Dial up downloading at 3x maximum possible speed

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MeIsMonkey

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#29320 3-Jan-2009 11:02

I am on dial and the other day I was downloading some files. For about 5 mins it was downloading at 18KBps (which is 144Kbps).
Dial up has a max speed of 6.5KBps (which is 52Kbps). The other thing is that I live in rural North Canterbury (Of new zealand) and cannont get broadband because I am too far away from the phone exchange, and most of the time my downloads go at 3.5KBps (28Kbps).

I am stumped by how this is possible. Does anyone have an explanation? I am with TelstraClear, and I was downloading rollercoaster tracks for roller coaster tycoon3 from atari.com

Tahii

115 posts

Master Geek

#187134 3-Jan-2009 11:29

About the only thing I can think of is, how long did you wait before clicking the link to download the file, and selecting where to save the file/run the file from its current location?

Browsers don't start downloading a file when the dialogue comes up saying they are downloading - they start as soon as you click the link to the file. They move the file once its done to the place you want it stored. Its this reason that multiple times I have gone to download a large file (on broadband), but forgotten to click the 'ok' to save it, not run it, come back an hour or three later and when I click to save, the file appears to have downloaded in one second.

LennonNZ

2459 posts

Uber Geek
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Trusted

#187135 3-Jan-2009 11:31

Modems communications protocols have compression with them so if the file is something which is easily compressed (like simple text files) then it will come down faster.

Thanks

MeIsMonkey

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#187222 3-Jan-2009 20:13

Tahii, I was downloading multiple files one after the other so my download location was remembered each time i started download of another file. About 5 seconds from the time i clicked the link to the time it came up showing me it was downloading.

LennonNZ, it was downloading at 58% compression most of the time. And opening up some of the files in a text editor, there was a lot of the same text which would compress easily. On compressing one of the files that was 200KB to a zip file, the zip file was 25KB.

I can now see why It was downloading at unbelievable speeds. Thank you for your help, and I wish it would always download this fast

.

Corey.