What does 10 mbps/2 mbps really mean?

Question

I recently had verizon fios installed at my house with the 10mbps/2mbps plan. I know it stands for download/upload speed, but obviously I never reach those speeds while I'm downloading/uploading. When I actually download, my speed is about 1.2mbps.

Why is that?

Answer 1

There are other factors involved.

First are you connected to your ISP via wire or wireless?

And if wireless what type of connection?  802.11b?  802.11b is rated at 10mbps download but with WEP and other overhead factors you may only get 3mbps download speeds.

If you're wired you might be able to reach between 8 and 9mbps download spees at best because of the overhead required by your system to transmit and receive data.

Also you might only be getting 1.2mbps download speeds becuase the actual upload speeds from the source of your download is limited.

Example:  You have a 2mbps upload speed on your end of the connection and I have a 10mbps download speed on my end.  If I try to copy a file from you I will be limited to 2mbps at best because that's as fast as you can send to me.  So maybe the source of your download is limited.

Answer 2

10mbps/2mbps means maximum

Answer 3

10 mega bytes per second i think