Yeeeeees, but ...

Yes, that's right, but even if you are only downloading something, you're still causing a little upstream traffic, because of the way computers talk to each other.

Imagine if you had two hoses for your internet, and one brought stuff in, and the other sent stuff out. If you asked your computer to download a big file (a film or whatever) your "in" hose would get very busy. But then, after a while, if you stood on the "out" house, eventually the "in" hose would stop too - because your computer isn't able to send acknowledgements that it's getting data.

The way I understand satellite broadband to work is the "in" hose is quite big and thick, but the "out" hose is comparatively narrow.

I've never explained TCP/IP with a garden hose analogy before, but I quite like it.

Posted By: Arizona Bay on July 3rd 2014 at 14:57:52

Message Thread

just been upgraded to fibre optic broadband..... (General Chat) - Cheltenham_Canary, Jul 3, 14:30:46
- Just tested 5Gbps radio, cable is so "yesterday" ;) (n/m) (General Chat) - mike_the_sphinx, Jul 3, 17:33:39
- Who are you with? I'm getting mine tomorrow from Sky (General Chat) - CityForLife, Jul 3, 16:53:53
- Pwah, old hat. Had it in Lancs for years (n/m) (General Chat) - CB41, Jul 3, 16:27:15
- Way to go - we got BT Fibre Optic last year and its great! (n/m) (General Chat) - Kirrie, Jul 3, 14:55:14
- Wish we could get it :( (General Chat) - Old Git, Jul 3, 14:35:31
  - Statellite Broadband is only "broad" one-way, I think. (General Chat) - Arizona Bay, Jul 3, 14:42:14
    - Is "downstream" speed how fast I get things and "upstream" speed how fast I can send (General Chat) - Old Git, Jul 3, 14:48:07
      - Yeeeeees, but ... (General Chat) - Arizona Bay, Jul 3, 14:57:52
        
        Very comprehensible, thanks! (n/m) (General Chat) - Old Git, Jul 3, 14:59:44
        
        That's true for ADSL too though to an extent (General Chat) - Johnny Comecardiff, Jul 3, 14:59:36
        
        ...hosepiped... (General Chat) - Arizona Bay, Jul 3, 15:31:29
        
        Absolutely, yes. That's the 'A' - asynchronous. (General Chat) - Arizona Bay, Jul 3, 15:05:12
        
        ...hosepiped... (General Chat) - Arizona Bay, Jul 3, 15:41:05
        
        Tvm (n/m) (General Chat) - Old Git, Jul 3, 15:51:47
        
        Can you turn the last two posts into hosepipes please? (n/m) (General Chat) - Old Git, Jul 3, 15:26:07
        
        ^^^ (General Chat) - Arizona Bay, Jul 3, 15:44:50

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