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ISP Speed:is There Such a Thing as Too Much?

Description: We all want a nice fast internet connection, and there has been a lot in the press about how the speeds advertised aren't necessarily the speeds you'll get. But how much does speed really matter? Is there really such a thing as too much of it?

We all know the problems of having an internet connection that is too slow. Surfing the internet should be an enjoyable experience - not one that is fraught with lots of waiting around for pages to load as and when they feel like it.

If you suffer from this problem you might be wondering how on earth you would be complaining at having an internet connection that is too fast. Well surely there is no such thing, is there? How can you have too fast a connection?

Well in truth it can happen, but it's not so much the fault of the connection itself here - it can be the fault of having two systems that are incompatible with each other.

Let's look at this in a little more depth. Let's say you see a broadband package that gives you 6 Mbps. That stands for mega bytes per second, and basically tells you the rate at which you can receive information from the internet while you are sitting at your computer. So far, so good.

But there is no guarantee that the line through which you are receiving your internet broadband is capable of transferring those 6 Mbps through to you. It could be that your line is only capable of transferring a maximum of 4 Mbps. Because of the mismatch of the service as compared to the line, there is every chance that you will get horrendous problems trying to connect to the internet, and even when you are connected it may well drop out on occasion - and sometimes quite often, depending on the difference in the maximum rate the line can take and your provider can give you.

It's rather like ordering a huge pizza and trying to eat it all yourself. No matter how good the pizza is and how much you want it all, there will come a stage where you won't be able to take it all in, and you will start feeling very uncomfortable if you attempt to carry on.

In this kind of situation it doesn't matter what package you are paying for, there will be a limit to what you can actually benefit from, due to the limit on what your line can receive. You would actually be better off dropping down to a slower service, as ironically this will enable you to get a much better connection and a more consistent speed.

That's why it pays to find out what your own maximum line speed is when you are thinking of getting broadband from an internet service provider. This will enable you to match your speed to the package you choose - and you won't be wasting money on a ?better' service that you can't receive.