[ILUG] OT - Measure broadband speed

[Paolo Marchiori]

Robert Sweetnam wrote:
> What ISP are you using?
> Try downloading a Linux ISO from ftp.heanet.ie. Not sure if they would 
> take to kindly to being used as a test but if you are looking for a 
> particular distro then now would be a good time to grab it.
Agree. Furthermore, keep in mind that providers usually guarantee 
/bandwidth/ - which is different from /latency/. Download /speed/ is 
influenced more by the first than the latter, but ping /response-time/ 
is more latency- than bandwidth-related.
(in A.S. Tanenbaum words, never underestimate the bandwith of a 
13-wheeler fully loaded with tapes) (which of course contain your daily 
backup of the Internet). In a technologically underdeveloped country of 
choice, someone invented his own market niche: selling "low-latency" but 
"not-so-broad band" DSL connections to online gamers for funny amounts 
of money.

p.