The download speeds that you get whenever you download a file from the Internet tells you a lot about your Internet connection. Having a fast download speed basically means that you have a broadband connection also known as high-speed Internet.
Download speed is also known as a transfer rate, and is expressed either in bytes, kilobytes, or megabytes per second (b/s, Kb/s, MB/s). A typical dial up connection can achieve a maximum transfer rate of 8 Kb/s. For broadband connections, transfer rates start at 16 Kb/s up to several MB/s, depending on the type of connection.
Typical broadband connections are usually charged by a service provider based on the speed or bandwidth. If your ISP (Internet Service Provider claims that you have a bandwidth of 256 kilobits per second, then you must have download speeds that reach at least 32 KB/s.
Do not get confused between bits and bytes. A bit is the smallest amount of data, and bytes are composed of 8 bits. To compute how fast your download speeds must reach based upon what your service provider claims, divide that bandwidth by 8 and the answer you will get must be at least your maximum transfer rate. If you are not getting the number that corresponds to your bandwidth, then you must contact your ISP and tell them about it.
Your download speed also tells you about how much traffic or congestion there is in your ISP\'s network or the server in which the website is hosted. You may notice that during "peak hours" or when many people are using the Internet, your download speeds are slower than usual. If you observe closely, you will realize the times when you can achieve the best download times.
Download speeds can also be used to indicate the distance or physical location of the server. Distance also affects the speed of an Internet connection. The closer the server is to your location, the faster the download speeds that can be attained. Though as technology progresses today, this may not be an accurate measure of distance already since most large servers use fiber optic lines (the ones that use light instead of electric signals) to transfer data from far places.
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