patrick.net

I worked on web performance problems for years and I agree. For general web surfing, the limiting factor is usually latency ("ping time") rather than throughput. It takes several round trips between your computer and the web server to set up the connection and start to get the page, and even infinite throughput is not going to improve that. Also, many sites have fixed internal delays due to database lookups, etc, and your connection also can't improve that.

But for large downloads like videos, you might see some benefit from high speed internet. The initial time to start getting the video will probably be the same, but once it gets going, it will probably download in a shorter time. Though even here it depends on having a path all the way from your ISP to that particular server at high speed, which is never certain.

Another thing people fail to realize is that download servers are servicing hundreds, if not thousands of connections at the same time. Unless they are paying for a premuim download service, they are never going to be given more than a small fraction of the servers bandwidth/resources. So dispite having a 12 Mbps or 16 Mbps internet connection, it's unlikely they are going to have a site on the other end providing them with a 12 Mbps connection. Simply put they are never going to see this kind of thoughput. Even when I was paying for the 12 Mbps connection, I rarely got a download speeds exceeding 300k per second, when in thoery I should have been able to achive 1.2 Megabytes per second. My download speed is capped at 1 Mbps, so i should be able to get about 100k per second during downloads, and i suspect I should be able to get the full 100k download speed. That's only a 1/3 reduction in download speeds for a connection 12 times slower (in theory).

So, the question is then asked, what is the best internet connection? Some people say "premium high speed internet at 16 Mbps for a premium cost;" some people say "Web pages are capped a 1 Mbps, so even if you have the ultra permium service, your not seeing any faster load times than the ecomony cable internet service of 1 Mbps." I see Netzero commercials urging us all to return to dial-up (get out your pagers and typewriters, it's reverse technology!). There are so many commercials for different connections and services my mind is spinning. I don't understand any of it.

But, I say the best internet connection is a FREE one. I love my neighbors and shall bake them some brownies tonight.

I think the premium services are marketed to the extensive 'porn' market.

Personally I wish I could get a faster connection. I am currently suppose to be getting 10mbs, but because a lot of people share the connection in my area, I dont always get enough bandwidth to stream video. I would pay a lot more if I could get a guarentee fixed rate bandwidth. Also if you are running a web server from home having the extra bandwidth can be very helpful.

"I used to think that “Ping time” meant going to the asian ‘full-release’ massage parlor."

Hmmm... born on wong side of the tracks, I imagine?