How do I read my internet speed? (SOLVED! THANKS!)

Sipex

Alright, my provider currently boasts a 5M/800k speed but I have no bloody clue what that means. I've worked out the 5M means 5 megabits per second but I have no idea where the 800k fits in there.

What does this mean?

Six

800 kilobits per second up.

The first number is your downstream speed, the second going the other way.

Sipex

But in relation to what? Is that my minimum speed or my upload speed?

edit: AHHHHHHH

Okay, thank you a lot. I tried searching it on google and got nothing and their site didn't help either.

Six

Sipex wrote: »

But in relation to what? Is that my minimum speed or my upload speed?

It's your theoretical maximum speed.

So if you saturated your connection you'd get 5M downloads and 800k uploads.

In reality you likely won't reach that on a single download or upload.

Tomanta

Also be aware that those are megabits, not megaBytes (there are 8 bits in a Byte). But actual file transfers are usually displayed in Bytes (big B = bytes, little b =bits).

MindLib

As a caveat to the other responses; it's hard to find hosts that offer speeds as high as 5M. The reason for this should be obvious, just look at the drastic difference in your own DL/UL speeds. I have a 1.2M maximum and my average DL speeds are around 500-750 KBPS. My UL stream is also 800KBPS.