Meaningless in that it is not the same at all times. I've been to sites
that check your connection (mostly it's for broadband but dial up is
accurate) and the difference in what it says on your dialer and what
it actually is will amaze you.
I live in an area where a reasonable broadband connection is not
available, so try to do most of my surfing at work where we have a
direct T1 connection.
Even that becomes a little sluggish at times, due to site traffic.

Sue Clark

On 5 Apr 2004 at 0:02,  David Grossman wrote:

> Very interesting. So, in practical terms, the modem speed listed on the
> dialer is meaningless? David Grossman

> > I've found the same situation....fast connection, sluggish response and
> > vice versa. The best I can tell you is that the modem speed you see in
> > the task bar is what you *connected* at, for example 44000 kbs. This is
> > not a "static" connection, in that it remains the same speed at all
> > times. With others dialing in, sharing the bandwidth your ISP has, it
> > changes, sometimes dramatically. Another factor of course, is internet
> > traffic in general, which may produce sluggish results on a highly
> > visited site. There are shareware applications to check your internet
> > speed, but I've always found them a little useless. Best thing is to
> > note the times when speeds slow down (like after work, lunchtime, after
> > supper hour), and try not to dial in at that time.

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