Archive for the ‘Speed Testing’ Category

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Free and Legal Music Downloads Keep You Out of Court

Monday, June 29th, 2009

If you don’t want to take the risk of using P2P to download your music, but the economy has got you looking for ways to acquire music for free, here are a few tips to make use your internet speed, wisely.

MPFree touts itself as a completely free service that gives you the opportunity to earn free and totally legal music downloads from your favorite artists. How do you earn them? By giving your info to advertisers–every offer you complete gets you more free song downloads. Because advertisers are paying for it, MPFree is a legal music download site, in compliance with all copyright laws and artist and record-label royalty agreements.

A search for ARTISTdirect comes up with a link promising free music downloads. Once I clicked on “songs,” their free downloads link offers a list of songs that goes on for 22 pages, but I don’t recognize that many artists. So I clicked “Help”. “ARTISTdirect, Inc. is a digital media entertainment company that is home to an online music network and, through its acquisition of MediaDefender, is a leader in anti-piracy solutions in the Internet piracy protection industry.” This doesn’t really answer my questions, so I click on the Play/DL button next to an artist I’ve heard of to see what happens. It goes to that artist’s page, and opens a player, but also has a download button. I’m still not sure exactly how the site works, but downloading free music from this site shouldn’t get you into trouble.

A search for “free legal music downloads” also came up with several other options, so check em’ out.

We’ll look into more next time.

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Wugnet Speed Test

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

It’s a proven fact that the speed of your broadband connection determines how fast your surfing experience is going to be. However, most ISPs will not provide you with the allotted speed. And the best way to find that out is to take a free broadband connection speedtest. There are a number of websites which offer you a free broadband test, and probably one of the most popular among them is the Wugnet Speed Test.

Wugnet is an abbreviation for the ‘Windows Users Group Network’, and it was established in 1988. It has been on the internet since two decades ago, and this is the reason why their speed test is so reliable. Besides providing peer-to-peer Windows OS support, Wugnet also specializes in broadband connection speedtest.

The Wugnet Speed Test interface is simple yet informative. All you need to do is click the ‘Click to Start my Speed’ button, and the speed test will be initiated. The result of the test will clearly show your upload as well as download speed. Additionally, Wugnet Speed Test also provides you with readings of your internet connection’s quality of service, round trip time, and max pause.

One of the requirements for running the Wugnet Speed Test is Java, so make sure you have Java installed before you run their broadband connection speedtest. Also, remember to close all applications on your computer before you hit the ‘Click to Start my Speed’ button.

The Wugnet Speed Test is used by techies all over the world as it offers one of the most accurate measurements of broadband connection speed.

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Wi-Fi in the Sky

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

According to the Wall Street Journal, American Airlines is loading up another 150 planes this year with Wi-Fi Internet service. They began offering wireless Internet to domestic customers on 15 of their Boeing 767’s last August. Their next step is to start adding service to 153 of their Boeing 737’s in time for 2010. This is just the latest sign that high-altitude, high-speed Internet  is becoming a standard on domestic flights.

Several U.S. airlines are planning on or considering offering Internet on domestic flights. Delta Air Lines plans to equip more than 300 planes with wireless Internet access by year end. Southwest Airlines Co. began testing a satellite-based Internet service on four of its planes earlier this year. United Airlines plans to offer air-to-ground Internet service on 13 of its planes in the second half of the year.

But it’s not for free—with airlines looking for ways to make money any way they can these days,  American is charging $7.95 for customers who use hand-held wireless devices, fees for laptops range from $9.95 for short flights - $12.95 for longer flights. Delta’s prices are the same. United’s air-to-ground internet service will cost $12.95 and be restricted initially to flights between New York and California. While Continental Airlines Inc. and U.S. Airways Group Inc. are still studying the situation before offering in-flight Internet access to their customers.

Both American and Delta are using air-to-ground technology developed by Aircell LLC, an Illinois-based company. Customers can surf the Web and check emails at speeds of up to three megabits per second, faster than many connections on land. Download Speedplexer to your laptop and you can clock your speed while you’re in the air!

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Posted in News, Speed Testing, connection speed | 2 Comments »

Modem Speed Test

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Everyone wants a speedy cable modem these days. From online shoppers and businesses to online gamers and surfers, there’s a growing need for speed. Modem is an abbreviation for ‘modulator-demodulator’, and it is a device which allows a computer to transmit data over telephone or cable lines. Since data transmitted through cable or telephone lines is in the form of analog waves, the modem helps to convert it to digital form, so that it can be understood by the computer.

Thus, a modem is necessary for the creation of digital data or signals. Cable modems and ADSL modems are the ones that are commonly used for internet browsing. Aside from internet use, modems are also utilized by the telecommunications sector. 

The 56K (V.90) modem is a common type of modem that is used for connecting to the internet. A 56K can transform data to about 56,000 bits per second. Likewise, a 28.8(V.34) modem can transform data up to a level of 28,000 bits per second.

The first step to take in your quest for speed is to take a modem speed test. This will determine your actual internet speed. You’ll find quite a number of reliable online modem speed test sites that will provide you with this service. The test usually measures the average data throughput by analyzing the time taken to load a graphic image. It will then present you with the result of the test in a 56K/ISDN comparison chart. Hence, a modem speed test will not only enumerate your actual internet speed, it will also offer you assistance in upgrading it as well.

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College Courses on YouTube & iTunes U

Monday, March 16th, 2009

It was only a matter of time until Professors realized that they could make use of new technologies to reach the minds of their students.

Universities such as Duke, Stanford, MIT, and the University of California, among others, already post videos online both to YouTube and in iTunes U, a section of iTunes featuring audio and video podcasts.

As reported on Read Write Web, Dani McKinney, a psychologist at the State University of New York, did a test lecture by podcast to see how well her students could learn from it. Those who used the podcast only, which included slides, did slightly better than those who attended class and received a printed handout. Those who took notes from the podcast did even better. Of course, they received no credit for the lecture, just the promise of an iTunes gift certificate if they scored the highest grade. McKinney now plans to further study podcasts in the classroom over the course of an entire semester, instead of just one class. “I do think it’s a tool,” she says. “I think that these kids are programmed differently than kids 20 years ago.” 

In Australia, one professor is actually offering credit for courses taken via YouTube. Richard Buckland, a computer science professor at the University of NSW in Sydney, Australia, was frustrated that high school students with a passion for computing and capable of studying at the college level were not able to make the commute to the university fit into their school day.

You should check your internet speed and the school’s requirements before starting, but you might find that your favorite time-passers can also be great study tools.  And as far as having the internet speed to download the lecture, iTunes has speed tips for both high-speed internet and dial-up users on their site, as does YouTube.

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Internet Speed Envy, Globally

Friday, March 13th, 2009

A recent article from The New York Times tech blog compared high-speed Internet use around the world to see if it’s true that many other countries get faster, cheaper and more widely available broadband service than the U.S..

They found that in Japan, broadband service of 150 megabits per second (Mbps) costs $60 a month. The fastest service available now in the United States is 50 Mbps at a price of $90 to $150 a month. So they get three times the speed at about a third of the price.

In London, $9 a month buys 8 Mbps service. In New York, broadband starts at $20 per month, for 1 Mbps. That’s quite a difference.

But if you take into consideration that Japan, Korea and Sweden have made significant investment in their fiber optic networks, the United States may not be too far behind. Japan’s average speed is about 16.7 Mbps. Sweden was 8.8 Mbps. And Korea averaged 7.2 Mbps.

In countries that haven’t made the investment in infrastructure we see average download speeds ranging from 3.2 Mbps in Italy to 6.4 Mbps in Germany, according to a study by the Saïd Business School at Oxford. The United States has an average download speed of 5.2 Mbps.

But Internet speeds in the United States are getting faster. Verizon’s fiber optic service, FiOS, offers 50 Mbps service with the capacity to offer much faster speeds. AT&T is building up their U-Verse service, offering data speeds of up to 25 Mbps with Internet video as well. Cable systems are starting to deploy the next generation of Internet technology called Docsis 3.0, offering speeds of 50 Mbps (compared to a maximum of about 16 Mbps available with today’s cable systems) and eventually much more.

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Is it Fair for your ISP to Slow You Down?

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

About a year ago, Comcast’s “network management” techniques got a lot of negative publicity–mostly because of the way they slowed people’s connections, or cut them off entirely. In fact, Federal Communications Commission was brought in to investigate its widely criticized anti-BitTorrent filtering.

(BitTorrent is an advanced peer-to-peer sharing technology that allows users to share music, movies, software, and other intellectual property. It works by splitting up files into tiny bits of data that can be shared in any order. Eventually after sharing a file with others, the speed for downloading increases, thereby taking the burden off of the servers and putting it on the users.)

The FCC Chairman, Kevin Martin, said the question was, “Are they reasonable network practices?” He added that “when they have reasonable network practices, they should disclose those and make those public.”

One blogger put it this way: “Many ISPs routinely filter the traffic on their networks. …the fact that a major ISP is now filtering yet another class of Internet traffic should not be major news–except for two factors: BitTorrent traffic accounts for upwards of 25 percent of U.S. Internet traffic, and the techniques used by Comcast are essentially the same as those used by the Great Firewall of China.”

Another blogger said that Comcast was surreptitiously interfering with file transfers by posing as the client, and then disconnecting. Tests by the Associated Press seemed to prove that Comcast was actively interfering with peer-to-peer networks, even if relatively small files were being transferred.

One blogger/customer noted that while clocking his internet speed, he noticed that regularly got only a portion of what Comcast was promising.  One customer even took Comcast to court over their phrasing of offering an “always-on” connection in their press and promotions. But the fine print seems to have been more binding than the press release.

The final word may be this headline from Reuters news from only a few weeks ago: “Comcast beats forecast but loses subscribers,” of course, they attribute it to “recession and competition”, but it could simply be poor customer service and bad press. 

The moral of the story for internet users:  measure your internet speeds and read the fine print!

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What exactly is FiOS?

Friday, February 27th, 2009

FiOS is a combination of the words “Fiber”, “Optic” and “Service.” It is a service that offers Internet, telephone, and TV, in a variety of combinations, and it’s only being offered in some areas of the United States by the telecom company Verizon.

Verizon is the first major U.S. carrier to offer ‘fiber to the home/premises’, or FTTP, and so far seems to be the only one offering it.  Other service providers limit the use of fiber optics, so the majority of distance is covered by a copper or coaxial cable.

FiOS has to be installed by extending their fiber optic network to your house.  This is why it’s not available in all areas.  And though it promises speeds far and above the existing providers, it seems that the speeds are highly variable depending on the area, and are affected by the location, cost, and the offerings of the competing broadband providers. Offered speeds in various areas have been changed with little notice—which is why it’s a good idea to regularly measure your internet connection speed. 

They offer a variety of packages so you can choose to pay for only what you really need. The lowest bandwidth tier was 5 Megabit per second for downloads and 2 Mbit/s for uploads, but now its 10 Mbit/s and 2 Mbit/s in most areas, which is considerably faster than Verizon’s fastest DSL plans.

Most customers can double or triple their download speed for a small additional fee. Their highest service, when it’s available in the area, offers nearly commercial bandwidth, including substantial upload speed, in some territories reaching 30/15 or 50/20 Mbit/s download and upload.

If FiOS is available in your area, be sure to keep track of your internet connection speed regularly. Pay attention to the ease and time involved in the download of videos, music and any large files. Then when you check the prices, you’ll know if it’s worth it to switch to FiOS.

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Posted in DSL Speeds, New Products, Speed Testing | 1 Comment »

Broadband Speed Tests

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Having a high speed internet connection is the in-thing these days. As broadband internet offers a faster means to surf the World Wide Web, more and more people and businesses are jumping into broadband bandwagon. Simply put, the faster your internet connection, the better your uploads and downloads will be. And one of the most convenient ways to find out the speed of your connection is by taking a broadband connection test.

There are several reasons why you should run a speed test. First of all, a broadband connection test will help you verify the broadband speed that is promised by your service provider. More often than not, subscribers to a particular internet package do not get the bandwidth they pay for.

Another reason that makes running a broadband connection test a necessity is when you are planning to set up a web server. A speed test will ensure that you are getting the broadband speed that is required for the server and service. A broadband connection test will also help you to determine how many users your server can support.

Unlike a dial-up modem which takes time to log you on to the net, a broadband connection gets you connected to the web instantly. This makes broadband ideal for those who are running a home business. A slow internet connection will translate to lost income. And since some ISPs don’t give you the advertised bandwidth, a speed test is the quickest way to find out the veracity of their claims.

If you run a broadband connection test on a regular basis and the results don’t show the speed that your ISP promised, it is probably time for you to switch to an ISP that delivers what it promises.

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Internet Speed - DSL versus Cable

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line, and it comes through the phone line. Therefore you are connected through your personal line all the way to the source where the line originates.  As a result the DSL Bandwidth speed is stable.

Internet Cable is fed to the system by nodes, which are sort of halfway points between you and the source.  The Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides a bandwidth to an area that includes many customers, and they share the bandwidth. As a result, during peak usage the speed can be significantly degraded.

Which is better and/or faster is hotly debated, and ultimately it depends on what is available in your area. While DSL offers users a choice of speeds ranging from 144 Kbps to 1.5Mbps, cable modem download speeds are typically up to 2 times faster than that, BUT because cable technology is based on shared bandwidth, the speed fluctuates.

In more rural areas with fewer subscribers, you’re bound to have faster download speeds  than a subscriber in a metropolitan center.

On the upload stream, however, cable and DSL are closely matched for speed. Both DSL and cable Internet speeds are largely dependent upon the service provider and either the distance away from the switching station you are or how many subscribers are in your immediate area.

If you’re thinking of switching from one to the other, testing your current connection’s internet speed over a period of time can help you decide, especially if you can compare them to others in your area.  If you haven’t decided which service is best for you, ask your neighbors which service they use, what speeds they are getting, and if they’re having any problems. Then break down the speed versus the cost, and decide which works best for you.

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