I've made a couple of small changes that have greatly impoved my dial up surfing. One is FlashBlock which has already been talked about here:

http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/s...ad.php?t=12110

The newest impovement is that I quit using the software that the ISP provides and use manual dialing via "Dial-Up Networking" instead. The old way loaded all kinds of bandwidth eating crap like a toolbar and streaming news. Once you have a username, password and a number to dial you can use your software's dialer to connect quickly and directly which is much faster.

Now that all this extra junk is gone many sites load up as fast (or faster) at home on dialup as they do at work with a T-1 line!!! Amazing! I'm sooooo happy.

A few years ago I signed on with one of the cheap dialup services that use proprietary software. (No names, but initials are j.u.n.o.) Unfortunately, they leave you no choice; you have to use their software. I had wireless access to my roommate's cable internet connection at home, so the main reason for subscribing was to have internet access while traveling (and not pay the $10/day charged by hotels). After installing their software, my wireless connection stopped working. No amount of troubleshooting got it going again. The computer was fairly new and I still had free warranty phone support, but they couldn't figure it out. The ISP offered support via e-mail, live web chat (both free), or phone ($$). I tried the chat route, but it was extremely frustrating and also fruitless. (That and an unrelated issue with different software at about the same time convinced me of the futility of using web chat as a tech support medium. I can't see how software vendors think that communicating via a keyboard is more effective or efficient than voice. And I'm a pretty proficient typist. But I digress.) I even uninstalled the ISP software, still with no results. My final solution was to run the computer's restore CD. And find another dialup ISP that provides free phone support and doesn't require its own software.

Ever since, I've set up dialup connections as you have.

Jim

Lifetime fuel mileage:

After learning how to hypermile:

I think I can almost remember a day when you had to enter the numbers manually into "Dial Up Networking" and somehow forgot how to do that when the ISPs started including their own software. How do you remember setting up a modem years ago in the Windows 95 days?

Look into tweaking software for your connection.

I don't recall the details right now, but I downloaded some tweaking software and doubled the speed of my RoadRunner cable connection. I believe newer versions of Windows optimizes connections better these days.

I do some online gaming, and cable is the only way to go with that.

Harry