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Geek Culture / Internet download speeds

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jeffmosesuk
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Joined: 7th Jun 2003
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 10th Jul 2003 11:31
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Not having much knowledge on internet connections i was wondering (and frequently get very annoyed with!) the fact I can only have a 56k dial-up connection where i live, b^%&*%d BT, buy anyway.

My query is how come downloading averages 4k a second, it takes forever to download even small files. I realise the isp connection will take up some bandwidth but surely not 52k, whats it all used up on ?

Anything I can do to improve ?
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Shadow Robert
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Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 10th Jul 2003 13:32 Edited at: 10th Jul 2003 13:33
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... :: blinks ::

kilobit .... kilobyte
56000 / 8 = 7000

abbrv. kilobit[kb] kilobyte[kb]

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jeffmosesuk
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Posted: 10th Jul 2003 13:54
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Thanks Raven. I see now, just presumed that it was 56kilobyte dial-up connection. O well have to wait till they sort out the lines or save up for a satalite hook up
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Dave J
Retired Moderator
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Location: Secret Military Pub, Down Under
Posted: 10th Jul 2003 14:50
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Apparently Download Accelerator Plus (Found at Download.com) can speed up downloads somewhat, I've never tried it and personally don't believe it can but other people have told me it does.

Also supports resume so if you're using Gozilla or whatever the hell that program is called it's a much better alternative.

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
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Andy
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Posted: 10th Jul 2003 14:57
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Additionally a 56k modem receives at 56kbit and sends at 33.6kbit, which degrades the actual reception-rate. On top of that there is protocol overhead (approx 10%-15% depending on packet-losses), and then there is the noise on the phone line, which further degrades performance.

If you get 4Kbyte-5Kbyte, your line is fine and there is very little packet losses.

Andy

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Ian T
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Posted: 10th Jul 2003 17:22 Edited at: 10th Jul 2003 17:23
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Back with my 56k connection I only ever seemed to dial up at 40k, and on top of that only downloaded from slooooow servers . Back when I was a total n00b and utternly new to everything internet, I simply convinced myself that it was impossible to ever download any files larger than 9mb-- the two I managed to both got corrupted (Some robot game and an RPG demo, both around 15).

I have now firmly convinced myself that it is impossible to download any files larger then 900mb-- the two I managed to both got corrupted (Some sci-fi game and an RPG demo, both around 1gig).

But hey, there's always a bigger fish. Maybe when 1mb/s worldwide WiFi comes around I'll jump on the bandwagon

--Mouse

Famous Fighting Furball
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jeffmosesuk
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Posted: 10th Jul 2003 17:46
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Yeah i downloaded a 1.5Gig movie once, it took 5 days of my pc being left on, did work fine though but will not be doing again, lol

Thanks for the replies and i will try not to get to stressed with the crappy 4k download spreed
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Shadow Robert
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Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 10th Jul 2003 18:32
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just something to make you weep a bit over your 56k connection
this is my current 72k cell connection - its a bit faster than usual hehee

and it's not actually stopped being that fast yet either which is pretty cool ... hopefully though it won't matter as this stupid techie should be done with my OC line soon, he better be ... been at it a week, they've laid down completely new capables, the whole kit'n'kaboodle - costing me a small fortune too.



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jeffmosesuk
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Posted: 10th Jul 2003 18:42
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Thanks for that Raven, you've made me cry now

lol
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Falelorn
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Location: Canada
Posted: 10th Jul 2003 21:27
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I think i would die if I had to go back to dial up. I love broadband. Im usually in the high 400k per second to 700k per second.
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Kanzure
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Posted: 10th Jul 2003 21:36 Edited at: 10th Jul 2003 21:37
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Raven, you use MSVC++? and..*GASP* is that a BlitzBASIC window I see? and *DOUBLE GASP* AOL!?!?!

and here I was thinking your the Open Source type 0_o...

~Morph/Kanzure
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Ian T
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Posted: 10th Jul 2003 22:03
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Hehe, Raven an AOLer? I should have known

--Mouse

Famous Fighting Furball
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8truths
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Location: United States
Posted: 10th Jul 2003 22:50
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A lot of your speed is going to depend on your provider. As a rule, you get what you pay for -- especially with dial-up. None of my dial-up ISPs ever got me speeds much about 7 kbps. Usually it was around 5 kbps.

I gave up and went to cable (only cost about $10 more a month). Now, my speeds depend entirely on the speed of the server I connect to. I can get as high as 1.5 Mbps, but usually get between 100-600 Kbps.

For the money, anymore, I don't see the sense in avoiding high-speed access as long as it is available.

We can't stop here! This is bat country!
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Kanzure
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Posted: 11th Jul 2003 01:22
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Hmm..I found a provider that does $10 a month for 25 times the speed of dialup (25x5 = 125kb ..so prolly only 80kb)...Thats a pretty good deal!

http://www.getjoi.net

~Morph/Kanzure
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jeffmosesuk
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Posted: 11th Jul 2003 01:50
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Yeah its not the provider thats the issue in my case though, bloody BT has crappy line to my house and they wont allow any faster than 56k dial up
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The Game
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Joined: 22nd Dec 2002
Location: United States
Posted: 11th Jul 2003 01:53
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There is a plus and a down side to that type of provider service. What gets accelerated is Web pages - HTML markup and JavaScript, Graphics including JPEG and GIF images, Text, and E-mail on the Web

What does not get accelerated is Streaming media, audio and video files . Secure pages, such as those used for online banking and credit card forms. Files and attachments such as music or digital photos.

How it works - Before the text and graphics that make up Web pages get sent to you over your phone line, it's compressed using a proprietary technology. Less data is sent so the download of pages and your surfing experience are that much faster. In addition, it may store elements of the Web sites you visit frequently so you do not have to re-download them every time you visit the sites.

I got this info from Netzero which uses the same technology.

I am the game and I want to play.
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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 11th Jul 2003 06:14
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i'm on AT&T too... but i use AOL alot of the time for Dial-Up cause i don't have to pay extra each time i use it (or in different countries)

$25/month for an untapped international package seems pretty fair to me, and since AOL 7 it has becomming increasingly stable even on dialup ... 5 & 6 were truely the creation of the devil himself, but the new versions are pretty good

and yes i use msvc++ 6.0 ... its got the best IDE i've seen for a language, and i don't have to waste all that time linking files, making sure the compile works with MSVC, finding all of the header and libraries, etc... i don't know many coder who use C++ regularly that don't use msvc++
i do have others on here, but more regularly i'll use msvc++

i've never really been one for opensource software to be honest, i mean i like having it to tinker with - but i don't actually like to use many of them, i prefer something professional that is very well polished and well supported.

and yup thats blitz at the bottom (shock horror scandle ) but its only the demo, have the full thing around here somewhere but was quicker to download the demo and find out something i needed to know about it

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Dave J
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Posted: 11th Jul 2003 17:45
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I'm more interested in what he blanked out of the convo o_O

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 11th Jul 2003 17:50
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hehee ... you could ask puffy, but then i'd have to kill him & you

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Kanzure
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Posted: 12th Jul 2003 02:31
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Eh...*walks away slowly*

I would expect AOL to have more tampering software to see what you do and etc. I mean if they have parental controls and such, they can do anything..key logger, chat logger, page logger, mouse logger..etc..
I never use AOL because
#1 - Price is OMG type high
#2 ---The price is only for dial up
#3 - they say they are the most massive community online..bullcrap! There just a walking talking Yahoo! I would much rather use Yahoo type thing if they ever make one like AOL (except, NOT like AOL)
#4 - Most n00bs i know use it. Its pathetic. Aolers - they get annoying, now, some, are okay and all, but others are plain n00bs that u just wanna stab.. AOL = noob house


The only good thing I see on AOL is the parental controls and loggers etc. All the rest is probably just modified from other sites. Examples: Google Search Engine, music from sites, news from other sites. I doubt they have anything original besides programs...

Oh well. Now to go hide and wait until the giant AOL Mob passes by..

~Morph/Kanzure
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bitJericho
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Joined: 9th Oct 2002
Location: United States
Posted: 12th Jul 2003 09:31
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lol...some people just hate AOL^_^

The 3D Modeler's Group : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/3dModeler/
The Unofficial DB Software Group : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dbsgroup/
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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 12th Jul 2003 10:05
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too high priced?
$25/month gives me worldwide access, that is either by narrowband or broadband ... ontop of that i could pay $5 more permonth and have a 512kb/sec line installed - but as i already had an AT&T 3mb line at my other place and my OC255 i didn't see the point.

AT&T's 3mbit lines are $70/month, and thier 512kb is $20/month ... and that doesn't give you access to thier Dialup service which is annoying when they're lines go down (which happens alot around here, and they're the best broadband in the LA area)

add to that it is one of the most stable and fastest lines i can seem to get ... as i've tried the $15/month services and they no only give you only Nth number of hours per month but they also tend to drop you offline every few hours just for kicks and you connect at somewhere around 43kbps rather than 53-56kbps that AOL will.

here in the states i've found "you get what your pay for" to be a far more harsh reality than the UK ... if you don't mind paying an extra $5-10 for something you oftenly get a FAR FAR superior product.

and AOL has around 150million users worldwide that makes THE largest Internet Service Provider in the world. This would also make them the largest online community - you add to this the fact that they're tied with every single EA Game, if you go onto any of the EA sites your on an AOL server and in thier domain.

the only bad thing i could ever say about AOL is that in the past they're dialup connectors haven't been too relyable, and they still do take quite a bit of processor speed away when your online (which is bad for gamers on slower systems)

apart from that, they have outstanding service, REALTIME technical support which is also FREE (there someone you don't get with almost any ISPs) ... for the price its just a steal if you ask me.

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