It is important to be aware that the speed of access to the internet is affected by five key variables:

• Download is the term most commonly understood for the speed at which packets of data are sent from the internet to your computer. This is the main factor.
• Upload speed is the term to describe the speed that packets of information are sent up to the internet from your computer requesting for information to be downloaded. This speed affects your ability to effectively connect to computers remotely.
• The latency or PING speed, this is the length of time for a data packet to go to your ISP and return to your computer. It affects your download and upload speeds as the PING determines how many packets of data are moving to and from the internet to your computer. A higher PING speed represents a slower service.
• The contention ratio is the term used to describe how many customers your ISP is serving per circuit back at the exchange. If you are sharing with 50 other customers, and they are all using the internet at the same time your speed of access will be very restricted. Telcos and ISPs charge higher access fees for services with lower contention ratios and lower fees where there are more customers contended on their network.
• Whether the network your using is symmetrical or asymmetrical. By this we mean that an asymmetrical service has a much faster download than upload speed (eg. 1500/256kbps) whereas a symmetrical service has the same speed of upload and download.

This is important when you are connecting two or more computers to deliver the most efficient and cost effective use of your software.

The following interactive diagram demonstrates the length of time required to download a certain file type.