Broadband FAQs

By Satish |

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Broadband FAQs If you're looking at our previous post on broadband providers and packages in Malaysia, chances are that you may be shopping around for the right broadband package. Here we shed some light on the commonly used jargon to help you out… Broadband FAQ *kbps – Kilo bits per second. For example, 512kbps is equal to 512000 bits per second, where 1 bytes equals to 8 bits. 512000 bits per second is equal to 64000 bytes. And 64000 bytes is equal to 62.5 kilo bytes. Therefore, the maximum download speed of 512kbps is about 62.5kb per second. *mbps – Mega bits per second. For example, 1.0mbps is equal to 1,000,000 bits per second, where 1 bytes equals to 8 bits. 1,000,000 bits per second is equal to 125000 bytes. And 64000 bytes is equal to 122 kilo bytes. Therefore, the maximum download speed of 1.0mbps is about 122kb per second. p/s: 1kb (kilo bytes) is equal to 1024 bytes. However, most of the providers & storage device manufacturers treats 1kb as 1000 btyes. Therefore, you only get about 3.8GB of free space for a 4GB flash drive. (Also, kilo btyes are usually written in capital letter – KB where kb is usually refers to kilo bits. ) *Bandwidth limit – Data transfer limitation. For example, opening a webpage requires you to upload 10kb of data and download 100kb of data, a 5GB bandwidth limit allows you to load the webpage for approximately 45,454 times. (5GB is equals to 5,000,000kb divided by 110kb equals to 45,454.) p/s: Bandwidth limit is determined because of the Fair Usage Policy practiced by most of the broadband providers. This is to make sure all users are having healthy internet connection. *What will happen if I have used up all my bandwidth? – If you bandwidth is dried up, the provider will evaluate your browsing behavior.  If your internet usage is "unhealthy" (P2P, torrent and etc.), the provider has right to stop providing internet access until the next month (where bandwidth limit will be reseted). If your internet usage is "healthy", provider might only throttle your connection speed to the speed of a turtle. *I subscribed to a 2.4mbps broadband package, but my download speed is lower than my friend's 1.2mbps connection. – As stated in providers' terms & conditions, the speeds are based on best effort. Normally, you'll never reach the maximum speed that providers offered. Maximum speed can be achieved only under perfect condition (especially for wireless broadband that are using EDGE, 3G, HSDPA and Wimax technology), provided the connection of the web server must be blazing fast too. *What is a modem? – Modem is an electronic device that connects the computer to the internet. *What is a router? – A router is an electronic device that connects two or more computer together. If a modem is integrated or connected to the router, it is able to share the internet connection to all computers that are connected to the router. *What is an IP address and difference between dynamic IP address and fixed IP address? – IP address stands for Internet Protocol Address where it's the address of your modem in the cloud (internet). Dynamic IP address allows us to have different IP address every time we connect to the internet where fixed IP address allows us to have a fixed IP address whenever we connect to the internet. For normal home user, most of the time we do not need a fixed IP address because it is much expensive or unless we're hosting a server. *What are the difference between Tm Net, Streamyx and Broadband? – They are entirely different. TM net is an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Streamyx is the broadband package brand offered by TM net. And Broadband is a general name for high speed internet connection. Some said any internet connection speed above 256kbps is considered as a broadband connection. This concludes our series on Malaysian broadband service providers. We hope that you find it useful and bookmark us for future reference