dslreports logo
Accelerated Dialup
An after-thought

The Washington Post ran an OK article that compared some of 56k dialup acceleration products. Our past stories on accelerated dial-up can be seen here.

As we read the article, fair as it was, we realized there were a few things that perhaps should have been mentioned in addition to the negatives that were detailed (when comparing these products to broadband).

1. Dial-up acceleration, if it provides meaningful speed increases, is a fairly complex bit of software that attempts to cache pages closer to the user, and minimise the amount of connection setup and tear-down and multiple server contacts that normally occur when browsing the web. It also re-compresses images at low quality. This added complexity means that inevitably, there will be more things to go wrong. Is a site down, or slow, or corrupt? or is the dial-up acceleration mucking it up? how would one know?

2. Accelerator products may cache popular sites. But what about sites YOU use? benchmarks may compare the time to load the CNN home page, or yahoo, because they are so well known. But drill down on these sites, or move to others, and it would become unlikely that a convenient cache would be at hand for spectacular speed gains.

3. Accelerator products may be only good when newly launched. Early adopters always find fast relatively un-used infrastructure (the caching servers). How about later, when the number of subscribers rise?

4. Dynamic websites. Some of the most interesting websites are constructed on the fly or custom for the user. They are extremely unfriendly to caches, and will not work correctly if a cache attempts to get in the way. Removal of the ability to cache a page near the user will hobble the effectiveness of any web cache.

5. Secure connections. If you spend a fair amount of time signed on using banking or brokerage sites, you will be using the web over a secure, uncacheable connection. No product will speed this up.

If you have no broadband options, or no affordable ones, then by all means look into "accelerators", but be careful the product you are purchasing is not hype without substance, and steer clear of contracts without being absolutely sure any claimed speed gains are real, and apply to much of your online time.
view:
topics flat nest 
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

Different methods used for different programs

The image quality loss is a known issue with these services, but I was under the impression that if it was a good service that it wouldn't always cache information.

What I understood of it was they used a faster connection on their end to download your request, and compress it using a higher compression technique than used by current dial-up technology. If they rely on caching servers, then they are worthless...

I'm on standard dial-up myself using mppc compression, I would rather keep the quality than gain speed by ruining images, and be fed from an outdated cache.

justin
..needs sleep
Mod
join:1999-05-28
2031
Billion BiPAC 7800N
Apple AirPort Extreme (2011)

justin

Mod

Re: Different methods used for different programs

I only went by what the article implied:
quote:
Dial-up acceleration, with some differences among vendors, works by trying to bring the Web closer to the user. Instead of making you download all of a page from a remote Web server (except for whatever graphics files your own browser has already cached on your hard drive), dial-up acceleration systems use an intermediate server to store copies of popular pages.
perhaps this is not always the case. It may not be the case at all. Anyway, a site marked as "dont cache" will not be cached. And thats ok. It would be a terrible product if it ignored those instructions, web-caches like squid have been around forever.

If a server in your POP just and always fetches the remote page, including all the images, which it re-compresses, then sends you the data as one big stream (rather than a few different requests) then this will certainly make things faster even vs the normal compression that modems offer. Satellite users put up with the same kind of thing. But they also have their fair share of technical glitches with this.

Bagnon
Snoogans
join:2000-11-19
Hamilton, ON

Bagnon to BlitzenZeus

Member

to BlitzenZeus
Are there still people wasting money on dialup technology? It will be obosolete in the next decade.

Irun Man
Premium Member
join:2002-10-18
Millsboro, DE

Irun Man

Premium Member

Sad, but true...

said by Bagnon:
Are there still people wasting money on dialup technology? It will be obsolete in the next decade.

Unfortunately, the answer to that is yes. The suburban area I now live in (80 miles north of NYC, and a scant few miles from IBM's Poughkeepsie datacenter) had absolutely NO consumer broadband service until one year ago; at that time, cable went live. Three months later DSL was available.

There's still a lot of folks in the USA who can only DREAM about broadband until the technology comes their way. Until that day, they're stuck on dial-up, and a local call POP if they're lucky!
[text was edited by author 2003-09-23 07:01:44]

terrywin
join:2003-08-28
Hillsboro, MO

terrywin

Member

Sad, but sad...

It's sad I still can't get DSL/Cable.
greywolf520
That's All Folks
join:2003-06-02
New Kensington, PA

greywolf520

Member

Re: Sad, but sad...

said by terrywin:
It's sad I still can't get DSL/Cable.
Don't worry, your not alone.

It's even worse since I had DSL when I lived with my parents the went to cable when I moved into my apartment and now have nothing because I live in a broadband black hole.

You never realized how slow dial up is until you lose broadband.

About the dial up accelerators... They kinda of help. I have a problem with the quality of my phone line that doesn't even get me to near 56K. (more like 28.8) Since Verizon only guarentees voice over the phone lines, they won't do anything about it. The accelerator from NetZero help in gaining back some of the speed but it's still no broadband.

technick
Premium Member
join:2000-12-16
Wheat Ridge, CO

technick

Premium Member

Re: Sad, but sad...

I had the same problem a long time time ago when living at home. The fastest I could connect was 26.4, and no matter how many times I called Bellsouth, it wouldn't get faster. I recently visited my parent's house, and plugged in the phone line to my laptop, and as I did 5 years ago, I connected, and it connected at 53k. I think it has to do with your local junction box or something.

I remember reading some where that the FCC requires telco's to provide atleast 28.8k phone quality lines. Though I don't remember where it was, it could have been just someone babling about the FCC.

tele_guy
@198.214.x.x

tele_guy

Anon

Re: Sad, but sad...

Your telephone company was most likely using a type of "pair gain" system which by design can only provide about a 24-27k connection. Since you can connect at close to 56k , outside facilities must have been replaced with straight copper.

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

RadioDoc to technick

to technick
said by technick:
I remember reading some where that the FCC requires telco's to provide atleast 28.8k phone quality lines. Though I don't remember where it was, it could have been just someone babling about the FCC.
The FCC only requires that fax and especially RTTY (terminals for deaf users) work, and that only requires 1200 bps. Most telcos will get you at least to 9.6-14.4 kbps as a minimum though depending on the local state regulatory requirements.

borv
Onemhz On Aim
join:2000-10-06
Astoria, NY

borv

Member

id get something else

wow i cant even think about using dial-up.
id get a fractional T1 if I had to, and get a second job to pay for it

Glaice
Brutal Video Vault
Premium Member
join:2002-10-01
North Babylon, NY

Glaice

Premium Member

What a joke

Once 56k, always 56K speeds. Jeez, if cable/DSL is available in your area, GET IT!
robpegoraro
join:2003-08-14
Washington, DC

1 recommendation

robpegoraro

Member

Post writer replies

To clear up a couple of things in Justin's post:

"Accelerator products may cache popular sites..." Could be, but about half of the 8 sites I tried would probably rank pretty low on AOL's popular-sites list (e.g., waba.org, activewin.com, washingtondc.gov).

"Accelerator products may be only good when newly launched...." AOL's had its acceleration option available for almost two months now, which should be enough time for the servers to either stand up or fall down under the load.

"Secure connections...." Good point. But most financial sites tend to be lighter on the graphics anyway. It's usually the news and entertainment sites that are the worst offenders.

On that note: One thing this whole test reminded me of is that the best "acceleration" is done when the page is authored--when authors ought to be optimizing their graphics and HTML to speed up the page for everybody, regardless of connect speed.

- R

chrisf8657
join:2002-01-27
Glendale, AZ

chrisf8657

Member

Right...

I feel that the companies marketing these "Accelerators" are misleading consumers...the advertisements show the pages loading like Broadband connections, and it is far from the truth...the best I think an accelerator could do would be a page appearing like on 128K ISDN...

Varangian
join:2002-12-08
Collinsville, IL

Varangian

Member

Test Drive Possible

I want to believe it..but can I test it without buying a whole year's worth?
How close is it to Opera with the images turned off?
hroo772
Darkness Fears Me
Premium Member
join:2002-04-05
Mclean, VA

hroo772

Premium Member

Have you seen that netzero commercial?

Have you seen that netzero commercial? I think that is the biggest lie ever. They show two computers plugged into normal phone jacks and one with normal dial up and the other with there netzero "highspeed". When they showed the pages loading the one on the left is regular dial up which did look like normal dial up loading times. But the netzero dialup was showing pages faster then most people on a standard 1.5 mbps could get. Those kind of commercials should be taken off of the air. I wish they wouldn't keep tricking grandmas into getting such a bogus service.

NwkEWR
Spare Me the Marxist B.S.
Premium Member
join:2002-04-10
Newark, NJ

NwkEWR

Premium Member

Re: Have you seen that netzero commercial?

said by hroo772:
Have you seen that netzero commercial? I think that is the biggest lie ever. They show two computers plugged into normal phone jacks and one with normal dial up and the other with there netzero "highspeed". When they showed the pages loading the one on the left is regular dial up which did look like normal dial up loading times. But the netzero dialup was showing pages faster then most people on a standard 1.5 mbps could get. Those kind of commercials should be taken off of the air. I wish they wouldn't keep tricking grandmas into getting such a bogus service.

I haven't seen the Netzero commercial, but I have seen the one from Earthlink and, coming from that company, it does not surprise me, in all fairness, I must mention that it's been quite awhile since I have heard from anyone that uses it as their ISP, a buddy of mine had switched to it from Erols a few years ago and during the trial period, he became so fed up with its mail server problems, as well as, what he characterized as "practically non existent customer support", that he decided not to sign up for the service, fortunately for him, OOL became available in his town at the same time that his Earthlink trial period was about to expire.

Concerning Netzero, which is now a joint venture with Juno and trades under the "United Online" corporate name, it's disappointing to hear that such a commercial is being aired for them, especially when it wasn't that long ago that their respective slogans were "Netzero, Defenders of the Free World" and "Choose Juno, Because e-mail was Meant to be Free".
rader4096
join:2002-01-21
Spokane, WA

rader4096

Member

Ads to be removed

They should also remove the Satellite internet ads, AOL and all the others that promise high-speed bandwidth like cable ,DSL or Tx, but work off of a burst data transfer principle. These are the ones that get my goat.

I routinely hookup networks for home users that "Just got satellite an want it on all computers". Then they gripe about the speed not being as fast as the DSL/Cable/Tx that they were led to believe.

Problem is that the sales staff and marketing engine don't explain the difference between the "feel" of different broadband connections til the sale is done and the complaints start up. Then it's up to us little guys to take the brunt of the gripes.

Just my two cents...

Randy
gpancner
join:2001-09-27
Nine Mile Falls, WA

gpancner

Member

Re: Ads to be removed

it's hard to believe anyone would pay for satellite internet - it is really a rip-off!
Sierrra_matt
join:2002-06-21
Soulsbyville, CA

Sierrra_matt

Member

Re: Ads to be removed

said by gpancner:
it's hard to believe anyone would pay for satellite internet - it is really a rip-off!
I'm not sure that I would agree that Satellite is a complete rip-off. I have had Starband for 2 years now, and consistently get downloads around 500kbps, uploads around 96kbps. My connection is much more reliable than the wireless provider is town, even in the winter with snow problems. If you can get cable or DSL - then do it, but satellite is a viable option if you cannot. The key to satellite installations is the installer. If they do their job right, you'll likely have an ok connection. Yes there are issues with satellite - it's not for gaming, people have had legitimate problems, and it's not for the weak of heart, but I live in the Sierra Nevada foothills and it's the better of two evils.

JMHO.