Connection Speed FAQ

The following is a list of frequently asked questions regarding the speed of the network at the data center and network connection speed on dedicated servers.

What are the connection speeds at the Data Center?
The datacenter has over 5 10 GBPS redundant connections to various providers.

How fast can I download or upload on my dedicated server?
We do not cap or limit the bandwidth on our dedicated servers so you can go as fast as your network card and the other end of the connection will allow.

What do you mean by as fast as the network card will allow?
If you order a server with a 100 megabit network card the maximum speed is 100 megabit. You can of course always upgrade to a Gigabit network card as well.

What do you mean by as fast as the other end of the connection?
If you are downloading from a site that only has a 1 megabit connection the maximum speed possible would be 1 megabit , even if you have a 1 gigabit connection you cannot increase the speed of the 1 megabit connection. You can think of it this way, data on the internet flows in much the same way as water does through a pipe. If you have a large opening on one end of a pipe and a small opening on the other then the most water you can get through this pipe is the amount that can be forced through the small end.

How can I test my connection speed between my location and the Data Center?
You can use our Network Speed Test utility to test your connection to the Data Center. This utility will perform a test of both the upload and download speeds from your network to the Data Center. To run this utility, click the following link: Network Speed Test.

Will my connection be as fast as a T1?
A T1 is a roughly 1.45 megabit connection, if you have a 100mbit network card in your server, your server has the potential to go 68.9 times faster than a T1. If your server has a 1 Gigabit network card then the server would have the potential to go 689 times faster.

Will my connection be as fast as a T3?
A T3 is a 45 megabit connection, if you have a 100mbit network card in your server, your server has the potential to go over twice as fast as a T3. If your server has a 1 Gigabit network card then the server would have the potential to go 22 times faster.

What is the difference between a bit and a byte?
Eight bits equals one byte. All connections speeds on the internet are typically rated in bits, however all file sizes on the your hard drive are rated in bytes.

How do you convert bits into bytes?
To convert bits into bytes you simply divide the number of bits by 8. However, if you want to convert to kilobytes you would then need to divide that answer by 1024.