speed limit variable
May. 9th, 2009 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacWe used to have dial-up web service. This was slow, and I never attempted to watch any web movies on it. Eventually I was persuaded that DSL, or whatever it's called, would not be significantly more expensive, and would be more convenient, than maintaining a second phone line to use for web dial-up. (I do, however, miss having a second phone number that never rings to use for filling in forms demanding a phone number from organizations I do not want phoning me.)
When we first got the DSL, it was wonderfully speedy. One day it suddenly slowed down - still faster than dial-up, but annoyingly creaky. The main symptom of the slowdown was that download of web video was now slower than playback. I had to develop the habit of putting videos on pause and letting them buffer a while before watching them. Some sites, like Hulu, refused to buffer more than about 90 seconds. I could only watch Dr. Horrible in 90-second chunks until the DVD came out.
When I downloaded large files from the web, the download speed was about 40kbs. I called the phone company about the problem, and they told me that 40kbs was the proper speed.
Well, last week the web service suddenly sped up again, and I can once more watch videos without buffering. I immediately tried downloading a large file and noting the speed, as I hadn't taken note of that in the earlier speedy period. Now it's about 156kbs.
Big difference. I hope it will stay that way this time.
When we first got the DSL, it was wonderfully speedy. One day it suddenly slowed down - still faster than dial-up, but annoyingly creaky. The main symptom of the slowdown was that download of web video was now slower than playback. I had to develop the habit of putting videos on pause and letting them buffer a while before watching them. Some sites, like Hulu, refused to buffer more than about 90 seconds. I could only watch Dr. Horrible in 90-second chunks until the DVD came out.
When I downloaded large files from the web, the download speed was about 40kbs. I called the phone company about the problem, and they told me that 40kbs was the proper speed.
Well, last week the web service suddenly sped up again, and I can once more watch videos without buffering. I immediately tried downloading a large file and noting the speed, as I hadn't taken note of that in the earlier speedy period. Now it's about 156kbs.
Big difference. I hope it will stay that way this time.
