Bandwidth limited?

[AJohnH]

Hi, I'm currently using NOW Superfast Broadband and speed tests usually show I get the advertised download speeds i.e. 63 Mbps - can anyone tell me whether NOW or Sky (same thing I suppose) limit the download bandwidth?  I use a cloud storage company called pcloud, they are adamant they do not restrict download speeds, yet whenever I try to download large groups of files from their site the downloads are extremely slow.  I currently have an unusually large 1.2 TB download running to backup photo files and it's taking several days.  Thanks in advance.

[TimmyBGood]

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@AJohnH wrote:

I currently have an unusually large 1.2 TB download running to backup photo files and it's taking several days.  

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Download or upload (which would be more typical for backup)?

The expected outbound speed on c60Mbs inbound FTTC would be between 15 and 10 Mbs.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Firstly Sky do not implement any bandwidth restrictions, or traffic shaping as it used to be known. I'm not sure of any ISP who does that now, unless the package is branded as such.

Secondly, 1.2 TB is a huge file and will take a very long time to download, particulary on the FTTC connection you have. These numbers will differ slightly due to binary calculations, but we round the data numbers to the following: 1.2 Terabytes is equivalent to 9600 Gigabits. There are 1000 Megabits in 1 gigabit, thus 9.6 million Megabits (9600 x 1000) in your 1.2 TB. You can only transfer this at a max of 63 Megabits per second. And in reality with any large file transfers, the transfer rate can fluctuate significantly depending on local and and remote traffic and network load.

Uploads will be even slower as on FTTC3 your upstream traffic is limited to 20 Mbps. It should be noted that large uploads can also impact your downstream speeds.

I think I have calculated this right, but will stand corrected if anyone spots any errors.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I think I have calculated this right, but will stand corrected if anyone spots any errors.

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Online calculators suggest 1.2TB at 60Mbs would take at least 40 hours.

@AJohnH 

[AJohnH]

Thanks @TimmyBGood and @Anonymous - at this point it's only downloads I'm interested in, so the calculations suggest 42 hours, the download speed is currently showing as between 5 and 7 MB/s in the browser.  Based on the time remaining it will have taken about 3 days..  Almost double the calculated time but at least it's not a factor of 10 out.  I suppose there are lots of other variables.

[cookiemonsteruk]

@AJohnH 

7MB/s is 56 Mbps

[AJohnH]

That's reassuring, thanks

[AJohnH]

For completeness...I got to 1.2 TB out of 1.4 TB downloaded then received a "network error" and lost the partial download, which was a zip file.

[Chrisee]

@AJohnH downloading any massive file over a partial fibre connection can be frustating process as the connection can  be reset in the early hours by the automatic line management kit in the cabinet which is common after periods of bad weather.. Unfortunately until your road is upgraded to full fibre there is nothing that can be done. Full Fibre is of course far faster but is also not subject to the same line management.

[AJohnH]

That's really useful to know, @Chrisee.  Virgin is the only option here, one to consider for renewal.