Internet Connection Utilization (Internet Speed) Help!?

[SynisterSilence]

Alright, I've recently done many checks on my internet connection and it says that I have around a 1 Mbps Connection... the bad thing is, however, I paying for a 12 Mbps connection. Any tips on how to get most or all of my 12 Mbps? Anything will help out, software, hardware, even requesting doing something to my modem. I'm using Verizon DSL BTW...

[Ukie Man]

The reason you are seeing a "slower" internet connection than what you are paying for is because the phone company measures and advertises speeds in megabits per second.

There is a gigantic difference between bits and bytes.

12 megabits = 12,000,000 bits
8 bits = 1 byte
12,000,000 bits / 8 bits = 1,500,000 bytes
~1,000 bytes = 1 kilobyte
1,500,000 bytes / 1000 bytes = 1,500 kilobytes
~1,000 kilobytes = 1 megabyte
1,500 kilobytes = 1.5 megabytes

When looking at connection speeds it is very useful to understand the notations (pay careful attention to whether it is a lower-case or upper-case "b")
12 Mbps = 12,000,000 megabits per second
12 MBps = 12,000,000 megabytes per second

You have a 1.5 MBps (megbyte) connection