how do i make my internet connection faster?..

[ryu]

im just 18 and i dont have the money to get something like a cable modem....i want to be able to download pages and pictures and stuff fast...oh yeah what makes the connection faster? like ram or something?im a total idiot in computers....thanks

[BillyB]

What speed are you connecting at now?? Place your mouse over the "Dial-up-Networking" icon next to your clock and leave it there for 2-3secs.

[bdog]

These suggestions above will help, but without cable or dsl, it will always be somewhat slow. Think of the pages you are looking at as water. With a standard modem you have a garden hose coming to your house, but with cable or dsl you have a firehose. No matter what you do, you can only get some much water (data) to flow through the garden hose.

[ryu]

im running at 50,000 bps....is that good? i did the start...settings...and modem stuff... i think im using Lt Win Modem...is that bad? cuz the other guy said that win modem sucks or something....thanks im going to download the "speed I" thing thanks alot all of you have been very helpful :O)

[Ilya_S_K]

50kbs is very good. You might want to try a software called TweakDUN; it increases size of packets that you send thrugh tcp/ip protocol, therefore if should increase your download speed up to 30%. TweakDUN is a shareware program so you don't have to pay for it. I don't remember where i got it from but try following links: www.download.com (http://www.download.com) www.shareware.com (http://www.shareware.com)
Good Luck...

[Axel]

A few more questions - what operating system are you using??

If you are using 95 or 98, try these ideas -

1) - <my computer> <dial-up networking> - open your connectiod and check out the settings there - typically, some ISP's will tell you to install their software which automatically builds this connection setting for you - what they don't tell you is that the speed setting defaults to something lower than they are capable of to conserve their band-width. Make the connection speed the highest the dial-up telephone number is rated for - probably 56k, but check the doc's you got on-line or from the ISP mailing.

2) - <start> <settings> <control panel> <modems> {stop here - is the modem listed what you actually own - correct model?} <properties> - set your speed to the highest setting listed regardless of what the ISP phone number is rated for.

Those are the two "obvious" things to check on your system.

You can also surf the web to see if the modem manufacturer came out with a new software driver for your modem. You can probably download the driver - install it through the "add new hardware" tab in control panel and possibly increase your performance that way.

Adding RAM to your system is unlikely to have much effect on your internet speed unless you have extremely little RAM to begin with (16 MB or less)

Upgrading your CPU processor will increase your speed on the internet and on just about everything else on your system.

If you happen to be the unlucky owner of a "WIN" type modem, buying a real modem will speed things up for you and increase your overall system performance while on the internet.

Generally, PCI slot modems have a better performance than ISA slot modems if you go with an internal model. I prefer external modems myself because they can be reset without powering down the computer and you can see what it's doing from the LED lights.

[pickel]

Go to:Http://www.hms.com and download " I Speed". Set to "optimal" anbd try that. If you want you can tweak the settings to suit you , but I found the "optimal" setting to be
the easiset and helps modem connection to some degree. Good Luck http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

the pickel

[RayH]

You have an excellent connection speed. But sometimes, a slower speed will be better because it may be more stable.

If you have a lot of things to download, may I suggest you do it when you're asleep?

[Axel]

50,000 is pretty good. However, it only counts your "through-put" - if you have "line noise" on your telephone line which causes a lot of "resends" of damaged or missing packets, you might connect at 50K, but only really achive 33K of actual through-put because of resends. You'll need something more complicated to determine if you are experiencing extra-ordinary packet loss. Line noise could possibly be happening at your end, at the ISP, or almost anyplace in between. The phone company can test for it if you call their repair line. They will ask why you suspect line noise, so, find out if you are experiencing extra-ordinary packet loss before calling them. They will also ask how many telephone devices you have plugged in - too many telephones - especially cordless - can cause you to have line noise at home. Plugging into something like an answering machine before plugging into the wall will also cause it.

But again - 50K is pretty good - your next step would be a cable modem or a DSL connection if you are close enough to your local central office.

BTW - you probably won't be able to achieve 56K with a 56K modem. Especially not a win modem.

I was the one down on winmodems - hate them - they are a lot of trouble and impact your processor speed. They are "cheap" in every sense of the word.

[RobFM]

One more thing you could try, which has nothing to do with computers, is call your phone company and ask then to increase the gain on your line. This boosted my speed from 43kbps to 49kbps.

[Butler]

Your connection speed seems to be fine, but as Axel said, alot depends on throughput. I will refer here to a copy I save of PC Gamer, (I say save, because I use this issue about once a week) it is the fall 99 'ultimate hardware bible'. If you can get a copy of it, it has a section 'tweaking your modem' again, it's important that you use a 'real' modem not winmodem. Try the following: <start> <run> type 'sysedit' in the run box. Go to the System.ini fila and scroll down until you see: [386Enh]. Next, find out what com port your modem is using: <start> <settings> <control panel> <modems> <properties>, the com port will be hilighted. ie: com4. Now, go back to your sys.ini file, and under the line [386Enh]'use one of the following settings, according to what com port your modem is using:
* Com1Irq4Buffer=1024
* Com2Irq3Buffer=1024
* Com3Irq4Buffer=1024
* Com4Irq3Buffer=1024

So, for example, my sys.ini file has the following lines in it:
"[386Enh]'
Com4Irq3Buffer=1024
ebios=*ebios"....etc.
Now, click to close that window, and click yes to save changes.
This will help even a Winmodem, but is especially useful with a real modem.

One more tip, and this is the biggie! I just got done downloading Corel Linux, a 300MB file, with a 56K modem, connected at around 5200kbps in just under 12 hours! Here's the secret: 'Download Accelerator'. You can find it here: http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10062-100-1493895.html?tag=st.dl.10001.pop.10062-100-1493895

This program finds as many as 4 sites to download a file from simultaneously, this often speeds download times by as much as 3X!
This will help tremendously...
Good luck!

Butler

[ryu]

386Grabber=vgafull.3gr and device=ad.386 are the only 2 things in the place that have the numbers 386...what should i do? thanks sorry it took so long to answer.....