Taking the cue from Elliot Back, I tried the speakeasy.net speed test and came up with the following results:

sky-speed.png

I got a download speed of 543 Kbps and an upload speed of 479 Kbps. Not bad, since my Sky DSL subscription’s published speed is “512 Kbps.” Actually, I could throttle that to 768 Kbps during offpeak hours, but I have to change my login username, and it’s quite a pain to have to configure the router manually to switch between on- and offline login. I think 500-something Kbps is good enough for the casual web-surfing and blogging. I’ll switch to 768 when I need to download some crazy large files (like what my bro, whom I share the DSL connection with via WiFi, did last night without telling me).

One caveat, though: at the time this test was taken, the local time was about 3:30 a.m.—hardly useful as a gauge for my connection’s usual speed because everyone else is frickin’ sleeping by this time. Well, it’s useful enough for me, since it’s usually the time I’m connected and working online.

But I would sure love to have the speeds Elliot’s getting via Cornell’s network! That’s 5.8 Mbps down and 1.1 Mbps up! Sweet! I think you could reach those speeds with some Verizon broadband setups. In Korea (South, of course) and Japan, you could get ten times that. On a mobile phone!

That’s broadband technology for you.

Smart parenting starts with EZ Kids.