At the moment I have a 50 megs symmetrical unlimited internet plan, but no matter the device or connection method (5G, LAN) my download/upload speed never exceeds 5 megabytes even though the speed tests always show 50/50.

Is it possible that my ISP is limiting this speed per device so that a single device does not hold all the bandwidth?

And what does this have to do with piracy? Well, between downloading files at 5mbs vs 50mbs there is a lot of difference, especially a lot of torrents.

  • forkbomb9
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    1 year ago

    ISPs never measure speed in megabytes, always in megabits (8 bits in 1 byte).

    This is due to how networking works, but ofc also marketing…

    50 Mb (megabit) is 6.25 MB (megabyte), so the speed is correct imo.

  • Yetanaika@feddit.cl
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    1 year ago

    Normally, at least in my country, ISPs sells you plans for X Megabits, not Megabytes. So, if the contract says 50/50 Megabits, your downloading speed would be 50÷8=6.25 Megabytes max.

    Sites like speedtest.net also shows you your speed in megabits

  • sin_free_for_00_days@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Where you sold 50 megabit instead of 50 megabyte? That used to be a common bullshit sales tactic. Your terms probably don’t set a minimum speed, but will say UP TO <your limit>. I’d contact the ISP, ask them what the hell is going on?

    • Xirup@lemmy.oneOP
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      1 year ago

      In theory it’s 50 megabytes, if I perform a speedtest it usually shows 50/50 but if I download something the speed simply gets stuck at 5 megabytes, and that’s if it’s a single download, if I download something else in the same PC the speed is divided into 2.5 megabytes per file and so on constantly the more files I download and the maximum speed that the site allows me.

      And yes, the most possible thing is that I’ll contact my ISP but I wanted to know if this is something common or if they are limiting my speed.

      • ppp@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        If it’s advertised as 50 megabits per second then that’s 6.25 megabytes per second. Most speedtests show results in megabits, not megabytes. Most downloads will show in megabytes, not megabits.

      • sin_free_for_00_days@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        I know some ISPs have been accused of speeding up speed test sites. Maybe try a couple different testing sites and see if they all report 50/50. If you have a friend who has that speed, at the least, maybe you could try to transfer between your two computers and see. Also, if you’re running through a VPN, which I hope you are, sometimes they’ll have a speed limit. I’m just spit balling here. Other than that, I’m out of ideas. Hopefully someone else will have better trouble shooting abilities than I do.

  • D4NM3D@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    your connection is 50 megaBITS not megaBYTES… so divide 50 by 8 and you’ll get your answer…

    50 / 8 = 6.25

    Now take in to account the overheads… the speed you’re seeing is completely accurate.

    If you wanted to download at 50 MegaBYTES as you insinuated then the same math applies…

    50 * 8 = 400

    So you’d need to pay for a 400 to 500 Megabit connection.

    I have a 900 / 110 connection and my actual MegaByte speeds are 90 / 10

    You may feel hard done by, but this has always been the way… as far as I know every ISP in the world markets in Mb (MegaBit) not MB (MegaByte)

  • empireOfLove@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Internet service is almost ALWAYS exclusively sold on megabit speed.

    There are 8 bits in a byte. So a 50mbps connection /8 = 6.25MBps.

    You are getting roughly (within the margin of error) the speed you pay for. No issue.

  • zurohki@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Network data rates are usually measured in bits while the size of data is measured in bytes.

    Probably for historical reasons. Bytes weren’t always exactly 8 bits, so the number of bytes you’d get through a modem in one second varied depending on what byte size / character encoding you were using.

    You’re complaining about getting 5 instead of 50, but if you’re actually getting 50 megabits then that would deliver around 6 megabytes per second. Add some TCP overhead and that would mean your results are exactly in line with misreading the units.

  • Entropy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    1 bit = 8 bytes 50 megabits = 6.25 megabytes

    You’re getting pretty much what you paid for, if you want a 50 megabyte/s connection you’d need a 400 megabit connection

  • Sorghum
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    1 year ago

    Few things, usually Internet speeds are usually measured in megabits not bytes (8 bits in a byte). The shorthand is usually Mb/s for megabits/second and MB/s megabytes/second.

    If that’s all correct, then you can check that your signal is strong and try a different modem. If at all possible, try to get a wired connection to to the modem to eliminate problems with WiFi

  • Knighthawk 0811@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    try https://speed.cloudflare.com/ to get a speed test with lots of data

    additionally, if your speed test is still good but your real life download sucks, check that the app your downloading with doesn’t have a rate limit set. lots do have an option for people who don’t want their home network bogged down by one user

  • daf@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    You need to divide by 8, so your max should be 6.25.

    Speed test are megabits, files are megabytes

  • SmokeFree
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    1 year ago

    5 MB/s is correct. You need to have 500 MBPS plan to get 50 MB/s.

  • nowayhosay@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    5 Megabytes is equal to 40 megabits and that I would say is acceptable for a 50megabit plan. Are you certain of what unit your speedtest is measured in?

  • ThatGuy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have much better speeds (1GB) and I dont think Ive ever got past 10mbs when torrenting. It can only go as fast as the seeds can upload to you. (So if they are sending at 5mbs, you will be bottlenecked by that upload speed)

  • Litanys@lem.cochrun.xyz
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    1 year ago

    Of you bought 50 megabytes you should get that. Often tho that isn’t the case. Use librespeed.org to figure out what you’re getting and if not call your ISP and tell them. That is mostly the speed for you whole house tho, so if someone else is on it it’ll be a bit slower.