Speed is certainly a very important aspect to consider when choosing an Internet service, but the cost should be the priority above all. No, it's not the monthly subscription fee, because it doesn't reflect the actual cost you pay for what you get. Cost per gigaByte is what you should do the math. Because our ISPs set a usage quota & managed speed (or throttled speed) to their internet plans, some might find it quite complicated to compare plans between ISPs.
QUOTE
Quota / Speed = Time in Full Speed (TiFS)
30days - (TiFS) = Time in Managed Speed (TiMS)
(TiMS) x (Min. Managed Speed after quota) = Max. Downloadable Data Volume in Managed Speed (MDDViMS)
Quota + (MDDViMS) = Monthly Downloadable Data Volume (MDDV)
Monthly Cost / (MDDV) = Cost/gB
[Example:]
ISP XXXSpeed: Up to 5 mbps
Quota: 60 gB Downlink Data
Max. Managed Speed After Quota: Up to 64 kbps
Min. Managed Speed After Quota: N/A
Cost: RM148 / 30days
(Note: Because our ISPs do not set a Min. Managed Speed, so the speed can go as low as 0. In this case we just take the Max. Managed Speed instead, so we're being generous to our ISPs with this calculation)
60gB / 5mbps =
503,316,480kb / 5120kbps = 98,304sec
30 days - 98,304sec = 2,493,696sec
2,493,696sec * 64kbps = 159,596,544kb or 19.025gB
60gB + 19.025gB = 79.025gB
RM148 / 79.025gB =
RM1.87/gBIn case if anyone confused about the units conversion:
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QUOTE
1 Byte = 8 bits
1 kiloByte (kB) = 8 kilobits (kb)
* Upper case "B" indicates Byte while lower case "b" indicates bit.
You'll notice that ISPs usually advertise their speed in bits (mbps) & the quota is in Bytes (kB,mB,gB)
1gB is NOT equals to 1000mB, it's 1024mB actually
1gB = 1024mB
1mB = 1024kB
So 1gB to kb = 1gB x 1024mB x 1024kB x 8