Hi speed dialup?

My brother just got his first computer. He lives in the "boonies" and there's no dsl or cable available, he sighned up for netzero because he had the disc. Is the "hi speed" version really any faster or would he be further ahead to download a web accelerator, or something? If so does anyone know of a good one to use, preferably free? Thanks in advance

 

When it comes to internet speed, "You pay for what you get". Dialup is dialup; it's going to be about the same no matter what you use.

Have you checked into Satellite Internet?

I haven’t ever used dialup, I've dealt with it before and I couldn't tell a difference in having an accelerator and without it. I'm sure it does some good but I couldn't notice it. I'm not very knowledgeable with dialup so if someone knows I'm sure they will drop in there suggestions.

 

Thanks, he was anxious to get hooked up so he went with netzero, I told him that I doubted that their so called highspeed was really much faster and probably just employs an accelerator that could be added for free (just like their pop up stopper and virus protection) I'm just wondering if I was right now. Another problem is that even if he could get cable or dsl or even satellite he wouldn't be mobile, he bought a notebook because he's rarely home, he spends a lot of time at our dads house or his girlfriends place. He wouldn't be able to connect in those places if he had anything but dialup would he?

 

Being out of the city limits, Satellite would be the only other option than dialup. All you would need for this connection would be an ethernet port just like any other high speed connection.

 

yeah, but with sattelite he would only be able to connect while at his house right? He's just not there that much, and he wanted to use it at our Dads house also, he's 85 and plays guitar, so they were going to use it to find guitar tabs etc. and just somethig to pass the time together. Dialup is nice in that sense since he can take it anywhere with a phone line and connect, you can't do that with cable, dsl, or satelitte can you? Question, if you had DSL and took the modem with you, could you connect from other phone line locations? I never really thought much about this since I have a desktop and cable.

 

No, because the service is set to your phone number for DSL and service box (outside box) for cable. It could be done a little easier with cable but it would be a hassle calling the cable company and transferring things, it wouldnt be worth it.

 

Yeah, hi speed dialup is just a crock. I have AOL, which has a "web accellerator". I have the feature turned off. All it does is cache webpages. Web pages are ALREADY cached thru IE, so it does nothing but add to another running program. With dial-up, you need all the speed you can get. And having an additional running program isn't helpful. I've tried them all. Dr.Speed Suite etc.

 

i hate to disagree, but i've got dialup and i tried them all without hispeed and now i also have netzero hi speed. its no comparison to dsl, but if you cant get dsl or afford it than i will tell you from experience that netzero hispeed is a LOT faster than regular dialup.

 

Thanks everybody, especially you kelly p, I had my doubts that there would be much difference, but from what you say maybe he should switch. The fact that he is single and very active in the community keeps him away from home too much, he simply wouldn't use his notebook if he could only use it at home, so even if he gets dsl in his area, I doubt that it would be worth it. He knows NOTHING about computers and is very busy so I'm trying to make his transition into all of this a little easier.

 

yes, halo is right about downloads on hispeed being the same speed or slightly slower than regular dial-up, but everything else is much, much faster on hi speed. you just right-clik on the netzero logo and you can instantly turn off the hispeed for down-loads. also most of the time I just am after quick information and not to worried about picture quailty. however, if i need top-notch picture quality, i just simply right-click on the picture or pictures i want to view, and in a few (4-10 seconds, depending on size) i have high-quality pictures. especialy for serfing around the net, my hi-speed is about as good as my brother's dsl. EXAMPLE: when i log on to ELDER SCROLLS website, it comes up in about 8 or 10 seconds in hi-speed. when i turn hi speed off, it takes about 50 seconds to 1 minute. don't get me wrong, if i could get dsl i would, and plan to some-day, but for now i'm gonna have to stick with hi speed dial up. much better than regular speed only(remember you can turn it off or reduce the speed) and at $9.99/month it's worth a try.

 

Halo and Kelly pretty much covered it. Sorry I didn't explain it better. The AOL I have works pretty much the same way as the NetZero hi speed. And since I'm stuck with dial-up, that's why I still have AOL. Aughhhhhhh.
I WILL say, that the GOOD thing is, the graphics compression part. When you hit a webpage, the text loads almost immediately, then the graphics load gradually. So you can start reading the text, as you wait for pics to appear on the page, rather than seeing nothing till the whole page loads. The advantage to that is, if it's not the site you were looking for, you can "X" it off and try another site before all the graphics load. So you DO save time there.
But as I said before, as far as I know, when you install a dial-up ISP's software, it usually just modify's I.E a bit, and runs thru that. So any add-on caching program, is really just caching the same stuff I.E. already does.
I'm not sure how NetZero's program is, but I know with AOL I can turn the features on or off. And I run my AOL with the graphics compression option ON, the caching OFF, and the pop-up blocker ON. That seems to work the best for me.
Download speeds are the same no matter how you set anything.(as Halo said).
The biggest issue from what I've seen with the "web accellerator"(caching) part, is that it's another "running program". And with the nessessary Firewalls and Antivirus programs that we must run these days, the last thing we need is yet another running program.
I've messed around with all that stuff before, and gone to PcPitstop and run a full test on my machine. I found I get a "check running background programs" tip,and a "yellow flag" when I have the caching turned on. With the caching off, and the other stuff turned on, I get the ole "checkered flags" in all catagories.
So that's my 2 cents worth on the whole matter !! Of course, I stand corrected on any of this. hehe

 

I really appreciate all the info guys, BTW one reason that I advised him to not go with netzero hispeed was that it requires a 1 yr contract, and I thought he might find something better, but then again, I guess dialup is dialup, probably doesn't matter too much which service you use.

 

Ouch, paying for support sucks, unless it's a free ISP. (Nice catch Halo)

It sucks even more when the problem is at their end.

Personally, I'd be looking elsewhere, like another dial-up provider or see if there is a wireless ISP available.

 

Have you tried BasicISP.net? It does have an accelerator--it's under $10.00 a month with no yearly contract Whovian33

 

No, I haven't tried them, but I'll check them out, anybody ever try them?

 

Having been a dialup user for years, I'd recommend using a HOSTS file to prevent ads from loading. Every ad that shows on a web page requires bandwidth, and affects the speed at which a page loads. Forget the accelerator programs. Total waste of whatever.

 

What do you mean by a HOSTS File? I've been on cable for a few years now, and this stuff is mostly all foreign to me now.

 

I wouldn't recommend messing with the HOSTS file, it should stay default IMO. There are many other ways to block pop-ups such as pop-up blockers.