High Speed Internet

Blog will deal with the high speed internet connection issues and latest updates on Broadband Connection, DSL Cable, etc....

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  • The Benefits of a Faster Connection
    When considering the price for High Internet Speed access, many wonder if paying such a price is truly worth it. If you're looking at Internet providers and still unsure if DSL, Cable or Satellite access is right for you, ask yourself the following:
    • Is my dial up service fast enough to access streaming video & music?
    • Could I use the Internet more if web pages and downloads moved at faster speeds?
    • Do I have to free up a phone line in order to connect to the web?
    • How long does it take to receive digital photos & large email attachments?
    • Could I work from home if I had a faster connection to my information?

    Time is money! And using High Internet Speed access will save you more than enough of your time to justify its cost. However, there are still many pitfalls (internet browser problem)& problems to avoid when choosing between different High Speed Internet access and the different types of connections currently available.

    And that is the purpose of our free guide - to educate consumers and businesses regarding the different aspects of faster web connections and to help them.


  • WAN acceleration and managed file transfer in software solutions
    2008 will see accelerated managed file transfer being implemented not just by end users, but also actively marketed as a value-added service by the hosted server companies themselves.

    The past several years have seen large increases in data sent over IP networks, including the public Internet. This traffic increase has been the result of not only consumer-oriented media, but also a rise in corporate data transfers. For example, the health care industry transfers high-resolution graphic images such as x-rays; the entertainment industry transfers high-definition films between studios; the financial sector transfers large amounts of account data; and scientific institutions exchange extremely large data sets. Simply for backup and recovery purposes, virtually every industry transfers extreme amounts of data to and from remote servers. In response to this increase in data transfer, companies and Internet Service Providers have been connecting users on higher-bandwidth pipes than ever before.

    To help manage the large file sets being transferred, both hardware- and software-based managed file transfer (MFT) solutions have emerged. These products automate the file transfer process, and in some cases, eliminate redundant data transfer. Despite this data management, ever-larger files often need to be transferred.

    As a result, the increases in connection bandwidth and file sizes, other bottlenecks in data throughput are starting to be uncovered, especially for data transfers over long distances. Specifically, the TCP and HTTP protocols were designed with small files and pipes in mind; when these protocols encounter significant network latency, they throttle back the data rate. This occurs even when the latency is simply due to the long distance that the data needs to travel. Consequently, North American coast-to-coast data transfers are typically limited to about 3 Mb/s, and trans-Pacific data transfers are often less than 1 Mb/s, regardless of the available bandwidth in the pipe.

    Hardware-based solutions to this latency-induced slowdown have been introduced in recent years. These so-called WAN accelerators often include both MFT functions and acceleration, but they have been very expensive and, of course, have required new hardware installation.

    While software-based MFT solutions have been available for sometime, software-based acceleration is only now coming to the forefront. Software accelerators typically replace the native TCP protocol used by legacy file transfer mechanisms like FTP with proprietary protocols that are more immune to network latency. Very recently, software-based accelerators have begun to include automation features from the MFT domain. For example, the RocketStream file transfer acceleration suite is capable of monitoring “hot folders” to automatically initiate accelerated file transfers, as well as automatically synchronizing files and folders between disparate locations and scheduling accelerated file transfer tasks for pre-determined times.

    A particular trend that is emerging now is the adoption of such accelerated and managed file transfer in hosted server environments. Such third-party server services are often geographically remote from the customers who use them. With large file sets being transferred over large pipes to and from these hosted servers, an acceleration solution is required, and since the end user does not have physical access to the servers, a software-based solution is necessary. Alliances are forming between the software manufacturers of these solutions and the service companies hosting the servers. The result is a versatile, high-value service that is simple to implement and cost-effective.

    News Source: Computer Technology Review


  • Broadband Speed Factors And Comparisons
    Broadband speed varies widely across. The differences are based upon the location, type of broadband and the service providers, themselves.

    Speed is based upon connection, download and upload of information. Speed also varies based upon individual factors. All the factors come together to help give a rough estimate of the overall broadband speed.

    The following list explains all of the factors that goes into the final result of broadband speed.

    - Type of Broadband. There are numerous types of broadband connections. ADSL and cable are the fastest. Other types like satellite are slower, but still faster than dial up. Even at the slowest rate broadband is still at least 10 times faster than dial up connections.

    - Service provider. Some service providers can supply higher speeds. This can be due to better technology, equipment or location. Each provider will list their tops speeds for subscribers to see and this is an easy way for a person to ensure they are getting the best speed possible.

    - Web Traffic. The internet is often referred to as the information highway. The reason for this is that all the information online travels through lines that work much like an actual highway. When there are a lot of people online these lines get crowded and the internet runs slower than usual. These times are referred to as peak hours. Peak hours usually occur after 7 am until 9 pm on weekdays and all weekend.

    - Hardware. Hardware a person uses, from modems to cables can effect the internet speed. If a person is using outdated or damaged hardware then this will effect the efficiency and in the end, the speed of the connection.

    - Personal computer. It is up to the individual to make sure that they keep their computer running smoothly. Each person should make sure that they clean their web browsers history, temporary files and cookies on a regular basis. This helps the computer to be able to work quicker. Also older computers do not have as much memory and therefore need to be cleaned more often so the internet can run quickly.

    These four factors all come together to make broadband speed hard to pinpoint. One location could get greatly different results than another simply because of the varying factors.

    When looking at broadband access speeds and all the factors that can effect them it is easy to see why it providers can not guarantee a speed.

    Many providers give a range of speed where the connection speed will fall.

    Most users will rarely, if ever, get the top speeds, due to the factors above. Even someone will the best equipment, location and service may not see the top speeds because some factors, like web traffic, can not be controlled by anyone.


  • How to increase broadband connection speed in Windows XP/2003?
    This tip is designed for increased BROADBAND speed in Windows XP while using standard Network Interface cards (NIC) that are connected to ADSL modems, or when using any directly-connected USB ADSL modem.

    To speed up the Internet connection speed we need to configure a special buffer in the computer's memory in order to enable it to better deal with interrupts made from the NIC or the USB modem.

    This tip is only recommended if you have 256MB RAM or higher.

    Step #1 - Identify the IRQ used by the NIC/USB modem

    Follow these steps:
    1. Open the System Information tool by running MSINFO32.EXE from the Run command.
    2. Expand System Summary > Hardware Resources > IRQs.
    3. Look for the listing made for your NIC (in my case - a Intel(R) PRO/100+ Management Adapter).

    Note the IRQ next to the specified line (in my case - IRQ21).

    In case of USB modems you will first need to find the right USB device used by your modem. Follow these steps:
    1. Open the Device Manager tool by running DEVMGMT.MSC from the Run command (or by right-clicking My Computer > Hardware tab > Device Manager button).
    2. Scroll down to Universal Serial Bus controllers and expand it.
    3. Right-click the USB Root Hub and select Properties. Note that you might need to do so for all listed USB Root hubs (if there are more than one) in order to find the right one.
    4. In the Power tab, look for your USB ADSL modem.
    5. In the Resources tab look for the assigned IRQ (in this case - IRQ21).
    6. This is the IRQ we're looking for.

    Lamer note: IRQs and modem names might vary...

    Step #2 - Modify the system.ini file

    Follow these steps:
    1. Run SYSEDIT.EXE from the Run command.
    2. Expand the system.ini file window.
    3. Scroll down almost to the end of the file till you find a line called [386enh].
    4. Press Enter to make one blank line, and in that line type
    IrqX=4096
    where X is the designated IRQ number we found in step #1, in my case it's IRQ21.

    Note: This line IS CASE SENSITIVE!!!

    5. Click on the File menu, then choose Save.
    6. Close SYSEDIT and reboot your computer.

    Done. Speed improvement will be noticed after the computer reboots.

    Update: The most speed improvement is visible with USB A/DSL modems, however there are reports that this tweak also does good for regular NICs. In any case, it won't harm your system, so why not try it yourself and let me know what you find.


  • Broadband: UK getting up to Speed?
    The average UK broadband speed is around 2 - 2.5Mbps, this is a far cry from the 8Mbps advertised and even further from the average 21Mbps users' in other parts of Europe are experiencing.

    Its old news that the UK is falling behind other developed countries in terms of broadband speeds. However, there is one part of the country that will finally be able to compete, the humble town of Ebbsfleet in Kent.

    BT has stuck to its word, in that it would provide new major housing developments with fibre optic networks as opposed to installing traditional copper cables.

    With fibre networks, broadband speeds hover around the 100Mbps mark. This is bog standard for residence in other parts of the world, such as Korea and Japan, who are reaping the benefits of fibre networks.

    However, so far in the UK it has only been businesses that have gotten a taste of such blisteringly high speeds, with around 120,000 businesses hooked up to fibre optic broadband networks.

    The housing development in Ebbsfleet though, will see some 10,000 homes built upon a fibre network. Not only will this network prove more reliable than copper cables, but customers will be able to experience the full capabilities current technologies have to offer.

    Multiple HDTV channels, HD network games and near-instantaneous music downloads will all be a reality.

    The main gripe for the majority of UK broadband customers is the fact that they are not receiving anywhere near the broadband speed that is advertised.

    Companies are trying hard to meet the demands but it's simply impossible over the traditional copper networks, it's only with the implementation of fibre networks that demands can truly be met.

    The developments at Ebbsfleet are going to prove a testing ground, one which is likely to prove very favourable for both businesses and consumer's.

    The outcome of which will hopefully see fibre networks incorporated into other parts of the UK, until ultimately the whole country will be in a position to compete with some of the worlds leading broadband providers, and in turn reap the benefits such networks can provide.


  • Make Your Web Pages Load Faster
    This Tips & Tricks series, which incorporates regular software updates and reviews, is aimed at enhancing your broadband experience.

    Q: How can I make web pages load faster?

    You can speed up your browsing experience by using a web accelerator. A web accelerator can be a proxy server used by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to reduce web access times. It can also be a hardware appliance or a browser extension that you can install on your computer. In this article, we will look at simple, cost effective ways to speed up your browsing experience using free, installable browser extensions.

    What is a web accelerator?

    Web accelerators are tools that can help speed up the download of web content such as plain text, HTML, markup and java script, as well as common forms of graphics such as GIF, and JPEG images, Flash and file downloads. Although they do not accelerate other forms of Internet content such as video and audio streams.

    Examples of web accelerators

    Two popular web accelerators are FasterFox for Firefox and the Google Web Accelerator.
    FasterFox is a Mozilla Firefox extension that tweaks network connections and caches web pages so that the pages can be loaded more quickly.

    How it works

    Whenever you request for a web site, your ISP's computer will work out the Internet address of the web site and go to the relevant web server to download the requested file. Web accelerators can help speed up this process in several ways:
    1. Tweaking the network. FasterFox allows you to tweak many network settings such as the number of simultaneous connections to the server.
    2. Caching. The web accelerator stores frequently or recently accessed web sites in the cache memory on your computer. When you type in the address of the web site you want, the web accelerator will load the file from the cache instead of going to the web server, reducing the time needed for you to access the site.
    3. Pre-fetching: Web accelerators like FasterFox for Firefox have a pre-fetch mechanism that makes use of idle bandwidth to load and cache all the links on the page you are browsing so that these linked sites can be downloaded faster when requested.
    4. Compressing documents. Web accelerators may compress documents to a smaller size or send only what has been changed since the document was last requested. They may also filter out ads or other unwanted content so that the web site can be loaded more quickly. For example, FasterFox for Firefox includes a popup blocker for popups initiated by Flash plug-ins.



  • Broadband High Speed Internet Keeps You Going


    It was not that long ago when it took longer to dial-up your Internet connection than it did to read your email. With the growth in broadband high speed Internet, you do not have to wait for a connection because the Internet is always on.

    At its onset, broadband high speed Internet was offered by very few companies and was out of the price range for the average user - only used only by large corporations and few gadget geeks who could afford it.

    Soon, several companies were jumping onto the broadband high speed Internet bandwagon, increasing competition and driving prices down to be affordable for just about everyone. It proved to be the quickest way for companies to network their different locations. In addition, as new lines were installed, it increased availability and allowed people to be on line, just about, all the time.


    Broadband High Speed Internet Keeps You Going

    It was not that long ago when it took longer to dial-up your Internet connection than it did to read your email. With the growth in broadband high speed Internet, you do not have to wait for a connection because the Internet is always on.

    At its onset, broadband high speed Internet was offered by very few companies and was out of the price range for the average user - only used only by large corporations and few gadget geeks who could afford it.

    Soon, several companies were jumping onto the broadband high speed Internet bandwagon, increasing competition and driving prices down to be affordable for just about everyone. It proved to be the quickest way for companies to network their different locations. In addition, as new lines were installed, it increased availability and allowed people to be on line, just about, all the time.

    Speed Difference is in the Bandwidth

    To better understand how broadband high speed Internet works, think of it is as the flow of information through a funnel. Imagine a funnel with a four inch mouth and a quarter of an inch on the end. As information enters the funnel it flows freely but as it approaches the end, it gets compacted and slows down considerably. Imagine now, a funnel that is more like a cylinder. Four inches at the top and four inches at the end. Information comes out at the same speed in which it went in.

    This is similar to information flowing through a broadband high speed Internet connection. There is little to slow it down except for the receiving capabilities of the computer. Broadband connections do not just allow for faster transfer of data, but also different data flowing to different points at the same time.

    Direct Subscriber Lines (DSL) allow the line to be used for voice communications (telephone) and Internet access simultaneously, ending the need for a second phone line if you spend a lot of time on the Internet. With broadband high speed Internet you can also download movies and music about 100 times faster than was available through a dial-up service.

    It has proven more reliable, as well, because telephone lines were subject to interference and "noise" if the line was older and cause the Internet connection to be lost. With broadband high speed Internet it is rare for the connection to be disrupted or fail to connect due to the fact the computer can always be on line.


  • Mobile Broadband: Do We Need Another Technology War?
    Industry watchers love nothing more than a good old technology war. In the past, we’ve had Token Ring versus Ethernet, GSM versus CDMA and DECT versus CT2. Now, a new technology debate is brewing between HSPA and WiMAX for dominance in the emerging mobile broadband market. But such battles are rarely just about technology, and the mobile broadband debate is no exception.

    The GSM world has seen it all before. Over the years, industry commentators have questioned whether investment in GSM-based 3G technology is worthwhile and wondered whether a succession of alternative technologies would render GSM/WCDMA obsolete. In the meantime, GSM/WCDMA operators have been steadily building their 3G businesses – rolling out networks, adding subscribers and delivering ever-enhanced functionality.

    Today, the latest commercial releases of HSPA radio networks support download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps – more than a match for most fixed-broadband connections – and they are set to become even faster. GSM/WCDMA radio networks are continuing to evolve to meet growing user demand for mobile-broadband services, through further enhancements in the downlink and uplink, and on to Long Term Evolution.
    The performance of HSPA and Mobile WiMAX technologies is comparable. Both technologies offer similar peak data rates, spectral efficiency and network complexity. However, Mobile WiMAX requires more cell sites to offer the same coverage and capacity as HSPA. A major hurdle for WiMAX operators will be to overcome the initial high capital expenditure of the radio access network.
    HSPA is built on the firm foundation of the 3GPP family of standards, and the scale operators get through the established 3G ecosystem makes it very cost-efficient. HSPA can be built out using the existing GSM radio network sites and is a software upgrade of the installed WCDMA networks. Since HSPA devices are also backward compatible with WCDMA and GSM it means users can get nationwide coverage from day one.


    By being pitched as a “data play” technology, with voice supported by other radio technologies, WiMAX is perceived as not having to meet regulatory requirements. However, the trend is towards more regulation of VoIP services, especially in areas such as caller ID and location provision for emergency services. WiMAX is unlikely to be exempt from regulatory requirements in the longer term.


    HSPA also provides global roaming over GSM/WCDMA networks, as well as wide area coverage within many countries. WCDMA has passed the 150 million subscriber mark and is growing at a rate of 6 million per month. Since Ericsson rolled out the first commercial HSPA system in 2004, more than 150 operators in around 70 countries have launched commercial HSPA services – including major mobile operators such as AT&T, Telstra, T-Mobile and Vodafone.


    The Global mobile Suppliers Association reports that HSPA services are commercially available in eight countries in the Americas, 13 countries in Asia Pacific, nine countries in the Middle East/Africa, and 38 countries in Europe. HSPA is commercially available today in 26 of the 27 countries that comprise the European Union.


    Juniper Research expects there to be about 1.8 billion broadband subscribers globally by 2012, with about 1.2 billion on mobile networks – with WCDMA/HSPA accounting for nearly 70 percent of mobile-broadband subscribers.


    HSPA offers excellent mobility from day one, with over 300 HSPA-enabled devices available on the market – including PC cards, USB modems and modules, laptops with integrated HSPA modules, Fixed Wireless Terminals (wireless routers), phones, PDAs and media players. HSPA terminals have fallback toGSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA, and embedded modems will be available in early 2008.


    While WiMAX-certified products were likely to be embedded in notebooks and PC cards during 2007, WiMAX-enabled phones will not appear on the market until 2008. It will be difficult for WiMAX handsets to match the volume and cost structure of current mobile phones – especially as the handsets cross multiple frequencies, meaning multiple radios for roaming. Industry analyst Gartner forecasts that worldwide sales of WiMAX-enabled phones as a proportion of total mobile-phone sales will remain extremely low (below one per cent), at least until 2010.


    Deploying any type of cellular system incurs capital costs, no matter which technology is deployed. Because the core network behind WCDMA/HSPA is the same as for GSM, a lot of the investment has already been made. GSM/WCDMA infrastructure is already serving more than 2.5 billion subscribers worldwide – delivering tremendous economies of scale.

    There is sometimes a misunderstanding that the WiMAX technology is free from Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues.


    In GSM the setting of reasonable accumulated IPR costs has led to a global market with hundreds of chipset and handset vendors. More than 800 million handsets were sold during 2006. By reaching similar IPR agreements in WCDMA/HSPA, products can be offered to customers with very low IPR costs. We believe the same reasonable accumulated rates – at a moderate single-digit level – should also apply to new players in the HSPA and WiMAX arenas.


    For WiMAX, it has yet to be seen which players will win large market share, and so their IPR costs are unknown. However, it is unlikely that IPR will provide any differentiator between HSPA and WiMAX.
    The unprecedented demand for WCDMA/HSPA means additional radio spectrum is going to be critical. It is estimated that by 2010 more traffic will be generated by data services than by voice in mobile networks, yet until about 2015, the only additional internationally agreed spectrum identified for 3G technologies is the IMT-2000 extension band, being 2500-2690 MHz. When allocating new spectrum it will be important to ensure that licensees can leverage on technologies with economies of scale. This will create the right conditions for the licensees to offer affordable broadband services based on a low total cost of ownership for the network and devices.


    Ericsson sees HSPA and HSPA Evolved, with downlink speeds of 42Mbps and uplink speeds of 12Mbps, as the natural mobile-broadband technology choice for the near future, with LTE just around the corner to bring us new levels of performance. Technology choices made today will influence operations for many years to come, so while it remains to be seen if WiMAX can offer a viable business case, building on existing HSPA networks represents the fastest way to deliver mobile broadband to the masses.

    Source : THIS DAY



  • Internet Speed Optimsation Answered
    Installed the USB modem but seeing flashing orange or yellow lights, rather than green lights. Why?
    Sounds a little elementary. Make sure all the leads are connected to both the modem, the phone socket and the computer and then check the status again. Also ensure your phone connection is
    working by checking for a dial tone. Make sure that you haven't accidentally placed a microfilter on your ADSL modem. If none of these solve your problem, then your drivers may not have loaded for some reason. Unplug your modem, reboot and plug your modem back in. If there's still no joy, the network may be out. Call your ISP for a
    status report.

    Can not connect, and my connection keeps dropping really quickly. What should I do?
    Double check by using the right username and password for your Internet configuration. Make sure you have got a microfilter on all your phone-based appliances bar the ADSL modem. That includes the Sky box, the answering machine and the fax machine. Check with your ISP about burglar alarms. Also, if you've got a new fax machine, check the
    manufacturer's site to see whether the unit is compatible with ADSL. Unplug your modem, reboot and plug your modem back in.

    Keep losing my ADSL connection. It seems to happen most often and if pick the telephone - the line seems to be very noisy, too?
    The telephone should be connected to a micro-filter, which ensures the frequencies used by the phone line don't clash with ADSL (In fact, unless you place one on the master socket, you will need a separate micro-filter for every telephone extension in your home). If you are already using a micro-filter, then there is the possibility that it is faulty. Most ADSL modems comes with at least two, so check around before you buy more.


    Get a PPP failure message and error 650, 718, 721 or 645. What to do about this?
    Make sure line is working by testing for a dial tone on your
    phone. Unplug, reboot and plug in again to ensure the driver has loaded. If there's still no joy, don't discount the possibility of a
    faulty modem.

    Why does modem seem to run slowly and the lights just fade out after a few minutes?
    If their is an AMD processor based computer, you might have problems based on a chipset issue. Some units use USB controllers that don't supply enough power to USB devices like modem. A fix on the Microsoft Web site may help, or else there is a need to get a PCI based
    ADSL modem fitted into machine. Search the Microsoft downloads
    site for chipsets VIA, SIS and ALi.

    Asked for my CBUK number – what is this?
    This is a special code that BT uses to identify your ADSL connection. If you move from one broadband service provider to another, you must get your CBUK number from your old ISP. Contact both ISPs well ahead of time to find out exactly what's needed besides the CBUK number to ensure a smooth change over.

    An error that says Cannot Create Entry?
    Running old system software with an obsolete version of Dial Up
    Networking. Head to the Microsoft site to download DUN 1.4.

    I get error message: RegDBSetKeyVAlueEX failed when trying to connect my modem.
    Something is there on system that won't loosen its grip on a component in your computer's registry. One can try doing the installation as an
    administrator.

    Done everything correctly, but either my username and password are rejected, or my connection is very, very slow. Why is this?
    There may be a problem with firewall being set to 56K. Disable it,
    reinstall your modem and check. If this is the case, uninstall and reinstall the firewall.

    Why does my connection close if the computer is idle for a few minutes?
    Your computer may be set to hang up if there's no network activity. Go
    to control panel for 'Network and Dial-up connections' and set its 'Idle Time Before Hanging Up' to 'Never'.


    Got the ADSL connected and working fine on Windows XP PC, but the Dial-Up Networking icon has gone missing from the System Tray. How to get it back?
    Select Control Panel; Network Connections, then right-click on ADSL connection and choose Properties. Check the 'Show icon in notification area when connected' option, and the absent icon will reappear next time you're online.

    Seen adverts for programs that claim to double, triple or even quadruple my download speed. ADSL is already great, but that kind of speed improvement would make it so much better. Is it really possible though?
    Most of these programs work by changing network-related settings in your Registry. If your PC were set up poorly then running one of these optimising tools may make a difference. If you want to experiment then check your TCP/IP configuration

    Still need help?
    Try the Internet Speed Optimization service by iYogi (www.iyogi.net)



  • Speeds Explained
    So how fast is your internet connection anyway? Yeah, I know that many companies now are advertising speeds of upwards of a megabit or more. Well, what does that really mean? And how fast is 56K or 28.8 anyway?
    I know this is hard to believe if you're relatively new to the world of computers or the internet, but back in 1978 modems were running at 110 or 300 bits per second (the technical term is baud). The table below is not precisely accurate but gives a rough idea of how the speeds have been working their way upwards for the past few years.
    Speed Timeline
    1978 100 to 300 baud
    1988 1200 to 2400 baud
    1993 14,400 baud
    1995 28,800 baud
    1997 33,000 baud
    1998 56,000 baud
    1999 1,500,000 baud
    DSL and cable mode connections
    In comparison, local network connections run at 10,000,000 bits per second at least and it is becoming more common for these to be running at 100 million bits per second.
    But what does all this mean? Well, a character is eight bits (a bit is a zero or a one, and it takes 8 of them to make a single character). The letter K means 1,024, so a 28K modem is 1,024 times 28 or 28,672 bits per second (also called bps).
    Now divide the 28,672 by 8 and you have the maximum number of characters per second that your modem can run at. This works out to 3,584 characters per second, which in today's world is considered pretty slow (you will understand why shortly).
    Interesting fact: Modem speeds are all standardized by International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The ITU defines 28.8K bps modems as v.32 and 33.6K bps modems as v.34.
    All right, now you are getting 3.5 thousand characters per second, if you have a 28K modem, right? Well, not exactly. First off, the quality of your phone line may drop that down significantly. What happens is your computer sends some data to the "internet"; it is received but there was an error, so the internet computer requests that the data be resent. The worse the quality (you can hear how bad it is by the amount of static you can hear when you listen on the line) the more times the data has to be resent, the slower the line.
    On top of that, there is a certain amount of overhead associated with each connection. This is "handshaking", which means the modem is asking the internet computer if it got the data and the internet computer is responding "yes" or "no". There is also a certain amount of data to define what is being sent (an email or a web document or whatever) which eats into the line speed.
    Well, okay, let's assume you are actually getting 20K from your 28.8K modem. There's worse news to come. The internet has lots of things that actually have nothing to do with content. There are cookies, advertising banners, comments, web bugs, and a host of other things inserted into your web experience. A typical advertising banner is 7.5K, which in our 20Kbps example requires several seconds to load to your machine.
    What can you do? First, if you can get a DSL or Cable modem connection to the internet. It will probably cost about the same or only slightly more than your dialup connection and will improve your surfing experience by many times.
    Second (or if you cannot get a higher speed connection) get an ad blocker installed on your system to remove those ads before they are downloaded to your machine. Why even bother downloading banners that you are never going to look at anyway?
    I hope that helps clear things up a bit.


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