High-speed dial-up providers are able to speed up traditional dial-up internet connections by up to 5 times normal speeds through techniques like file compression, caching, and utilizing acceleration servers to reduce handshake times between the user's computer and websites. Tests showed that original page load times were reduced by over 50% for many popular sites and cached page loads were even faster when using a high-speed dial-up connection compared to a traditional dial-up internet connection. If advances in these technologies continue, dial-up internet access may remain viable for some users for the foreseeable future.

1. Introduction
• The average file size for Web content is getting larger and larger.
• Your connection might be getting slower.
• New technology offers a solution to the slow-down that doesn't
necessitate broadband.
• Services such as NetZero and EarthLink are now offering "high-speed
dial-up".
• You can get connection speeds that are 5 times faster than
traditional dial-up service.
• The handshake protocol is the conversation that allows data to be
sent to and from your computer using the Internet.
• There are modem handshakes and software handshakes that occur
in this process.

2. Acceleration Servers
High-speed dial-up providers have cut down on this back-and-forth
Creating a system that allows the conversing machines to remember
responses to questions.
The increase in speed can reduce the handshake by up to 50 percent
in some cases.
~Clever ways to open up that bottleneck~
By loading special software into a server, they turn it into what they
call an acceleration server.
By sandwiching the acceleration server into the chain between your
dial-up connection and the Web.
Speed up

3. File Compression
• Lossless compression.
Once they are uncompressed, files such as text return to their
original state.
• Lossy compression
When photos and graphics files are uncompressed, they have
lost some of the original data in the process.
The acceleration server compresses the text on the fly and sends it
down your modem line.
text will compress at least 50 percent using on-the-fly techniques
For image files, the acceleration server reads the image from the Web
site and recompresses it to reduce its size.
the image file size shrinks anywhere from 50 percent to 90 percent
in the process

4. Filtering and Caching
• Ads such as pop-up advertising take up valuable bandwidth,
slowing down the transmission of data to your machine.
To combat
• High-speed dial-up providers have bundled a pop-up blocker
into the software they send to subscribers.
• The first time your browser loads a Web page, it has to load
the entire thing, along with all of the images it displays.
• the browser saves the images and text for the second time.
Caching
• Server-side caching…it saves time by eliminating redundant requests
• Client-side caching…Internet browsers like Explorer or Netscape are
made to cache frequently viewed pages to cut down on load times

5. The Bottom Line
the Web with both normal and high-speed dial-up connections
to test the difference in speed.
With Dial-Up With High Speed Dial-Up
Original Load Original Load Cached Load
Web Page Web Page
Time (seconds) Time (seconds) Time (seconds)
Amazon.com 49.29 Amazon.com 39.05 14.05
If advances that a clever
CNN.com 72.4 CNN.com 32.57 9.32
combination of fairly
Ebay.com 57.68 Ebay.com 40.38 34.2 straightforward technologies
Google.com 8.08 Google.com 3.15 1.65 continue, dial-up may be
Google search Google search
here to stay for quite a while.
10.45 9 7.42
(100 results) (100 results)
HowStuffWork HowStuffWork
92.3 31.78 18.7
s.com s.com
NetZero.com 33.26 NetZero.com 16.29 10.53
Yahoo.com 26.81 Yahoo.com 12.51 7.1

6. Lots More Information
• Related HowStuffWorks Articles
How Telephones Work
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/telephone.htm
How Modems Work
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/modem.htm
How WiFi Works
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wireless-network.htm
• More Great Links
High Speed Internet Access Guide
http://www.high-speed-internet-access-guide.com/