dial-up is slow

[jes]

I live in a very underpopulated part of Canada were there is no broadband Internet access (except for the really expensive ones) and have found a device on the Internet that claims to be able to speed up our connection by eliminating line noise. It is here (http://1click4store.com/min_019/turbonet/index.html) . I am wondering if anyone reading this also has it or has heard anything about this device.

[PrntRhd]

I don't know how you can get a 56K modem to run at five times that speed on a regular phone line.
:rolleyes:

[jes]

It says that the device reduces line noise so the signal is stronger. It is only $25, so it is worth trying. I was just wondering if anyone else had used this and what they thought of it.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Well if I were to try it, I would go to a site and measure my upload and download speeds, then install it and see if there is any difference.

If you DO get it, please let us know as a referrence for others. A couple of good sites to test your speed below:

Test site 1 (http://www.testmy.net/)

Test site 2 (http://www.abeltronica.com/velocimetro/pt/?idioma=uk&newlang=uk)

[altiv]

hmmmmm that was weird i went to your test sight 1 and i did the test atm i dont have high speed (not until another week ) and it said that i am running 300x faster than 56k and i can download a 1 meg file in .5 secs.LMAO I checked my connection speed and i was at 49k :(

[pop pop]

I'm sorry but I believe the physics just won't allow what is being claimed. Not exactly anyway. As far as I know, phone line bandwidth is capped at 56k. It just can't go any higher. That's why you haven't seen modems change since they hit 56k years ago. That being said, the data streams can be "packaged" differently to give more apparent speed. That's how some ISPs (Earthlink and others) can advertise "acclerators" that provide psuedo speed improvments. They're nominally about 5x. That's software acceleration, sleight of hand, the bandwidth is stll 56k.

[Paleo Pete]

I think the actual cap is at 53k, can't legally go any higher than that on phone lines according to the phone tech I asked. On the other end of the stick, most phone companies will tell you "too bad, not our problem" if you get slow connections, 14.4 is all they are required by law to support, for faxes. Bellsouth and GTE have both leaned on this one when I got slow connection speeds. So if you get at least 14.4 they can sit on their duffs and not care how slow your connection is, while at the same time advertising their "fast 56k Intenet" all over the phone book. :(

Irritates me to no end...

I have the same skeptical viewpoint as pop pop, I see customers' computers all the time with the so-called "accelerators" touted by Earthlink, Bellsouth and other such ilk, in some cases they actually perform slower than my trusty old USR V-Everything External on a Linux box with no help. It's just like the ventriloquist or the magician, once you learn the moves it's easy to fake anyone out...

[jes]

But, I live in Canada. I think that you live on the third rock from the sun in the US. The laws might be a bit different.
They say that this device eliminates line noise coming in from your phone line making the signal stronger. I am no electronics expert but this seems fine to me. Does it sound plausible to you?

[david eaton]

To be quite honest,as a former phone engineer, I don't believe it. If there is enough noise on the line that that can be remedied by this device, then there is enough noise to justify a complaint to the phone company, as voice calls would be affected too!
While it may improve signal to noise ratio ( perhaps) it could do nothing about corruption of data packets. Sorry, but the physics of line transmission are against it.

[PrntRhd]

Pete:
I think the actual cap is at 53k, can't legally go any higher than that on phone lines according to the phone tech I asked.

Absolutely correct, your modem has to leave enough for the Telcom's switch to be controlled.

Jes,
Most successful scams use a line with just enough truth to make you believe it. "Hey that might work".

Re web accelerators:
Web accelerators are simply caching some of the information on YOUR PC instead of downloading it each time, so it appears to be working quicker. They are providing the same speed service, are using your equipment for the cache, and then charge you more for the same slow service as before. Cute idea but why pay more for that?

[John0904]

For some reason, I couldn't load that page to see that line noise reducing device.

You can check this web site to see if it helps.
http://support.airmail.net/faq/faqmodem.php

I'd skip the first Q/A about the 56K/53K speed limit.
Since you live in Canada, it may be different from the States. I honestly don't know. Find it at: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/welcome.htm

But for argument sake, I'd just presume 53K is the phone speed limit there.

[altiv]

All i was trying to say is that the place i went to test my speed was wrong lol . I know that that type of speed can not be achieved on a 56k modem .. BUT what i did think that was weird is that I did the test like 5 times and it came back almost the same each time. So i was wondering why there website was messed up :)

[jes]

I got the item in the mail today. I went back to look at the Internet site that I found it at. The site is gone. I am afraid to install the device now.

[jes]

What could happen? Is there anyway to destroy the modem or the computer with a faulty piece of hardware? Could it make the information on the hard drive available to others?

[PrntRhd]

Unlikely it will damage anything, possible it may stop the connection but you can remove it if it does that.
Let us know if it actually speeds things up.
:)

[jes]

I have tried it twice, it just blocks all Internet access. Oh well. It was only $25.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Jes,
What's the thing called? I get services and software hits in Google but no devices per se. Is it a box or add-on card or just software? If it is, how does it hook up?

Are you going to disect it in Biology class?? :eek:

[jes]

It is just called a modem speed booster. It is a device with a male RJ-11 connector on one end and a female RJ-11 on the other. It goes between the wall and the modem. I may pull it appart. It has no skrews. It is glued together.

[jes]

How can Netscape Nitro (http://nitro.netscape.ca/about.php) work fastter? Is this one of the "different technologies" previously mentioned?

[jcnoernberg]

you seem like the type that just wants to believe what you want to believe, not the facts.... as everyone has stated before. You CANNOT use software of hardware for a couple of bucks to actually improve your signal/throughput speed. netscape nitro is just a software caching program, as explained earlier, no difference from all the others. you will goto a site, it will store all the items from that site, then when you goto it again, they wont have to be downloaded, so it will appear to load faster. why someone would pay monthly for such a service is beyond me. they are thriving off people's ignorance. you are already out $25.00 for not heeding the advice you asked for, so why not avoid losing that again every three months?

so what was inside that little coupler anyways?

[jes]

It was just a bunch of broken pieces once I got it open. It was really put together well. The didn't want anyone getting into it.

I use Mozilla Firefox for a browser. It allows me to adjust the size allowed for my cache. I could put it up to something like 5000 Kilobytes. Would that do the same thing as Netscape Nitro?

[pop pop]

Let's break this down again.

Software acceleration is sleight of hand. It seems like acceleration to you, but it's not. Netscape Nitro would be no different. The fact that it's trademarked, and therefore owned, by AOL gives me even more pause about that one.

The device you bought was a scam. As David already said, if it actually worked and removed noise, all that would do is remove noise. It would not and could not speed up the data packets. What it sounds like it did was remove everything. No wonder the web site disappeared.

To your question about the cache in FireFox...no, increasing the size there will not "add speed". Some pages will load faster because your PC already has them, nothing more.

So all this leaves you in a quandry jonesin' for broadband where there is none "except the expensive ones". Have you looked into DSL? That can be provided by the phone company (e.g., Verizon), is significantly cheaper than cable-type broadband, is pretty darned fast, and you can do a self install. The price differential here in the US is something like this: cable-type broadband is typically $40+ per month; DSL is typically $24.95. Cable is much faster, but DSL is not bad at all and significantly faster than traditional dialup.

Look into it.

[jes]

Unfortunately Canada doesn’t have the broadband coverage that the United States has. I have looked all over. I live in a very remote area.

What I was asking in my last question about Mozilla and Nitro was, “Is Nitro just a browser that allows a large space for cache?”

I know that I seem a bit dense sometimes. I just get it into my head that I want something and then have difficulty listening to anything that I don’t want to hear about it.

[jes]

What about the idea of using two modems and two phone lines. I believe that I got that to work a million years ago when I ran Windows 95. Is it possible with Windows XP?

[dlove]

Jes you have a modem! its not ever going to go faster no matter what you do , or buy. that is it...i went through the same thing then i gave up.

Have you tried shorter phone cords, is you phone line wire connected striaght to the phone box, is your modem up to date, have you checked for all updates for you comp, have you called your isp and ask them if there is anything that may help. Have you looked into a sattlelite. have you cleaned up your temp internet files. the last modem i had was when i bought my comp new, 6 yrs ago then it went bad. after that i installed a new one but it never was the same ..i think something happened to the mobo, some wierd cyber frying went on or something.... i feel your pain.

[PrntRhd]

dlove,
Jes found something that works:
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?p=242454#post242454

[jes]

Actually, it didn't work. Looks like I just have to wait for Wimax to get here.

[PrntRhd]

Ughh....................
Let me guess, no support from the ISP or telco?

[jes]

No. Wimax is the only cure, unless I pay for the hugely expensive satellite Internet. I was thinking that our savings from voip would justify the price but I found out that satellite has too much latency for voip.