ISP offers to make dial up 2-3 times faster??

[Fothermucker]

We got some flyer in our mail box from our local ISP that for an extra $2.00/month our dial up speed can be 2-3 times faster with something they call accelerator. Now we currently connect at 26.4 due to the state of our phone lines (we're very rural) and I think it's all a bunch of BS but my parents think they want to try it. I told them not to bother due to the fact the lines suck and we live too far away from the server to make any difference.

What can my ISP possibly do on their end that would speed up our shitty connection?

 

[skritch]

Originally posted by Fothermucker
We got some flyer in our mail box from our local ISP that for an extra $2.00/month our dial up speed can be 2-3 times faster with something they call accelerator. Now we currently connect at 26.4 due to the state of our phone lines (we're very rural) and I think it's all a bunch of BS but my parents think they want to try it. I told them not to bother due to the fact the lines suck and we live too far away from the server to make any difference.

What can my ISP possibly do on their end that would speed up our shitty connection?

It seems to be just a web-based proxy that does caching and image compression. With these ads, "speed" means "web page load speed".

If all they ever do is browse the Web, it might be worthwhile.

 

[FLECOM]

Originally posted by skritch
It seems to be just a web-based proxy that does caching and image compression. With these ads, "speed" means "web page load speed".

If all they ever do is browse the Web, it might be worthwhile.

yep thats basically it, your line stays just as shitty, they just recompress jpegs and gifs and so on

 

[freecableguy]

its a rip...most people that use dialup have no idea how their damned coffee maker works let alone TCP/IP....

 

[kleptophobiac]

its worthwhile if you don't look at pictures, and don't download files. Other than that, its worthless.

 

[ChingChang]

Think I read somewhere that it reduces the image quality/size, to make websites load faster.

 

[corrosive23]

Originally posted by freecableguy
its a rip...most people that use dialup have no idea how their damned coffee maker works let alone TCP/IP....

or they live where its not available. Nice generalization jackass.

 

[CentronMe]

Originally posted by freecableguy
its a rip...most people that use dialup have no idea how their damned coffee maker works let alone TCP/IP....

Hay Jackass, do you want to string a fiber optic line out to my house on your expense? Otherwise shut up and stop generalizing.

 

[Blitzrommel]

Originally posted by CentronMe
Hay Jackass, do you want to string a fiber optic line out to my house on your expense? Otherwise shut up and stop generalizing.

pwned.

 

[PopeKevinI]

Originally posted by freecableguy
its a rip...most people that use dialup have no idea how their damned coffee maker works let alone TCP/IP....

Most people (okay, some people) spoiled to broadband (DSL/cable)don't understand that it still isn't available in MOST areas of the U.S. Rural areas are still stuck on dial-up. It's either that, or shell out $70+ a month for satellite. No, thanks.

My brother has NetZero and opted for their "high-speed" solution. It *is* substantially faster than any normal 56k connection I've used. Of course, it doesn't affect file transfer speeds, but I can get that on the T1 at my office. I'll probably be using something like it when I get dial-up at home.