Broadband Speed - How Fast Is It?

Speed is one of the most important factors - along with affordability and reliability - to most people when choosing a good broadband deal.

Internet speed is measured in kilo-bits per second (kbps or kb/sec) or mega-bits per second (Mbps or Mb/sec). Dial-up internet clocks in around 28-56kbps. Broadband is usually at least 10 times faster than this, starting at around 256kbps.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) advertise their plans based on the speeds they're realistically capable of delivering. But this is not a guarantee that you'll actually get those speeds.

Virgin Broadband connections are typically 512kbps (with the exception of Peer 2 Peer transfers which are limited to 32kbps), throttled down to 64kbps (twice the speed of many others in these cases) if you exceed the monthly data usage allowance. In plain English, this means that most web pages will load pretty much instantly. Larger documents for example a PDF form will take a bit longer, at around 3-5 seconds. Something larger still, like a typical MP3 music file, will take about 30 seconds to download.

Your actual speed will depend on the site you're visiting or downloading from as well as the amount of interference between you and the nearest mobile signal tower (such as such as buildings, trees, electrical interference from motors, and your computer hardware and software) and the amount of other people using the Optus 3G HSDPA network at the time. When you're not in a HSDPA coverage area but within range of a mobile tower, you'll still get a connection but the speed will be slower - around dial-up speeds.