Is it possible to speed up dial-up?

[EXIT63]

Is their anything I can do to make the internet go faster?
I can\'t afford DSL or cable modem. Lately, my isp (msn) is super slow. I feel like I\'m in Mexico or somethin. I swear its a conspiracy to make me upgrade. But it\'s getting ridiculous.

Does anyone know how this works? Or if it works:
http://www.proxyconn.com/ (\"http://www.proxyconn.com/\")

By the way I\'m on an HP pavilion 5150 notebook, 600mhz intel, running Windows ME.

Thanx

[krtel]

Well, in my early days on the Internet, I started with MSN and I will tell you, some of their access servers have extreme bottlenecks. I suggest you try a different access number because they are not all equal.

- Krish

[EXIT63]

Thanx, I do have several numbers to choose from. I just have to figure out which ones are faster.

[CptKipling]

I have seen things like that web page before, and doesnt really offer anything practical. It basically involves keeping a full cache of all the data (pictures, text...) on your hard drive. So if you surf anywhere new its the same old slow, and it takes up a large amount of hard disk space. Something new though...
<blockquote><font class=\"small\">In reply to:</font><hr>

It compresses the bitstream, so pages download faster than you ever thought possible from your ISP to you. It decompresses on-the-fly, so the only difference you see is the incredible speed!

<hr></blockquote>

Anyone know if this would actually help?

[druid]

well if the web pages you view often were static (not like some script page which creates html pages on demand), then yeah it would work.

[CptKipling]

Why dont you give it a try for the free period? Worth a shot maybe.

[jose]

Run \"disk cleanup\" on Windows system tools, that should help erase some of the Internet crunch which piles up on your disk. Even better if you have Nortion Cleansweep program.

[belgareth]

I would avoid the various clean up programs, they often cause more problems than they solve. Although, they do keep my techs busy /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif

The main problem is the amount of data you can dowdnload at a given time. That\'s directly contingent on your conection speed. Compression routines help if your computer has enough horsepower to handle it while talking to the internet.

The second consideration is your dial up server connection\'s speed. MSN and AOL (and most others) switch you to slower servers when the faster servers load up. So, you will see slower speeeds during peak periods.

Third issue is household phone wiring. If it is older, you will see reduced connection speeds.

What is your connections speed? Check it at various times. Also, remember that all connections are not equal and that you can hang up and re-dial to try for a faster connection.

The service that regularly gets awards for its speed and service quality is Earthlink. Arguably the best dial up service out there. You might, after checking the other things, try their free trial, see how it works for you.

[jose]

I wouldn\'t totally disregard cleanup programs,since I\'ve had my Norton Cleansweep for about two years and never had a problem with it. It\'s the best way I know to get rid of the Internet crunch and move a little faster on the Internet with dialup. Belgareth is right about re-dialing for another connection,and I have earthlink and it\'s the best in my opinion.

[belgareth]

The only reason I advise people to stay away from it is because of the problems it does cause some people. My outlook is a little biased because, as a computer service company, we only see it when it screws something up. We get 2-3 calls per week for systems that have been toasted by it. Norton tech support usually advises reinstalling the OS when that happens and that is a major pain for many users.