Hi David,

With a dial-up connection the difference in the speeds you're getting is
negligible and is about average. 46 Kbps is good. You'll never attain the 56
Kbps limit of the modem.

There are many factors that come into play when you talk about speed of
surfing the Web. Things like bandwidth and the amount of traffic to a
particular site, the design of the site itself, the time of day, etc., all
come into the picture. Even with a broadband connection you can experience
the same thing, but to a lesser degree.

Many ISPs now offer a "High Speed" dial-up surfing experience, for a slight
fee, of course. All it amounts to is compressed graphics, etc. on a Web site
so it loads faster. There is no increase in your connection speed. The fine
print should say something to the effect: "... it does not increase the
transmission speed of files or attachments, including music or video".

I hope this has been informative...

Sven Swanson, Sr.

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Grossman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 6:15 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Modem speed

I'm confused about modem speed.

I have a dial-up connection that ranges from about 34 to 46 Kbps. That speed
seems to have no bearing on the actual speed that I can surf the Web, or the
speed that I can upload or download e-mail.

On some days when the connection is supposedly slow, I can work very
quickly. On some days when the connection is supposedly fast, the computer
seems sluggish.

Is there another factor that governs the speed of Internet activity? If so,
what is the meaning of the modem speed?

David Grossman

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