Hello Forum,
I have a simple question regarding the way an internet connection (wireless or even wired) is shared.
Question: Inside a LAN (our home or a coffee shop), a wireless router allows multiple users to download and upload data from the internet, "simultaneously". Each user gets access to the router in a round-robin fashion in a FIFO method.
If we buy from the ISP a connection (download) speed of, say, 8 Mbps, and there are 4 users are in the room, theusers will share those 8 Mbps. If the users are all simultaneously downloading, will each user have an even download speed of 2 Mbps? Does it depend on who starts the download first?
I believe the download/upload traffic is managed by the wireless router in the room, using ethernet rules. Is that correct?
If we decide to upgrade the service and buy from the provider a higher speed, say 12 Mbps, what does really happen on the provider side? Inside our house nothing changes: same computers, same router. The provider, figuratively speaking "open the data rate faucet" a little more. What does really happen, in more technical terms? How is the increased speed possible? What does the ISP tweak to allow us a larger bandwidth?
Does the ISP change some "filter" to allow 12 Mbps? If, so, what does the filter do and what is it properly called? What does it allow to pass? A different type of signal?
Thanks
Antennaboy
