download speed issues

If you are connected wirelessly, I would run the test with a wired connection before I started pointing the finger at your broadband supplier.

Thanks for the tip. Works a lot faster.

P.S. I wasn't looking to blame anybody although it would have helped if Sky offered the same advice as you just did. They were given the same info as was given this forum. I just wanted the issue resolved. Alls well that ends well.

P.P.S Would the length of a LAN cable adversely affect download speeds?

just out of interest, why is it that my asus wireless LAN adapter that is rated at 54 Mbps cant deliver the same download speed as a LAN cable. Surely, the 54Mbps far exceeds the 8Mbps connection??????

It should exceed your broadband speed under ideal conditions, but it is more difficult to achieve ideal conditions with a wireless than with a wired.

54Mbps is the raw bit rate of 802.11g. However, 802.11g has high overhead, so the maximum data throughput is more like 22-24Mbps. If you are not right on top of your router in an interference-free environment, your actual throughput can be much less. Less than your 8Mbps, depending on distance, walls, nearby wireless networks, etc.

All I was suggesting was if you want to test your broadband speed, use the wired connection to avoid all the side issues with wireless. Cable broadband is a shared network, so it is also possible your provider is NOT giving you the speed you should be getting at peak usage times.

Even the wired connection has to deal with the WAN to LAN thoughput performance of your router.