. Fact is that no ISP will guarantee you the speed of your broadband Internet or any other type of connection including Dial up. Due to various technical difficulties your real Internet speed can be about 5 – 10 % lower than the declared speed. ISP’s are aware of this and will always try to help you solve any issues you have but as said they do not guarantee your speed. Naturally large drops in speed are not common and they most of the time indicate that there is a problem with a connection, if such a thing should happen contact your ISP’s technical support line for help. Depending on the type of connection you have your real broadband speed can vary for several reasons.

ADSL and SDSL Internet connection

Main problem with ADSL and SDSL is that it can be distributed only to users who are not too far away from the telephone central on which they are hooked. This distance is roughly 5 km but in some cases it can be over 8 km depending on the quality and age of phone lines, and also on the presence of wire gauge that can allow signal to be transmitted further. Second common issue with ADSL broadband speed can be caused with low quality micro filters or long extension cables going from your phone plug to your PC.

Cable Internet connection

With Cable Internet you might have 5-10% drops in speed caused by pretty much the same issues as with ADSL. If you are very distant from one of their distribution points you might have some Internet speed loss. Also long extension cables can cause the same problems.

Wireless Internet connection

Lack of clear visual line from your antenna towards your ISP can cause a lower speed or less stability. Second cause of Internet related problems might come from very bad weather conditions that might be solvable with a frequency change. Wireless Internet is known for its lack of stability when it comes to weather conditions.

Satellite Internet connection

Like wireless, satellite connection also requires a clear visual line towards the satellite, but here you will experience better stability and less speed variation.

Mobile broadband Internet connection

Since it utilizes the mobile phone network, any drop in stability and speed will come from there. In example a high density of traffic and Internet usage on the same base station are the main cause of lowered speed or stability. Compare it with trying to make a phone call on New Year ’s Eve. When too many people make use of it at the same time in the same region, the functionality just drops. Luckily it hardly ever gets this bad.

ISP will never guarantee speed or full stability for any type of Internet connection, but these losses should never exceed 5-10% of the speed you pay for. Any greater speed or stability loss is caused by a problem on the infrastructure of the system. If this should happen contact your ISP immediately and report it. Technical support line of all Internet service providers will always try to help you as much as they can with any issue that you might face and help you optimize your Internet connection. In most cases the real Internet speed is never the same as the theoretical speed, however it is know that some ISP’s will actually allow you a bit higher speed than the one you purchased trying to compensate the loss caused by a poor infrastructure.