How much training can your HIGH SPEED connection deliver?

There is often a misconception of what high speed bandwidth will give you. And the misconceptions can start right from the service provider. We’ve all seen the TV ads that show a family downloading music or transferring family video to grandparents thousands of miles away…and it all happens fast! But what you’re not told is that if you don’t have dedicated usage of that bandwidth, you may not be getting what you think.

Financial institutions usually have a high speed connection (T1 or higher). But that does not automatically translate into the power to deliver video, animation or audio for training. Why?

First, it’s important to understand what bandwidth is. The technical definition of bandwidth is “the amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time.” But what does that really mean?

Let’s look at it in another way. A DSL or Cable high speed connection that many of us use at home can compare to a garden hose. The higher speed connections like T1 that many businesses now use can be compared to a fire hose. The amount of water that will flow through that fire hose is obviously much greater than the amount that will flow through the garden hose in the same period of time. Bandwidth works the same way. So why, then, do you sometimes get better performance from your DSL or Cable connection at home than that T1 at work? The reason is...sharing.

You are “sharing” the bandwidth that is available. Sometimes the sharing is allocated and sometimes it’s a “first come first served” process. Using the same analogy of the hoses, let’s take the fire hose (higher speed connection) and now allocate the space. Rather than the free flowing pipeline, there are several garden hoses within the fire hose. And you are even sharing that garden hose. So, the actual transfer rate that you get may be closer to 100k or less (almost as low as a dial up connection).

To determine the available bandwidth for your training, you can use an online bandwidth tester like www.bandwidthplace.com to measure your bandwidth. The performance should be measured at different times of the day and over the course of several days to determine an average speed. Transfer speeds can vary greatly depending on the usage from others that are sharing the same connection.

Even with low or inconsistent bandwidth you can still deliver quality training online. There are some important factors to consider.

As training professionals, it’s up to us to determine our audience’s needs, the content to be delivered, and what the best delivery of the training will be to enhance the training experience and maximize the learning retention.

For more information on training courses that are available online or for information on custom training courses, contact TRC Interactive at 800.222.9909 or visit www.trcinteractive.com.