Questions About Internet Speed

[JJReyes]

Our home internet connection is suppose to be 4.7 megabits per second. The office has a dedicated T-1 line for the entire building. It is a small building and 40% vacant. There are no IT companies. The connection is very fast although I don't know the exact speed. (There is no bill because the service is included as part of the rent.)

 

My wife has a real estate client from Silicon Valley. He wants to relocate to Honolulu, but needs 50 Mbps for his freelance hi-tech projects. I did the research for my wife and found out it's no problem finding a service provider for 50 Mbps. In fact, there are at least 10 companies offering the service.

 

If I were to open a small office either in Manila or Cebu, what kind of connectivity speed can I get? More important, how much speed do you actually need? The main requirement is email and transmission of high resolution digital photographs (larger than 4mb) in batches of 50 or more. Someone suggested, since there will be only one employee at the start, is to contact a Business Process Outsourcing (call center) and try renting one seat during daylight hours. Their busy period is nighttime. They might rent one seat for use between 8:00am to 8:00pm if a fast connection is needed. We don't really need a regular office since the employee won't be meeting clients on premise.

 

Does anyone know about BPOs? I assume they have good internet and phone connections because the business is dependent on fast speed.

[earthdome]

Having a very fast connection to your ISP is only part of the solution. You also need fast bandwidth from your ISP to the source/destination where you are exchanging the large data sets. For example, if you are in the Philippines and your customers you need high bandwidth with are in the USA you need to ensure the ISP's downstream network connections can provide that.

 

I would expect that the IT special economic zones would have facilities that support that.

 

For example, Bayan Telecom who I get my DSL from in Baguio has their own 1.5Gbps offshore network connection.

 

If bandwidth to/from customers is very important then you must test that the speed is sufficient during the business hours when those would occur.

[Jake]

 

Our home internet connection is suppose to be 4.7 megabits per second. The office has a dedicated T-1 line for the entire building. It is a small building and 40% vacant. There are no IT companies. The connection is very fast although I don't know the exact speed. (There is no bill because the service is included as part of the rent.)

 

My wife has a real estate client from Silicon Valley. He wants to relocate to Honolulu, but needs 50 Mbps for his freelance hi-tech projects. I did the research for my wife and found out it's no problem finding a service provider for 50 Mbps. In fact, there are at least 10 companies offering the service.

 

If I were to open a small office either in Manila or Cebu, what kind of connectivity speed can I get? More important, how much speed do you actually need? The main requirement is email and transmission of high resolution digital photographs (larger than 4mb) in batches of 50 or more. Someone suggested, since there will be only one employee at the start, is to contact a Business Process Outsourcing (call center) and try renting one seat during daylight hours. Their busy period is nighttime. They might rent one seat for use between 8:00am to 8:00pm if a fast connection is needed. We don't really need a regular office since the employee won't be meeting clients on premise.

 

Does anyone know about BPOs? I assume they have good internet and phone connections because the business is dependent on fast speed.

 

Hey JJ,

 

I believe Papa Carl holds a upper management position at a major call center in Angeles City.

He relocated from Ortigas Center, Manila.  Hopefully, he will chime in to assist you.

[Jollygoodfellow]

The connection is very fast although I don't know the exact speed. (There is no bill because the service is included as part of the rent.)

 

Check your speed here, http://www.speedtest.net/

[jon1]

JJReyes,

 

If you are going to get high upload bandwith, it will be via Manila/Makati. Everything seems to feed off of there before crossing the Pacific. A couple of years ago my company had to Business class E1s (1 Smart, 1 Globe) and they both went via Manila to the US (San Francisco) before they could connect to each other. Imagine, sending a request from Manila via Smart to your Globe destination that had to go across the Pacific twice? 

 

It's more fun in the Philippines!!!

 

Jon

[JJReyes]

Check your speed here, http://www.speedtest.net/

 

I checked my home computer a few minutes ago and the results is 26.14 Mbps download and .99 Mbps upload. Are these numbers good or bad? My desktop is nearly 10 years old with Microsoft XP.  I refuse to change because the newer computers means having to learn how to use later versions of the software. I will check the office computer, also an old one, later today.

 

UPDATE: The office computer is 21.06 Mbps download and 1.28 Mbps upload. The local time is 9:15am. Since it is a shared T-1 line with other building tenants, there are probably other tenants using the line.

 

 

Having a very fast connection to your ISP is only part of the solution. You also need fast bandwidth from your ISP to the source/destination where you are exchanging the large data sets. For example, if you are in the Philippines and your customers you need high bandwidth with are in the USA you need to ensure the ISP's downstream network connections can provide that.

 

Does this mean if I purchase a very fast connection in the Philippines, the service provider can simply add 1,000 users to the same line and the transmission speed slows down? Is there a way to get a Philippine ISP to guarantee me a minimum amount of bandwidth?

Edited June 25, 2013 by JJReyes

[earthdome]

UPDATE: The office computer is 21.06 Mbps download and 1.28 Mbps upload. The local time is 9:15am. Since it is a shared T-1 line with other building tenants, there are probably other tenants using the line.

 

A T-1 line is the lowest bandwidth commercial network drop and is 1.5Mbps. Your home and office have a much higher bandwidth connection. For your office it may be a shared DS3.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-carrier

[earthdome]

earthdome, on 25 Jun 2013 - 07:49 AM, said: Having a very fast connection to your ISP is only part of the solution. You also need fast bandwidth from your ISP to the source/destination where you are exchanging the large data sets. For example, if you are in the Philippines and your customers you need high bandwidth with are in the USA you need to ensure the ISP's downstream network connections can provide that.   Does this mean if I purchase a very fast connection in the Philippines, the service provider can simply add 1,000 users to the same line and the transmission speed slows down? Is there a way to get a Philippine ISP to guarantee me a minimum amount of bandwidth?

 

The number of subscribers on your local connection can affect your local bandwidth to the local ISP.

 

What I am talking about is after it reaches your ISP. A network connection from where you are to the final destination can go across a number of different networks, commonly called hops. The performance you get is limited by the network connection or hop which has the least available bandwidth. Something like a series of different size pipes where the amount of water which can go through is limited by the smallest diameter pipe.

 

That is why you need to test the bandwidth all the way through to the final destination to ensure the entire path has sufficient bandwidth. In addition it is a good idea to test during the normal business hours when the connection would be used... and at different times of the day... since usage either locally or on some other part of the network can change based on daily usage patterns.

 

For example your home network connection may slow down some between 5-9PM when everyone gets home from work and gets on the internet creating more congestion.

[JJReyes]

A T-1 line is the lowest bandwidth commercial network drop and is 1.5Mbps. Your home and office have a much higher bandwidth connection. For your office it may be a shared DS3.

 

Oh.... The T-1 is included with the office rent so I am not complaining. 

 

As you can tell, I am not well versed when it comes to technology. Maybe the best course of action is not to worry about it. 

[Jollygoodfellow]

As you can tell, I am not well versed when it comes to technology. Maybe the best course of action is not to worry about it. 

 

Yep and i think you will find if you have an office in Manila and its located in the city you will have as fast of a connection as you need.