[Pierre]

Down load speed are difficult to quantify.

VM have done a lot of research on this. *

There can be any number of problems with the speedtests, and amongst those we’ve researched we’ve found:

Speedtests that only download very small files and hence can’t accurately measure the throughput to give a precise measure of the speed

Tests hosted on servers that are located outside of the UK (remember that the Internet is only as fast as the slowest link)

Speedtests hosted on congested servers or network links that can’t cope – resulting in a slower file download or upload (but this is not accurate of the speed of the broadband connection). This is particularly troublesome for times when speedtests are most popular – such as when the site that runs one of them issues a press release with the latest speedtest results.

Old versions of speedtest software – in some cases many years old.

Problems with the customer’s computer(s) and equipment – Use of USB (much slower than a network card, particularly on higher speeds), Windows not tuned for the higher speeds, wireless equipment not capable of achieving higher speeds and more!

These affect the customer experience of the service, but aren’t an accurate reflection of the speed of the connection.

How can I test that I am downloading at my correct speed? *

There are many speed tests, of varying accuracy, available on the Internet. However, a simple way to test your connection is to download four or more files simultaneously (one file downloaded will not usually use the full bandwidth you have available) from a UK mirror of such sites as: http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/blueyondergames/demos/, http://www.tucows.com or http://fuller.zen.co.uk/test/ and then adding up the average transfer speed for each individual file. For example, if you are currently connected to the XL service, this equates to up to 20480Kb/s (kilobits per second) or 2560KB/s (kilobytes per second) for downloading, and the upload speed is "up to" 768Kb/s or 96KB/s. On top of this, you should deduct around 10% for overhead data transfer. Internet Explorer normally reports transfer rates in KB (kilobytes per second). Please remember also, that the Internet is only as fast as its slowest link. This means that, if you are on the Virgin Media XL service and you are trying to download a file from the USA, you are then reliant on the ISP's network in the region of the service you have connected with, and that their servers are able to supply you with the full XL speeds.

* Ripped from VM

** ripped from http://broadband-faq.brion.me.uk/