O/T Dial up speed help?!

[Stu]

Guys i know i'm still in the prehistoric ages with little old dialup connection at the mo, but the past two weeks my BT pay-as-you-go dial up has been soooo painfully slow, e.g a 1 and a half to two mins for a page my connection is usually at 34,000bps. Is there anything i can do to speed things up?(apart from broadband which is in the pipeline 4 next year) I'm not very computer literate, but should i clear some files out?? cheers for anything Stu.

[Jason]

Depends on what operating system and browser but presuming you are running Windows and Internet Explorer - open Internet Explorer, select Tools from the top menu bar, then Internet Oprions and then click on Delete Files. Tick the box to delete all offline content and that will delete your cached internet files etc which may make a dirrerence if only web sites are slow but everything else is fine (mail, news etc).

If your puter is running fine on all other applications etc then it is probably your connection - call BT and see if they can help.

Also worth having a look at how much hard disk space you have left - opne my computer, right click on the c drive, select properties and it will show you - sometimes that can cause a major slowdown. Finally, run Disk Defragmenter (its under accessories) - make sure nothing else is running before you start it including anti virus or even a screensaver and that may also make a difference.

BTW the bps figure means diddly squat - my brother can only connect at a reported speed of 32000bps but his download speeds are much better than my parents whose modem / ISP reports 48000bps.

Hope this is of some help!

Jason

[buttsie]

Further to what Jason has said you might have some spyware or adware programs on your computer which would slow down your speed


They usually come with anything you download these days..even stuff from paysites

Get Adaware from or

I run it after any downloads

Another option for a minimal improvement is which stops adverts before they appear on a page....previously posted by Joe King 30/10/02


cheers
B...OZ

[mike johnson]

Did you by chance install any new hardware 2 weeks ago?? If so, you may have an IRQ conflict. To check this, go to Start/Run & type in msinfo.exe or msinfo32.exe & from the resulting window click the + sign by Hardware Resources & click IRQ's to get a list.
What is your connection rate now BTW??
Also, if you have a "real" modem, try checking the port speed; try going to Control Panel/System & open Device Mgr..Click the + sign at "Ports (Com & LPT)".Choose the port for your modem & click Properties.Click Port Settings & set the bps to 115,200.(Win98/ME)(If you have a Winmodem,this likely won't help much.)But it may be your ISP or even your phone lines.

My 56k dial-up (10 bucks/mo.) is usually at 48,333 but for some reason tonight is at 50,666, about as good as you can do methinks.

Buttsie is right about Ad-aware, great utility for surfers.

[Hugh Jampton]

I did the thing and clicked on "Conflicts/Sharing"

Shows that 4 things are sharing IRQ 11, my modem ( I know what that is! ) a LAN adaptor ( I'm not on a network but use W2K Pro anyway ) a Cardbus controller and a 1394 Host controller - whatever they are.

I thought sharing was a nice thing to do, but my internet access speed is pretty slow too - is the stuff shown here a sign of a problem?

[joe king]

my modems on irq 3

[buttsie]

Without being an expert I'd say yes

One line runs both ways..in and out...


What programs are you sharing your files with?

cheers
B...OZ

[mike johnson]

1394 is a Firewire device I think. my modem is on IRQ 5 but I don't have more than 2 devices sharing the same IRQ.
Try going back to Control Panel & & double-click Modems icon.Click Diagnostics & then Com & then More Info & see if you get an error message.
Something else you might try is going back to Device Mgr. & clicking the + at modem & then dble clicking modem & click Connection from the top tabs.Also you might try going to Control panel & dble click Modems & click Properties then Connection & Port Settings & see if you can move the sliders to the right. This may adversely affect your connection viability tho.

[mike johnson]

Oh-please note that I am no expert & take what I say w/ a large grain of salt--but, AFAIK, the best way to resolve an IRQ conflict is simply to move the modem (or one of the other devices) to an empty PCI slot, where a new IRQ will be assigned. The computer should recognize it automatically. If you aren't handy around PC's, you might ought to call your vendor or a repair shop to do this; I would. (PC's are easy to fry w/ just a bit of static electricity for one thing.)

[joe king]

check modem cable/telephone line

use troubleshooter in help
(start menu/help, go to index - put in modems, then select troubleshooting)

Might need to reinstall modem or get a better one.