1Mpbs vs 512 kbps

I think you have assessed it pretty accurately.

-Frank

The only thing you should be careful of is that the actual speed of the nominal 1024K line is really twice as fast as the nominal 512K line. On another point, however, logic (but not specific knowledge) tells me that you should be much better off with the new setup. You will get up to twice the download speed (and the same upload speed) as you currently get as long as both computers are not uploading/downloading at the same time. As most of the time one is typing before upload or reading what has just been downloaded, you usually will get the benefit of the doubled speed.

Yes, but still he needs to be careful about the upload speed if that is important to him. on the new faster downloading system, he will have 50% of the computers all trying to use the same 128kbps upload pipe. On the old system there were only 25% of the computers on each 128kbps upload pipe.

If there is an externally available web server on this network for instance, the split bandwidth approach would still be much better. The web server could be on one 128k segment and the users on the other three segments. If there is an externally available mail server, same thing, etc.

I don't think we know enough about his network to be sure of anything.

-Frank

From a practical perspective, keep in mind the upload speeds are really only applicable to servers. 95%+ of what of what most internet users do is surf... Think about it, how much bandwidth do you need to click (upload) a url such as

Q: If applicable, I would be > The only thing you should be careful of is that the

actual speed of the