UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA

Internet Speed In USM

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Internet Speed In USM

ContentsIntroduction...........................................................................................................................................1

Cases Related to Internet In USM...........................................................................................................3

Factors Affecting Internet Speed and Proposed Solutions.....................................................................4

Conclusion..............................................................................................................................................8

References..............................................................................................................................................9

Introduction

What is internet?

Internet is a global network connecting millions of computers. More than 100

countries are linked into exchanges of data, news and opinions. According to Internet World

Stats, as of December 31, 2011 there was an estimated 2,267,233,742 Internet users

worldwide. The number of Internet users represents 32.7 percent of the world's population.

Unlike online services, which are centrally controlled, the Internet is decentralized by design.

Each Internet computer, called a host, is independent. Its operators can choose which Internet

services to use and which local services to make available to the global Internet community.

Remarkably, this anarchy by design works exceedingly well. There are a variety of ways

to access the Internet. Most online services offer access to some Internet services..

Malaysia was listed among the slowest countries in the world for loading Web pages

on desktop computers as well as mobile computers, according to a 2012 report by Google.

Malaysia, with an average Web page loading speed on desktops of 14.3 seconds, was named

the world’s fifth slowest, even more plodding than the connection speeds of nations like

Colombia, Argentina and Peru .Everyone can access to the internet by subscribing through

ISP like in Malaysia we have Telekom Malaysia (TM), Jaring, Time, Redtone, P1 Wimax,

Celcom, Digi, Maxis and many more. The internet speed depends on bandwidth given by the

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Internet Speed In USM

ISP. The more bandwidth the more you need to pay money. Let me give definition terms

related to internet speed.

Terms:

What’s bandwidth?

In computer networks, bandwidth is often used as a synonym for data transfer rate - the

amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period (usually a

second). This kind of bandwidth is usually expressed in bits (of data) per second (bps).

Occasionally, it's expressed as bytes per second (Bps)

What’s throughput?

Throughput is the number of messages successfully delivered per unit time. Throughput is

controlled by available bandwidth, as well as the available signal-to-noise ratio and hardware

limitations.

What’s Latency?

Latency is the delay between the initiation of a network transmission by a sender and the

receipt of that transmission by a receiver. In two-way communication, it may be measured as

the time from the transmission of a request for a message, to the time when the message is

successfully received.

What’s the difference between download and upload speeds?

You may think that just because you have a high-speed connection, the speed is the same for

both uploading and downloading. Not true. Regardless of the connection type, the download

speed is usually faster than upload speed. For example, you have 10mbps connection but your

upload speed may be in 1mbps.

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Internet Speed In USM

Cases Related to Internet In USM

In University Science Malaysia,  a majority of USM students is well exposed in

internet usage, consequently putting them in a bright side about the benefits and contribution

of the internet if it is used wisely. USM students are likely to use the internet to access their

academic record like campus online and e-learning. Some lecturer are like to give online

quizzes which are needed to use the internet. If the internet is too slow, then user will have a

big problem which is they will fail to access the online quiz. In order to perform that they

need a good connection of internet provided by USM. Student also experienced waiting for a

long time to log in into campus online. It’s also caused student could not cancel when they are

misclicked because of slow internet speed.

Furthermore, students like to use internet to release their tension by streaming video,

play games and etc. Because of that, high bandwidth is demanded by students. USM has

upgraded their bandwidth to 1Gbps according to increase of usage of internet among students.

Although the bandwidth is high, but usually it's always disappointing because it's not really

1Gbps because our PPKT (Pusat Pengetahuan, Komunikasi & Teknologi) has limited the

bandwidth for students. Common problem related to USM internet speed:

1) Different maximum internet speed in same building

2) Inconsistent speed (jitter)

3) Slow access to certain website

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Internet Speed In USM

Factors Affecting Internet Speed and Proposed Solutions

Obsolete hardware

In Desasiswa Tekun there are about 100 wings (a wing has 4 rooms). USM provides a switch

for each wing. The student should get number of bandwidth more or less with other’s wing.

For example, student in wing A gets maximum 21Mbps for download speed, but a student in

wing B gets maximum 10Mbps for download speed.

Wing A Wing B

*both of speedtest were taken at the same time, which is early in the morning.

The replacement of the switch with a new switch or reconfigure the switch is needed in order

to balance the bandwidth. If not, the student will not satisfy the large different of bandwidth

because they are paying the same rate of fees.

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Internet Speed In USM

PC/network settings

Sometimes the PC that we used to connect to the internet is setting wrongly or our computer

might have viruses. It may cause inconsistent speed of internet and some port blocked because

of the viruses. In order to prevent that we need to check our PC or laptop frequently (at least

once per week, ideally several times per day) for viruses, Trojan horses or other programs that

affect performance. There are several anti-virus programs that are relatively inexpensive and

provide maximum protection.

Traffic on the web server

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Internet Speed In USM

Although the internet speed is in optimum condition, but traffic on the web server is high, it is

also affecting the speed of the student to access to that web server. It is because web servers,

configure a download bandwidth at their end. They only allow download from their website

up to certain bandwidth which has to be shared between the users logged on to that web

server. If too many students access to the website, the speed may go slow due to this

limitation. This also puts limitations on the maximum download/upload speed. E.g. Usually

the traffic overload when result is ready to check by student. Student cannot log in fast

because of traffic on the website become slow due to low traffic capacity. In order to solve

this problem administration need to always analyze the traffic and enlarge the web traffic

during that time.

Too many devices connected

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Internet Speed In USM

With the total amount of 28,000 students in USM, let assume the number of devices

connected to the internet for student are about 28,000 (1 student = 1 device). If each user has

about 2 or 3 devices, then it become more doubled or tripled the total number of connections.

There is already too many devices connect to the internet that can make high bandwidth

consumption. If the PPKT not limited the connection for each student then traffic of the

internet become slow. The more device connected makes slower traffic.

Figure 1: Example views of network topology. The student will not get exactly number of

bandwidth provided by USM. If all students connect to the internet and start multiple

downloads at a go on each PC, then they can achieve aggregate bandwidth.

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Internet Speed In USM

Conclusion

A High bandwidth provided in USM does not guarantee you instant downloads and super fast

browsing. However, it ensures a smooth surfing experience even if you have multiple

downloads in progress. There are many other aspects which affect the browsing experience,

bandwidth being one of them. There is no doubt that high bandwidth plan enhances surfing

experience and it is an advantage to run High bandwidth applications which cannot be run on

Standard broadband connection, but at the same time internet performance varies from time to

time and ISP to ISP. USM also need to take an action by monitoring all the hardware time to

time to ensure that no absolute hardware used. The most effective way to measure

performance of your internet connection is through Internet bandwidth/speed measurement

tools provided by the service providers. This will give a true performance measure within the

service provider network.

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Internet Speed In USM

References

1. http://searchenterprisewan.techtarget.com/definition/bandwidth 2. http://www.ask.com/question/why-is-the-internet-so-important 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_Malaysia 4. http://www.speedtest.net/