With all the high-sounding talk they throw around, you would think Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were ruthless politicians on the campaign trail.
One fellow I know, complaining that his browser was slow to load websites, didn’t think much of my suggestion that he was experiencing a slow Internet connection. “Why, I’ve got an 18 meg download connection,” he exclaimed, quoting what he had been told by AT&T about his U-verse Internet service.
“Whoa, backup, hoss,” I thought. Here was another victim of clever marketing-speak.
The first step in understanding ISP gobbledygook is to understand the meaning of the word “meg.” From the ancient Greek word “mega,” meaning great, large or mighty, “meg” is the short way of saying the number that is represented as a one (1) followed by 6 zeros; in other words, one million. “6 meg” would be six million. The next question is, six million of what? When it comes to Internet connection speed, “meg” refers to megabits per second, or Mbps. A “bit” is the smallest unit of computer storage, represented by the digits zero (0) and one (1). A 3Mbps connection speed is one capable of moving three million zeroes and ones around every second.
Confused yet? I think the ISPs are counting on you being confused, as I’d bet not one out of 100 Cox or AT&T customers could tell you what a “meg” is, or why they should even care. All they know is, the more megs, the better, which is actually true. The more megs your Internet connection can handle, the faster things will move along. What gets lost in the confusion is the notion that customers can check for themselves whether they are getting their megabits worth, or not.
None of the Internet plans offered by the major ISPs actually consistently deliver what they lead their customers to believe is promised. For example, AT&T offers no less than five different U-verse Internet plans, ranging from their “Pro” plan, offering speeds “up to 3Mbps,” to their “Max Turbo” plan, touting speeds “up to 24Mbps.”
Note the careful use of the words “up to.” “Up to” means that the speed could, possibly, on occasion, every blue moon, if the creek don’t rise and you hold your mouth right, get that fast, but it rarely does. With a 24Mbps plan, there may, sometimes be bursts of speed approaching 24Mbps, but those rare bursts last only for seconds at a time. Average speeds are slower.
Astute Internet users will note, though, that ISPs tell you right up front in their Terms of Service and User Agreements that they probably won’t deliver what you may think they have promised. For example, AT&T states on their website, “speeds… are Service Capability Speeds… [and] should not be confused with the speed at which your modem receives and sends Internet access data… These speeds may vary and are not guaranteed.” Interpretation: the “up to” speeds we paste all over our advertising are not the speeds you will get.
AT&T also states, “Actual download speeds vary based on Internet factors including site traffic, content provider server capacity, and use of other U-verse products.” Interpretation: we don’t know what speed you will get, because the Internet is a very busy place. Plus, if you watch TV or make phone calls at the same time as surfing the Internet, things will probably slow down.
If that wasn’t clear enough, they go on to say, “the speed of AT&T U-verse broadband Internet access service may be temporarily reduced when a customer is using his or her U-verse video service in a manner that requires high bandwidth.” Got it? When watching a high-definition movie, your normal Internet service may get really slow.
I recently tested an AT&T U-verse connection that was rated at 12Mbps, using a new laptop computer and new modem from AT&T. Speeds fluctuated all over the place. The best I got was around 10Mbps; the lowest I saw was 4.4Mbps. To test your Internet speed, I suggest averaging across multiple sites, as results can also vary from site to site. Try: speedtest.net; my-speedtest.com; speedtest.microsoftonline.com; and speedguide.net/speedtest. You might also want to read the fine print in your Internet service agreement.