How to speed up dial up Internet

Topics

Best dial up internet access providers

Make dial up faster

Accelerators for dial up

Internet browsing

Remove cookies on a computer

How to block flash video

Best browser for dial up

Dealing with malware

Types of modem

Controller based modem

Dial up external modems

PCI data fax soft modem

When considering how to speed up dial up Internet I think we all
assume the place to start is by increasing the connection speed at the modem. I've spent alot of time searching the Internet for ways to make my modem faster. Sometimes it isn't possible to increase dial up modem speed above what you have currently. I've discovered modems are only one factor of many that can adversely effect dial up speed.

There are several simple free ways to speed up dial up Internet browsing that are commonly overlooked. Also, there is a huge difference between a faster modem and faster Internet. Take a look at the suggestions below. If you don't have local access to DSL or broadband, these tips can help you deal with slow dial up networking regardless of the modem connection speed.

1. DO NOT frequently clear your browsers cache. There is alot of information on the Internet that claims clearing the browser cache will make dial up faster, and thats wrong. The whole point of having a browser cache is to speed up dial up Internet browsing. Clearing the cache often will actually slow down Internet browsing speed until the cache is built up again.

2. Stop flash video from playing when arriving at a website. Flash video files are normally large. They take a very long time to download on a slow dial up connection. All popular browsers have add-on software available, or can be configured to disable flash player video. You can also uninstall adobe flash video player completely from your computer.

3. Be sure you have high speed internet included on your dial up Internet access providers account. High speed dial up costs approximately $5/month extra on average. I pay $10/month at BasicISP, that includes high speed dial up. Beware of Internet service providers who promise dial up speeds equaling DSL. Accelerated dial up does not increase download speed.

4.    Use a browser other than microsoft Internet Explorer. Unfortunately over time Internet Explorer has been the target of many malware and virus programs, as was Outlook express. Using other free Internet browsers such as Firefox, Opera, Safari or Google Chrome, will inherently lessen the likelihood of downloading malware.

5.   If you choose a browser that isnt prone to viruses or malware, there won't be a need for anti virus programs to be running constantly scanning for viruses, so turn it off. Anti virus programs running in real time use alot of resources. Turning it off will make your computer run faster and speed up dial up Internet as well.

6.   Download a free malware removal program. You're much more likely to download malware than a virus, they are different. Anti malware programs are much smaller than anti virus programs, and will be less problematic to download and update over dial up networking. Malwarebytes is one of the best, free anti malware programs available.

7.   If your dial up connection speed is 33.6k or less, its very possible your house in wired to a repeater. Phone signals will weaken as they travel over phone lines. A repeater will amplify a weak phone signal. Once amplified, it can be split to service additional distant residences such as in a rural area. This phone network architecture will decrease a dial up connection markedly lower than 56k speed.

8.    Avoid using email clients like outlook express. Instead register for a free web based
email account at Yahoo or Google (Gmail). Malware uses email clients to travel around
and infect other computers. Web based email is scanned for Malware free, then stored
on remote computer servers. Just another tactic to avoid Malware and viruses altogether.

9. Download a computer system cleaning tool. These are free programs that remove the
normal junk (e.g. tracking cookies) collected while surfing the internet. Removing cookies
on a computer regularly will speed up dial up internet. Computer cleaning tools will also remove temporary Internet files, clean up your computers registry. Some computer cleaning tools even optimize your dial up settings. Computer cleaning tools do not remove malware or viruses.

10. Close file sharing programs (e.g. Limewire) when you are not using them. Nothing eats up bandwidth faster than a dozen people simultaneously downloading files from your computer. A file sharing program can configure itself to run when your computer boots up. If you don't need it to do this, go to the file sharing programs settings and change it to prevent the program from loading on computer startup. A forgotten file sharing program will drastically make dial up slow.

As you can see all the tips shown above are free to try. Though this website was intended to aid dial up Internet users, much of the the information provided here can be applied to any Internet connection....DSL, Cable, Satellite...etc. It takes some prior set up to speed up dial up internet, but you'll surprised how quick and stable browsing the web via dial up networking can be.