When broadband first became really popular, there were only a couple of options available for consumers, and more or less everything ran at the same speed , normally around ten times faster than dial-up. Fast forward ten years and there's thousands of different options available if you want to switch, upgrade or install a new broadband installation in your home, and the speeds of these connections can vary from incredibly basic connections to super fast fibre optic lines.

Understanding broadband speeds

Broadband speeds may seem confusing at first, but they are quite easy to explain. We measure broadband in 'Mbps', which varies from 0.5 Mbps (anything slower isn't really considered broadband) to super faster 100 Mbps connections. The higher the Mbps your broadband can support, the faster you can download, the higher quality things you can stream and the more things you can do at once with your connection.

For example, a 3 Mbps connection could download a normal mp3 album in around fifteen minutes, while a 6 Mbps connection could do it in twice that speed.

Optimal Speeds vs. Real Speed

Of course, such a calculation of how long an album takes isn't always as simple in real life. The actual speed your connection will receive is rarely the same as what broadband providers might advertise. Depending on the technology you use and the distance of your house from your phone exchange, you'll see quite a difference between the actual speeds you can achieve.

Online speed testers can test your connection out for you, but for them to work properly don't forget to turn off all your downloads , and the downloads of everyone else in your house , or they'll give false figures.

If you check out cable companies, such as virgin broadband reviews, you'll notice that cable companies don't have as much of a 'gap' between the advertised speed and the actual speed, as they use a special type of wiring that doesn't degrade over distance.

Increasing Speed

There are plenty of programs around that will claim to speed up your broadband connection, but all these really do is optimise the software on your computer and make sure your settings are correct to make the best use of what you've got , they don't actually increase your broadband speed.

The best way to increase your speed with the minimal amount of fuss is to see if your current ISP can offer you a speed upgrade. Sometimes, your speed isn't limited by technology or your distance from an exchange but by the package you are on, which means you can upgrade and receive faster speeds. Almost every provider will let you upgrade in the middle of a contract but be careful , some might treat an upgrade as the start of a brand new contract!

Making the most of your speed

Many ADSL connections are shared between a neighbourhood, which means your connection speed is likely to drop at peak hours, between around 5PM-10PM every weeknight. If possible, try to avoid any heavy net usage during these times, and plan your downloads for times when less people are likely to be on, such as after midnight or during work hours. This will give you the best download speeds without totally sacrificing your connection.

Don't forget that some programs love to download in the background , virus checkers and Windows update are two major programs that will often do this, but both will have settings to allow you to change the downloading schedule to a different date or time to suit your usage.