dial up internet

kc

bazza i am not happy with these guys, no closer to getting a refund as i emailed them and they have not responded.

I dont like it that the speed test page they give you seems the only place it works faster for me. Will you test your speed at http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp and tell me whether there is any difference with onspeed enabled or not?

Savvy_Sue

I am so glad this discussion is here, as I was about to ask about Onspeed following an email from UKfrenzy which mentioned them.

However I find it difficult to follow all the tecnical stuff. So if I ask a simple question (with a bit of background), please could someone try to give me a simple answer?

I work for a small charity; we have 6 networked computers, still on dial-up and probably having to stay that way. (Our phones are with Telewest and unless I can convince them to give us a domestic connection their cheapest business Broadband connection is far more than what we spend on dialup.)

We use the internet for surfing the web for information useful to our work, especially in relation to fundraising! Those of us with Broadband at home find this really clunky, and end up doing serious research at home. We're never going to set up our own webpage or offer services online.

So, is this compression software likely to radically increase the speed of our surfing? Or do I have to 'suck it and see'?

Waiting with bated breath to see which side the jury comes down on ...

Galstonian

I'm afraid suck it and see is the answer on this. It will tend to do better on web surfing than on file downloads like MP3 etc.. but whether it is significant enough is another matter.

Do you really get no concessions for being a charity? Is telewest the only phone provider?

Tim_L

Time taken for general web surfing is more likely to be limited by the response speed of the site than the download time for the html pages, which I think by the discussion above have been more or less shown to be the major (perhaps only) compressible item. They are in fact a fairly small proportion of the items transferred in any given internet session. Graphics are much more significant (and in many situations this problem is overcome by browser caching in any case).

Bear in mind too that everything has to be channelled through one server site at onspeed, which is another bottleneck - this will get worse the more users that are connected.

This system is being pitched directly as an alternative to broadband. It isn't.

Ra

I am so glad this discussion is here, as I was about to ask about Onspeed following an email from UKfrenzy which mentioned them.

However I find it difficult to follow all the tecnical stuff. So if I ask a simple question (with a bit of background), please could someone try to give me a simple answer?  :)

I work for a small charity; we have 6 networked computers, still on dial-up and probably having to stay that way. (Our phones are with Telewest and unless I can convince them to give us a domestic connection their cheapest business Broadband connection is far more than what we spend on dialup.)

We use the internet for surfing the web for information useful to our work, especially in relation to fundraising! Those of us with Broadband at home find this really clunky, and end up doing serious research at home. We're never going to set up our own webpage or offer services online.

So, is this compression software likely to radically increase the speed of our surfing? Or do I have to 'suck it and see'?

Waiting with bated breath to see which side the jury comes down on ...

Hi Sue,

Have you considered looking at getting a 1Meg Broadband connection (about £30/month) and then networking all of you PCs through that?

This means you would have one broadband connection of 1 meg divided by 6 pcs which, if you were all online at the same time, would still give you each a connection that is about three times as fast as dial up.

Regarding the rest of this thread, sanssouci and Gal clearly know what they are talking about and based on my reading of the subjects too i cant help but agree with the points made.

Savvy_Sue

Thanks for responses.

Galstonian, I'll feel a lot happier 'sucking it and seeing' when / if I hear that kc has had his money back! Mind you £27.99 is not a lot of money, even our Treasurer would agree so I may just do that.

As for phone providers, when we wanted to link our phone lines (4) to make it possible to transfer calls from one desk to another it seemed to be a choice between Telewest and BT, and TW offered the best and most cost-effective solution for doing this.

As for the cost of Broadband, the official TW response is that there is no concession for being a charity: I haven't yet phoned them for a discussion about whether they'd reduce it if I was otherwise going to return to BT.

My understanding is that most Bband providers work through a BT socket, and can't connect to Telewest. If anyone knows different I'd be glad to hear it! We do still have a non-live BT socket in the building so as a last resort I could investigate getting that made live again, but would that effectively double the monthly cost of Bband?

Ra, yes when we finally get Broadband we will probably opt for one connection and all go through it, although some Bband providers- and I think TW is one - seem to quote difference prices for one machine or for several. Which suggests that you're not really supposed to do that, and we try to be legal in the way we work.

I know, I need to phone TW and haggle! It would be so much easier if only people didn't keep phoning ME when I'm at work ;D

monomer

Hmmm... I'd be concerned about online privacy.

I think this system works with certain 'approved' browsers (like Internet Explorer - which I don't use personally) with more browsers supposedly being included in the future. Since I don't know the company from a bar of soap and as most of my web-browsing will be going through their servers, I suppose there's nothing stopping them tracking surfing habits and such?

Perhaps I'm just being too paranoid?

kc

hmmm

I sent an email after a couple of days to cancel but have had no responce.........

Phoned them today to be told some !!!!!! and bull story about the system for refunds being down and it will be in my bank tommorow, all this off the cuff without even asking who i was! think i have been had on this one considering the onspeed product produced no visable difference with my web browsing.

TREVORCOLMAN

I am in no way an expert (more like a novice) but I agree that the speed of your modem must limit the speed that you can download stuff!?


Trev

Galstonian

Of course your modem will limit the speed of what you download. This product is about changing what you download.

An analogy is required I think: Ikea. They keep costs down because they (and subsequently you if you buy some) don't transport lots of pre-built furniture. The trucks aren't bigger, its just that they hold more because some work has to be done when the furniture is delivered.

By compressing data at either end of the connection onspeed (and other technologies) can result in improved speeds but only if the total time for transporting and rebuilding the data is less than just getting the data in a usable condition (this is unfortunately where Ikea can fall down as well)