Debunking Misconceptions About Broadband Internet ~ Critical Mindset

In one of my previous articles, I've mentioned that I've just subscribed to Globe Tattoo's Superstick plan. Before I discuss the factors that I've considered when I choose Globe Tattoo, let's discuss first some of the common misconceptions about broaband internet and why they are not true at all.
1. Mbps means megabytes per second - In the past I've always wondered why a 1 Mbps connection doesn't go past 125 KB/s download rate. I thought I should be getting a 1000 KB/s download rate. Later on I've found out that Mbps actually means Megabits per second. And unfortunately, the letter B denotes both bits and bytes making it confusing for some potential clients and customers when trying to determine bang for a buck. Rule of thumb is that bit is denoted by small case b while byte is identified by upper case B. The term bps means bits per second while B/s means bytes per second. So 1 megabits per second is 1 Mbps while 514 kilobytes per second is 514 KB/s.

So what's the difference between a bit and a byte? A bit is short for binary digit, which is the smallest unit of measurement used in information storage in computers. Eight bits form 1 byte of information. So going back to my example, if 1 byte is equal to 8 bits, then 1 Mbps connection speed means 1000 Kbps / 8 bits per byte = 125 KB/s, the highest download speed you can get.

2. I should be getting 100% of my subscribed speed - If you have a residential internet subscription then you should know that this is not always the case, even if you have a wired connection. It still depends on your network traffic. My download rate in the morning with my Globe DSL can be as fast as 115 KB/s but it drops to as low as 30 KB/s during the peak hours at night. The same especially apply to wireless internet where several people share the same signal. That's why Telcos always advertise their internet speeds with the phrase "up to". You won't normally get the max speed unless no one else in the your area is connecting to internet. So stop complaining.

You want true guaranteed speed with almost 100% uptime and a CIR (committed internet rate) all the time? It's possible but it's not cheap at all. Yugatech explained it very well here.

Internet utilization rate in Minnesota and Dakota

3. Bandwidth capping/per data rates should be implemented on higher internet speeds to contain the rapidly rising bandwidth consumption rate of consumers - This is what the Telcos would tell you if you complain about bandwidth capping. ISPs are slowly intergrating that into their systems as they introduce faster broadband rates. They started introducing some cheap-looking rates like the Smart's Always On plans or Globe's Powersurf plans. Prepaid internet is already capped and I'm guessing that sometime in the future, they will begin to cap bandwidth for postpaid internet subscriptions. Their explanation? The higher the speeds that they offer, the more downloads the consumers can make thus eating up a large amount of bandwidth on the ISPs end. Let's say the ISPs' upstream providers or the backbone providers are charging them for this amount of traffic or bandwidth. If the ISP exceeds that traffic then he has nothing to do but to either buy a larger amount of bandwidth or limit the amount of bandwidth that the consumers can contain. My say about this? It's all BS.

Backbone providers charge ISPs for the traffic because that's the only thing they can charge for. There is never a correlation between traffic and cost of supporting backbones. And fortunately, as bandwidth consumption is going up, backbone costs are continuously going down. I can't see bandwidth capping and data rates as anything but blatant cash grab. And once these ISPs set data caps and data rates on all of our internet subscriptions, they'll tend to stay in place. This will in turn bump their revenues in like 2-3 years from now. When this happens, ISPs win, we lose.

This will need a longer explanation including facts like estimated costs of per GB download but this is all I can say for now. I might write a separate article for this in the future if this trend of bandwidth capping continues.

4. Upload and download speeds should be the same - Here in the Philippines, all high speed internet connections are assymetric - they are designed so that download speeds are better than upload speeds. When you browse a specific web page and you check your internet connection status, you'll notice that the data that you download is much larger than the data that you've sent. Also, I know for a fact that most consumers download files from the net rather than upload files to it. The only consumers that upload are those generous enough to share their porn movies or collection of pirated software and games. With this in mind, ISPs have designed their systems to give priority to downloading. As far as I know, the maximum upload speed that is offered is 350 Kbps.

5. My internet connection is not dependent on my computer or 3G wireless modem - You need to realize that it's not your ISP alone that determines your internet speed. You need the right specs of a computer or device to back it up. For example, you can't expect to get most out of your 12 Mbps subscribed speed if your iPhone 4 can only attain up to 7.2 Mbps connection speed. The same goes for 3G wireless modems - if you've subscribed to a 10 Mbps connection then don't complain if you can't get nowhere near half of what you've subscribed for if your wireless modem can only support up to 3.6 Mbps speed.

6. High speed internet is not location dependent. If you're a cellphone user then you should know already that once you get to a location where there is no signal, you can't use your phone at all to call or send text messages. The same goes for broadband wireless internet. As the signal gets worse, so as your internet connection.

Actually, you can also apply the same for wired connections. I'm not sure of the factors that affect them though. But I heard that a number of Globe DSL subscribers from Mandaluyong are complaining because their connections become unstable everytime it rains. Fortunately, my Globe DSL in Nueva Ecija never had any problems ever since I subscribed.

7. As long as I'm receiving a good 3G signal from my phone/3G router, I should be getting good internet speed - This is what most customer service representatives from wireless centers say. And unfortunately, people learn the hard way that it's not always true. The customer service representatives that we often talk to at their hotlines or at wireless centers usually don't know the technical aspects of wireless broadband internet. So we really can't blame them and tell them they're fooling us if they tell you there's good 3G signal in your area just to find out that you're getting crappy internet speeds when you try out your 3G modem.

Here's the thing. It doesn't matter if the cellsite tower is just a little over 500 meters from your location. If you're living in a highly populated area, there's a big chance that subscribers around the 300-meter radius of that cellsite are already congesting the network so you'll be getting crappy speeds. Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) have a self-decongesting feature wherein if the cellsite reaches the maximum amount of subscribers that it can hold, it will lower its transmit power which reduces the coverage area of the site. That's why you'll notice that during weekends, your signal will drop and might detect 2G instead of 3G signal.

Now for the Telcos, can't you educate your CSRs about some of the technical aspects of wireless broadband internet so that they at least know what they're talking about? It's kinda insulting in our part when we know more technically than the person we seek advice from.

So that concludes my article. On my next article, I'll discuss the factors that we need to consider when we choose a broadband internet connection and what made me choose Globe for both DSL and wireless internet. Feel free to comment if you have some questions or other misconceptions about broadband internet that are not discussed here.

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