Dial-up modem users - what is your download speed?

I have always been at about 2.85 kbs. Recently, another post (Is there any software that shows where system resources are going?) on another forum (Software) led me to belive I am going very slow. I haven't researched all the information on the follow-up posts, but it seems I might benifit from some of the suggestions. The reason I am posting here is: yesterday I downloaded the Avast program update. It said download time on dial-up was about 15 minutes. 1hr 45mins later , I was at >1kbs. Tonight is a different story, I'm back at 2.85kbs. What do you guys get? Did you improve your settings somehow? Does size matter (file size, I mean )?

Thanks for any responses.

 

I usually get 5kbps down, ~3-5 up, but I have a v.92 modem and I'm on new phone lines, and I'm not far from the ISP. Dialup speed usually depends on phone line condition (the lines in your house, all the way to the lines at the ISP), what types of modems you and your ISP have, and probably several other factors. You might have gotten slow speeds because your ISP was having technical difficulties, the Avast! server might have been having problems, or, like after the release of a new malicious virus, the internet might have just been slow that day.

And file size does matter, because the larger the file, the longer it will take to download. If you get the same speed on a 5kb file as on a 20kb file, the 20kb file will take 5 times longer to download, but the file size shouldn't impact the download speed.

 

I realized waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back then when ISPs were abound; that my gaming ping was in the 100s~. That and that my dl speeds were ussaly 12k and upload 8k~. But this is when NetZero = 100% free. Not that i lived on new phone polls or near dialing location but i think the amount of users (or Bandwidth cap) limits your speeds.

 

I know for a fact it's my phone lines. We get condesation in the switch box, and the speed of the lines plummets.

 

slow

 

LAIGo, check out my suggestions on post http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=48438

I use Leechget and get speeds well above 2.85 kbs when downloading stuff from MG (thanks MG for fast servers). I have found that sites using their own download methods (not going thru Leechget, like M$ updates , PestPatrol and others, are sometimes very/exceedingly slow).

Getting the right MTU and Tcp Receive Windows settings are the answer to better dialup download speeds. Bazza

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Thanks bazza,

That was the exact thread I was referring to. I still haven't had a chance to do my homework (fighting the 12 yr. old for the computer all weekend). Kids are gone now, and I have a chance to play on the computer. It's good to know it isn't just me. Everytime something like that happens, I always assume the worst. I printed out the thread, and I am going to investigate soon.

Thanks again for the input,

LAIGo (stolen from bazza - dig it, I like)

 

back in the good old days when we had dial-up i ran a new 6 wire phone line from the box outside to the computer upstairs that had internet access.you only need 2 wires for the connection so i hooked up 2 sets of three wires to make the connection. i think that the direct connection and the reduced loss gave me the best dial-up connection possible. hope this helps some of you till you can go broadband.

 

See also my post today on

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=48197

may help on piggybacking modems for more speed. Bazza

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