Should there be a big difference in number between bytes sent and received?

Question

I'm a dialup dino, because that's what I can afford these days. Thanks.

Answer 1

There should be a pretty big difference. As of right now, I'm on a Cable 2.0 mbps connection, and I have sent over 7,000,000 bytes, but have only received over 5,000,000 bytes. I've had my connection online for quite some time now (around a week), and that number is likely to skyrocket unless I disconnect and reconnect. The reason is because when you type in a web address, you are actually sending a request to that website to access it. Information such as your IP address, etc, are sent along to verify who it is wanting to access the webpage. Then, the information is sent back with the OK, go ahead, and the webpage is sent to you.

You're going to notice a difference in bytes sent and received depending upon what you're actually doing. Surfing the web is different. You will probably have more bytes received than sent. Reason? Because the packet sent TO the website is far smaller than the actual information you are receiving back (the webpage, etc.) However, if you run a P2P file sharing program (i.e. BitTorrent, Limewire, etc), and you share many files, your sent is going to skyrocket, while you're received doesn't move so much (unless you're downloading at the same time...and if you're on dial-up, you probably aren't). When you upload to someone, you are sending them that file(s). That counts as sent. They have to send you packets as well, but a considerably less amount.

Hope this explains it.

Answer 2

when received, the more it is, the faster. same goes for sent