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    internet accelerators

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Sharon, Feb 8, 2004.

  1. Sharon

    Sharon Notebook Enthusiast

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    My ISP (dial-up) is offering an internet accelerator which is supposed to make surfing five times faster. Are there any known glitches with these products? I have my machine w/Windows XP working just fine now. It'd be nice to surf a little faster though. In our area broadband and alternatives are just too expensive. this seems like a reasonalble substitute. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with the accelerators?
     
    Sharon, Feb 8, 2004
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  2. Brian

    Brian Working at 486 Speed NBR Reviewer

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    I'm not sure who you are talking about, but many of these programs work by the ISP using server side software to compress web images and cache some of the data. Who are you talking about?

    Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com
     
    Brian, Feb 8, 2004
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  3. Andrew Baxter

    Andrew Baxter -

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    5 times? That sounds like a pie-in-the-sky type of offer. There's no software program you can install on your own machine that "speeds up" the internet by that amount, your bandwidth is the main factor in determining how fast you can receive data...if you're on a modem the fastest you'll usually be able to go is 56.6 kbps, if you need faster then you'll need broadband or some clever server side software (as Brian says) that caches data and compresses it before sending it down the wire to you (meaning it fits more images and html in less space and point from which it sends it is closer). I'd ask for a free trial with any such promotion before actually committing.
     
    Andrew Baxter, Feb 8, 2004
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  4. Sharon

    Sharon Notebook Enthusiast

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    My ISP is not one of the biggies. I think its fairly local. (I think just in western PA.) Here is what they say the accelerator speeds up:
    "everything that's Web-based. You'll see an improvement in load times for:
    All text, HTML, markup, and JavaScript
    Most graphics and photos—including JPEG and GIF files
    Most banner ads—including animated GIF images and Macromedia Flash content
    All browser-based emails
    All emails that contain images, even when you view them in an email program on your computer (rather than Web Mail)
    MP3 files, executables, and other files (when downloaded using your Web browser)
    The speed of your dial-up service will stay the same when it comes to:
    Streaming media, audio, and video files
    Secure pages—like the ones used for online banking and shopping
    Files downloaded using FTP (rather than your browser)"

    There is a free trial. I just don't want to create problems by downloading the free trial.

    <blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Brian

    I'm not sure who you are talking about, but many of these programs work by the ISP using server side software to compress web images and cache some of the data. Who are you talking about?

    Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com
    <hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2015
    Sharon, Feb 9, 2004
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  5. Brian

    Brian Working at 486 Speed NBR Reviewer

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    You won't have any problems with the trial, but you won't get 5 times better speed either. They are certainly doing server side comrpession, they may also be reducing the quality of images transmitted. In either event, try it out before you buy!

    Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com
     
    Brian, Feb 9, 2004
    #5