Speeding up the Internet

[MusicalFreedom]

Heya there, readers.

I've got a question, but first I need to set the background. All my life, I have had slow Internet - I don't know if it's bad luck, or if the Internet is out to get me, but every speck of data seems to be carried on the back of a turtle recently. It took me about 10 seconds just to load this page.

I was scouting around my local shops, and I came across a beauty. It's an ethernet wire that, on the packaging (that I've unfortunately thrown away), says it would boost my Internet speed by up to 50 percent!

Now, if I open this page using this new wire, it'll only take 5 seconds - not sure if that's slow or not, but it's a definite improvement.

I'm going to restart and plug this wire in.

Spoiler: Click to see the wire

Has anyone found any more Internet-speed increasing methods? I am interested in some light discussion about this topic, since I believe that the fastest Internet speed you can get is obviously the best.

I shall report back soon, after having plugged this bad boy in.

 

[DazZ.]

Really? I don't see how a wire is going to speed up the connection any higher than your ISP is sending you already. The fact I honestly believe you actually paid money for that though I hope it works for you, I'm feeling nice.

5 seconds to load a page is still a long time.

 

[WelshWizard]

You sir, have just been shafted.

 

[Berethond]

Cat5e=win.
1000 mbps LAN.
MUAHAHAHAHA.
My cable's only 70 feet long...
I also have Comcast, T-1 equivalent speeds.
MUAHAHAHAHA.

 

[101194]

FINALLY FAST.COM!

I think moving my laptop closer to my modem increases speed, but I'm mot fully sure.

That made me chuckle a little.

 

[woodwalker]

Cat5e=win.
1000 mbps LAN.
MUAHAHAHAHA.
My cable's only 70 feet long...
I also have Comcast, T-1 equivalent speeds.
MUAHAHAHAHA.

They have Cat6 cables now.

 

[Berethond]

Cat5e=win.
1000 mbps LAN.
MUAHAHAHAHA.
My cable's only 70 feet long...
I also have Comcast, T-1 equivalent speeds.
MUAHAHAHAHA.

They have Cat6 cables now.

Think I'll get one for free like I got my cat5?

 

[MusicalFreedom]

You sir, have just been shafted.

I have not plugged it in yet, for I need to find a power adapter. I'm sure I've got one somewhere. I need to ask you, though:

Do you think that I was overcharged? I paid 10 pounds for this, so do you think that there would not be much of a speed increase? I need all the money I can get, but I thought a little luxury was in order - have I been deceived by hyperbolic advertising?

 

[Mekado]

You sir, have just been shafted.

I have not plugged it in yet, for I need to find a power adapter. I'm sure I've got one somewhere. I need to ask you, though:

Do you think that I was overcharged? I paid 10 pounds for this, so do you think that there would not be much of a speed increase? I need all the money I can get, but I thought a little luxury was in order - have I been deceived by hyperbolic advertising?

You're joking about that cable right ?

Please, please say yes...

Edit for the computer-ignorant : plugging something like this will, at minimum fry your network card, worst case scenario, take the motherboard and the power supply with it (also a good chance to fry the CPU and RAM)

 

[Altorin]

obvious troll is way too obvious.

 

[Last of the Chinchillas]

Well, obviously your internet is just cold. Wrap it in a blanket or set it next to the fireplace.

You may actually have been ripped off. From the picture, that wire looks kind of suspect to me.

 

[Valate_v1legacy]

Today I cleaned my computer. I had to get rid of some hard-earned saves and such, but yay I'm back at my pitiful 1mb/s downloading speed... Better than 30kb/sec, though.

 

[MusicalFreedom]

You sir, have just been shafted.

I have not plugged it in yet, for I need to find a power adapter. I'm sure I've got one somewhere. I need to ask you, though:

Do you think that I was overcharged? I paid 10 pounds for this, so do you think that there would not be much of a speed increase? I need all the money I can get, but I thought a little luxury was in order - have I been deceived by hyperbolic advertising?

You're joking about that cable right ?

Please, please say yes...

This is no joke. Am I missing something?

I mean, I can't see what bad could happen from at least trying, right? Even if it doesn't work exactly as I expect, I've still learned something.

 

[Mekado]

You sir, have just been shafted.

I have not plugged it in yet, for I need to find a power adapter. I'm sure I've got one somewhere. I need to ask you, though:

Do you think that I was overcharged? I paid 10 pounds for this, so do you think that there would not be much of a speed increase? I need all the money I can get, but I thought a little luxury was in order - have I been deceived by hyperbolic advertising?

You're joking about that cable right ?

Please, please say yes...

This is no joke. Am I missing something?

I mean, I can't see what bad could happen from at least trying, right? Even if it doesn't work exactly as I expect, I've still learned something.

See the edit to my post.

 

[ratix2]

You sir, have just been shafted.

I have not plugged it in yet, for I need to find a power adapter. I'm sure I've got one somewhere. I need to ask you, though:

Do you think that I was overcharged? I paid 10 pounds for this, so do you think that there would not be much of a speed increase? I need all the money I can get, but I thought a little luxury was in order - have I been deceived by hyperbolic advertising?

i really hope this is a joke.

if its not, youve been completely shafted. just looking at the cable its obvious that someone just took a 3 pronged power cable and spliced the other end to an Ethernet cable. id be suprised if your computer even recoganized that a new cable was plugged in, i would then run naked though the streets if the damn thing actually improved internet speeds.

heres the thing, internet is handled though your isp (internet service provider). they then allot you a certain bandwidth (like say 10 Mbps for megabits per second, which works out to 1.25 MBps or mega BYTES per second) and thats as fast as you can download/upload things to your computer (and how fast web pages load) the only way to increase speeds is to get a faster connection from your isp or switch to another isp that offers faster connection.

theres no magic wire that will just increase your speeds (unless of course the cable your using to connect your computer to the internet has a max transfer speed thats slower than your connection).

worst case scenario, you plug that thing in and your computer gets fried (after all, your basically putting a plug right in your ethernet socket), i cant see this happening but best not to take chances. best case, nothing happens.

you have been duped, take it back for a refund and if they refuse file a complaint with whichever government agency handles bad business practices, and DEFINITLY tell people about this place so they lose business. if their took you like this you can bet their doing this to others.

 

[woodwalker]

Think I'll get one for free like I got my cat5?

You might...

 

[MusicalFreedom]

Edit for the computer-ignorant : plugging something like this will, at minimum fry your network card, worst case scenario, take the motherboard and the power supply with it (also a good chance to fry the CPU and RAM)

I don't understand how this would happen? I am admittedly not good with electronics, but I'm just plugging it into the socket next to the one I normally plug the wire into. What's the difference? I mean, I know they both provide electricity, but aside from that.

I also don't like being called ignorant, but I could probably understand this if it's turning out to be a hoax being played on me.

edit: I have just read the big response above and am crafting a new post. Thank you for your time.

 

[buklau]

Your issue is either latency or bandwidth. Fiber optic connections use electromagnetic radiation (light) to transfer information. For all intents and purposes, information on the internet should be travelling at the speed of light (if you work out the ideal latency times and real latency times they're relatively close). So it's not the actual 'speed' of the data that's the problem.

Bad latency would be caused by malfunctioning or broken routes on the internet. It's like having a road block on the main highway and having to go on smaller back roads to get around it. It's going to take longer to do the latter. You most likely can't do anything about this.

Bandwidth is the amount of data your connection can pass in one go. If your pipe isn't big enough, it's going to have to make extra trips to pick up what it left behind and thus take more time. You 'fix' this by paying for more bandwidth (like from 1 Mb/s to 5 Mb/s).

For reference 1Mb (Megabit) = .125 MB (Megabyte). Yes there is a difference between MB and Mb. To get your actual internet speed (in terms that you're used to, like megabytes) divide your connection's number by 8. A 1 Mb/s internet connection is .125 MB/s (or 125 kB/s). It's a marketing trick that often confuses people; they think their internet is not working as fast as advertised, when it might be working just as they said.

 

[ratix2]

Edit for the computer-ignorant : plugging something like this will, at minimum fry your network card, worst case scenario, take the motherboard and the power supply with it (also a good chance to fry the CPU and RAM)

I don't understand how this would happen? I am admittedly not good with electronics, but I'm just plugging it into the socket next to the one I normally plug the wire into. What's the difference? I mean, I know they both provide electricity, but aside from that.

I also don't like being called ignorant, but I could probably understand this if it's turning out to be a hoax being played on me.

edit: I have just read the big response above and am crafting a new post. Thank you for your time.

ETHERNET CABLES DONT PROVIDE ELECTRICITY! THEY TRANSMIT SMALL ELECTRIC SIGNALS THAT CAN BE INTERPRETED AS DATA! WHAT THIS WILL DO IS SEND A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY INTO YOUR NETWORK CARD OR MOTHERBOARD AND POSSIBLY COMPLETLY FRY IT!

DO NOT PLUG IT IN!

IT WILL NOT WORK, TAKE IT BACK FOR A REFUND!

i do apologise for the caps but i am trying to make sure you dont make a mistake by plugging this thing in. as i said, best case is nothing will happen, but worst case is that your entire coumputer will become useless forcing you to buy another one.