Posts Tagged ‘Internet Experience’

Connection Speed for Online Gaming

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

The ever improving download speeds and the easy availabilty of broadband internet have spawned a global online gaming community which is growing at an astounding pace. According to EA Games CEO Gerhard Florin, online gaming will probably eclipse the console gaming market in the coming years. Therefore, it is imperative for all budding gamers to have a fast broadband connection speed if they want to join the online gaming bandwagon.

The online gaming market in 2011 is expected to be worth $13 billion, and if you are an online gamer, it goes without saying that you need to have a fast connection speed. Without a good connection speed, you are bound to have a frustrating gaming experience. The new genre of online games is radically different from the old online games that were popular in the 90s. They are not spruced up internet backgammon or checkers, but they give an online gaming experience that is more intricate and immersive.

For multiplayer games such as World of Warcraft, a dial-up internet connection will not be good enough. Although the game producers recommend that you use a fast DSL connection to play the new set of online games, a relatively slower broadband connection speed will still allow you to have a decent online experience. However, that may cause some typical gaming issues to crop up, one of which is the delay of action when you press a trigger on your joypad.

The recommended minimum is 4 Mbps. However, for hardcore gaming, even this broadband connection speed isn’t good enough. Several ISPs have started offering special broadband package for gamers. So, if you are an avid gamer or planning to be one, it is time that you check your true broadband connection speed.

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Primetime for Broadband

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

The popular slogans that are doing the rounds in cyberspace these days are TV on PC, Online TV, and Broadband TV. There’s no doubt that the primetime television viewing trend is changing in the US. The current survey data shows that about 55% of Americans are connected to broadband, which offers them high cable internet speed that is ideal for online primetime television viewing. In addition, more than 10 billion online videos are being downloaded each month, confirming the rise in demand for television and video content over the net.

The latest report released by IMMI (Integrated Media Measurement Inc.) further corroborates that people are migrating from TV to broadband. In fact, about 20% of prime TV episodic content is now being watched via the internet. It seems that broadband TV is the future of primetime episodes.

Gone are the days when online TV conjured up images of poor quality TV streaming. With broadband technologies improving by leaps and bounds, it is time the TV networks sit up and take notice, since most ISPs are offering their clients a cable internet speed that perfectly suits online TV viewing. What’s more, with high speed cable, watching television has become more convenient and enjoyable.

Now, the ISPs often provide a net connection with cable internet speed that is significantly lower than what they advertise. This becomes a major problem especially if you’re planning to watch primetime content via the web. One of the surest ways to verify your actual broadband speed is to take a cable internet speed test. After all, it is essential, since a slow internet speed can mess up your primetime content, big time.

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The Broadband Election

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

With millions of broadband users around the globe, the suggestion of voting with your mouse or your game-pad is not that bizarre after all. It is a difficult proposition to make the young generation take interest in politics. Such is the situation these days, that youths would prefer voting in reality television shows or online polls than casting a vote for electoral candidates. However, the young love the internet, and more and more politicians are finding it the ideal medium to woo their voters.

It is also evident that Senator Obama’s broadband campaign has been far more effective than that of Senator McCain. The performances of both the candidates in some of the internet’s most popular sites are mentioned below:

• Twitter Followers - For Obama: 117,496, For McCain: 4,961
• Google Search References – For Obama: 206 million, For McCain: 145 million
• YouTube Subscribers - For Obama: 121,186, For McCain: 29,308
• Facebook Supporters - For Obama: 2,498,415, For McCain: 625,711

According to one of Business Week’s articles, which is titled “It Takes Tech to Elect a President”, Obama used the online social networks, and he was assisted by his online supporters to a great extent, who prepared local events to foster his presidential campaign. His own social network facilitated the mobilization of local communities as well. Furthermore, certain politicians, such as UK Conservative leader David Cameron, have made use of broadband video sharing websites to create video blogs to reach out to internet savvy voters.

Progressively, voters are turning away from TV, and they are logging on to the internet for the latest news, views, and reviews from the world of politics. “Your voters can be reached online” seems to be the new political mantra.

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Jack Up Your Download Speed

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Since a webpage needs to be downloaded before it appears on your screen, a fast download speed will actually make your internet surfing experience more pleasant. For those of you who love downloading the latest movies or enjoy experimenting with upgraded software, a faster download speed will save you from the frustration of having to wait a long time for the download to complete.

Some of you may have a website that gets high rankings in the search engines and attracts a good number of visitors. But you may find out to your dismay that most visitors are leaving after visiting your website’s homepage. The problem may be the loading time of your web pages. Ideally, a homepage should be around 40 - 50 Kilobytes in size, and anything larger will result in a slow downloading page. Often, the images are the culprits, so cropping them or reducing their colors will make a webpage lighter and download faster. If you have a better download speed, visitors are more likely to stay longer at your website. Studies have shown that majority of web surfers wait about 5 seconds for a page to load, before going elsewhere.

For those of you who are using dial-up connection, try switching to a newer modem because old modems tend to slow down internet connection speed. Clearing the cookies and temporary internet files will also improve the download speed. The capacity of your hardware is a factor as well. However, the best method to jack up your internet connection speed is to call up your ISP and upgrade your subscription plan. With the availability of Broadband and DSL nowadays, downloading is a breeze.

Furthermore, you can take the assistance of an internet connection speed test to get an idea of how fast your current download speed is.

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Internet Speed Basics

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

Many companies now, especially those with DSL and cable, are advertising speeds of upwards of a megabit or more.  But what does “internet speed” really mean?

Let’s break it down:

“Mega” means millions.

A “Bit” is the basic unit of information or data–a binary digit– a single unit that is either 0 or 1. (You can remember it by using the bold letters from the words in combination.) Everything on the Internet and all information and software on your computer is composed of bits.

“Megabits per second” is often abbreviated Mbps.

So it breaks down into how quickly millions of bits can be delivered to, or from, your computer each second.

Internet connections are usually broken down into two speeds: download and upload. For most people, it’s the download speed matters most— that how quickly you will be able to experience all the web sites, emails, sound files, video streams, and telephone calls. It makes a big difference in your internet experience.

Upload speed measures how fast your computer sends data to the Internet. Unless you frequently send large volumes of or huge email or other files — or run a server of some sort – this speed likely isn’t critical.

It’s a good idea to run occasional internet speed tests, and track the history of the results so you can detect any problems. If your speeds don’t match the promises made by your Internet Service Provider (or ISP) — or they decline — it’s worth investigating.

Speedplexer can help you do that, and because it’s a desktop application, once you’ve downloaded it you don’t have to do more than simply double-click the icon in your system tray. There is no registration required, and you can run as many tests as you like for free!

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