Home General Chat
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

I Need Help Speeding Up My Internet Connection!!!

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
<IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0" ALT="icon"> Does Anyone know how to speed up an internet connection? mine should connect at 56k but it only connects at about 35k-40k. Can anyone help me? <IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Why don't you just get broadband?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    56K is an "ideal" connection speed. In reality due to inteference you will never get a speed faster than 48K, and many times it will be around 38-45K.
    Your only option if you want a fast connection is to get broadband. My connection has a minimum of 512K but when downloading from certain sites it is sometimes 50% faster. I have a download speed of about 120K a second. Compared to 4K a second on 56K.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What is BROADBAND??? <IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0" ALT="icon"> <IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0" ALT="icon"> <IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by lovingflamesofme:
    <STRONG>What is BROADBAND??? <IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0" ALT="icon"> <IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0" ALT="icon"> <IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0" ALT="icon"></STRONG>

    Cable modem. You can get a connection from NTL, BT, Telewest, Blue Yonder.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    how much will broadband cost?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    25 quid a month from NTL
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    NTL offer a 128K connection for £15 a month, although they don't seem to advertise it much - probably cos they want you to buy the 512K link. Works fine for me.

    MXH
  • the_Paranoid_bunnythe_Paranoid_bunny Posts: 487 Listening Ear
    ntl is the answer to this question, in a number of ways.

    right now I have a 600k cable modem connection with them, and it is sweeeet.. but when i was using a dial-up with my ntl phone line, i was consistently connecting at 52k. i put this down to their super high-quality fibre optic cables as opposed to BT's antiquated copper cable network.

    if you're not in an area served by ntl, then you don't have much choice at the moment. you could get ADSL from BT, if you don't mind paying £40 a month for an inferior service :S
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ADSL Lines.. They are good don't get me wrong, but then preformance is based on how near you are situated towards the telephone exchange providing the service (well thats the way it works out here) and I'm bitter cause my island doesn't have ADSL yet, well theres a small group of us looking into setting up a wireless ADSL ISP on the island, with unlimited bandwidth...

    Myself, I'm on a Satallite connection for downloading and its like lightning, only sad thing is I have a bandwidth of 2gig a month to lock me on downloading software and shite, other sad thing being my uploads still go through a 56k...

    Speeding up your 56k connection, a nice easy thing to try to start off with:

    1) You can speed up your Internet connection by simply changing the port speed of your computer. Go to System Properties, Device Manager, Ports, and then choose the com port that you've installed your modem on. Go to the Port Settings tab, and choose 115200.

    2) Overclocking Your Modem using tweaks - http://www.webnovice.com/dec00/modemoverclock.htm

    3) Make sure you have the latest modem drivers and stuff from the manufacturer

    4) Try using something like Download Accelerator, it works by opening up several network connections to download files. I use this myself and it certainly improves the speed by quite a bit, its also get a re-start facility so if you get disconnected you can begin where you left off...

    Have a go with those and let us know how you get on... <IMG SRC="smile.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And something I stumbled upon for all you broadband junkies:
    http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/

    Happy Tweaking! <IMG SRC="tongue.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    what speed s your computer??? this sometimes makes a difference... are you using a hardwar modem (one that has its own processor built on) or a software modem (that needs the information taken from the modem put into your computer for decoding)?? the hardware ones are faster, i used to have a software one in my old 450mhz computer but when i got my 1.9ghz computer i got hardware modem and now my internet is shit hot at only 56k, well only usually 40 due to old phone line!

    Blade
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Justin Credible:
    <STRONG> only sad thing is I have a bandwidth of 2gig a month to lock me on downloading software and shite,</STRONG>

    Unlucky, Just finished moving the master jack and installing my ADSL line a couple of days ago, already downloaded 5 gigs of data....
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Day_Walker:
    <STRONG>what speed s your computer??? this sometimes makes a difference... are you using a hardwar modem (one that has its own processor built on) or a software modem (that needs the information taken from the modem put into your computer for decoding)?? the hardware ones are faster, i used to have a software one in my old 450mhz computer but when i got my 1.9ghz computer i got hardware modem and now my internet is shit hot at only 56k, well only usually 40 due to old phone line!

    Blade</STRONG>


    please tell me how 56K can be described as "shit hot"??? Maybe just shit....

    the only workable option for a decent connection speed is to get broadband.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    there is a lot of somewhat misleading information on here

    first of all - speeding up a 56k modem connection...

    if your modem is UART compatible (if its an interior modem don't even bother trying to find out) then you can increase the bps allowed through the port by windows. this can be done through the control panel, instead of limiting it to 11500 or whatever it is. get x-setup, from xteq.com to play with some variables

    also, using the above piece of software you can speed up each of your COM ports on your comp

    the spec of your PC makes a negligible difference to your net connection on a modem, or even broadband, in this day and age. admittedly if you had a 486 then you'd be lacking in processing power

    if you have a lot of wire going to your telephone line, from your computer, this will mean a slower connection. try getting the most direct route possible

    if you ring BT and ask them to increase or lower the gain on your telephone line, you can play with those settings to see if you get a better connection

    next - it is possible to get speeds of around 52000bps on a 56k modem. whoever said it was not higher than 48000bps probs hasn't found a way to get it higher

    however around 44000 is normal. freeserve and other ISPs have modems that can only usually dish it out for you to get around 44-48000bps as a connection.

    you may also be connecting at 35000bps but in fact you get a better connection after a few mins, your computer wouldn't update that

    broadband is great if:

    it's available in your area
    you have the cash
    you're willing to put up with the crappy service BT offer
    you're lucky enough to have cable in your area and can get ntl... but then you need an ntl phone line (IIRC, don't quote me on that)

    you could get an ISDN line, which is basically a digital modem line. not broadband, but quicker than a modem... not sure how much they cost but they're being faded out. they're 64k lines, 128k if you get two.

    you can get 128k, 512k, 1Mb and 2Mb lines for broadband for home/business use. i doubt you'd be getting a leased line though ;o)

    ADSL performance *shouldn't* be how close you are to the router in the exchange. ive also never heard of you being charged for bandwidth, unless yo're hosting a site with a company

    satellite... um... with a 2gig limit? not worth the money or hassle

    latas

    md
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    cable and adsl are good
    isdn is expensive
    OC-48 backbone...hehe...few thousand a month...but very fast...
Sign In or Register to comment.