As technology continues to advance, Internet users have become increasingly accustomed to fast connection speeds. Although download times are affected by many variables, the most critical is the connection speed of both parties. Not all modems, though, are created equal. Some are fast and some, though once considered fast, are now very slow. Commonly-used modems range the gamut from 28.8 kbps analog to the 250 mbps wireless. The following is a brief comparison of various modems and the respective time required to download a 10MB file.

Modem / Transfer Rate / 10MB Download

28.8K / 28.8 kbps / 46 minutes

56K / 56 kbps / 24 minutes

ISDN / 128 kbps / 10 minutes

ASDL / 384 kbps / 3.3 minutes

Cable / 600 kbps / 2.1 minutes

T-1 / 1.54 mbps / 50 seconds

Wireless / 250 mbps / .3 seconds