Does the download/upload speed of your internet provider make a difference for daytrading? i am thinking about getting a backup dsl connection, there are 2 choices, 1 is 768kb download and the other is 3mb download. which would you guys choose and why? Even though it will just be a backup connection, if by chance my main connection goes down, my backup connection will be the main conection, so it should be just as good. i currently have comcast cable. Thanks for any inputs Larry
AS a backup connect 768 is fine if all you intend to use it for is Trading. If not, go for the 3.0 As web pages can spike a connection quickly.
I would go with the one with the lowest latency. After approx. 512k up/down doesn't matter much. You want the lowest ping time and most reliable. Unless you are watching some streaming video while trading, only then would you need alot of download speed. There are small exceptions, but that's a general rule, ex. talking on skype take 128kb approx, using hotcomm or omnovia uses bandwidth too. It's great FIOS can deliver 30 mg down, but most will never be able to use it. I am on Comcast too, in Denver, and I get sometimes as much as 8 down and 1.5 up during RTH. When kids and moms come homes its 3-4 down and 1 up. Depending on how far from the exchange you are, you would like to see 50-60 miliseconds of delay or so. You can actually use pingplotter dot com trace how many hops you take and what the ping time is, great program.
I have comcast and manage 150K Up and upwards of 1.9MB down during reg trading. They actually sent out a mailer telling me they were upping my speeds to 16Mb down (approx 2.0 MB) and 2Mb up (approx 250K up) Smart move on there behalf.. I would like 30MB down though. I do a lot of bis via Inet and need to grab GB files often 4GB and up at times.
Thanks for the quick replies and helpful inputs. The three providers i am looking at are verizon dsl, qwest dsl, and earthlink dsl. Does anyone have any recomendations/experience with these providers? Thanks again. Larry