Fast PC, Money to spend on good connection but 56k

[Pitspawn]

I'm getting very annoyed with my Internet connection. I have spent days on end finding information on how to improve my internet connection.

I live in the UK. At the moment, the UK is like >90% 56k connection. Most people who live in the UK dont dialup at 53333 either. They dialup at less than 28800bps because of low quality copper lines.

I have spent a fortune upgrading my internet connection to get some decent speed. I am getting no-where. I would happily pay >£50 per month for any form of broadband. But there is nothing but 56k.

Here are all the types of broadband I've tried and failed...

64k & 128k ISDN - Phone line too poor
ADSL - Too far from exchange
Cable - Not in area for a year
Wireless - Too expensive to install, and bad pings
Satelite - Too many applicants

Here is what I have spent money on to get a better 56k connection...

Upgraded ISP to Better one (£12.99 per month)
Upgraded Modem to Zoom V92 Internal (£50)
Upgraded Phone Line to fiber optic (£9.99 per month)
Upgraded Modem yet again (£89.99)

The thing that annoys me is that I upgraded the modem to the external version of the modem I bought and my ping has gone up by 50-60ms!!!!!!!!!

The external has an on-board controller as well as an on-board DSP. It doesnt make sense that the External is slower.

Im gonna return it to get a Diamond Supra Express 56e PRO External. Everyone goes on about them. I might as well give them a try.

Anything to get my friggin 56k to run faster. If only I could get broadband. If only.

[Warlord2]

the only thing I could think of is getting about 3+ 56k modems and bond all the IP for 3+ times you 56k speed...........

either that or satalite

haha or I think there is this satalite connecting that is just like a T1=]

very expensive though

[mbigna]

Warlord2 is onto something.

Though, I think you need Windows 98SE or ME to use modem bonding [I don't know for sure if XP supports it]. You must also find an ISP that supports it (some don't allow multiple logins on a single account).

Satellite is definitely another option. I would imagine you wonderful Brits have it available over there as well. Keep in mind that you will still need a modem for uploads. Downstream speed is excellent, but high latency (great for surfing, but forget interactive gaming).

[Pitspawn]

I've tried modem bonding. Its fast but really expensive. The connection isnt as stable as a single connection.

I dont want to bother with applying for satellite because Im interested in latency. I play games and 56k pings suck. The satellite ping would be pretty much the same.

I am going to wait for cable to come in my area. I've just ordered a Diamond Supra Express 56e PRO. I doubt the ping will be as good as my internal Zoom, but it supports shotgun :)

[rugby]

I am in the same boat. I live in a Chicago suburbs and north and south of me have broadband options up the yin-yang yet I can't get anything. Literally I'm 19,000 ft from the CO and cannot get dsl of any sort. I can drive 5 minutes north and get cable modems, satellite cannot reach my townhouse and nobody seems to want the business of my town.

Sheesh. There's so much money around me it's sickening with 1,000 townhouses and more being built every day. Re-building of crappy old subdivisions and putting up $500,000 homes and there's no bloody internet access!

P.S. I live in Glendale Heights

[josh_mac01]

what??/ satellite cannot reach your townhouse ???

i would think u can get satalite pretty much anywhere

[mbigna]

Originally posted by josh_mac01
what??/ satellite cannot reach your townhouse ???

i would think u can get satalite pretty much anywhere Not if you have buildings or heavy trees in the way. Satellite stinks anyway. You still have to upload via a phone line and latency is through the roof.

[Pitspawn]

Well I've found out some more information about the Internet connections available to me. I retried R/ADSL after having work done on my line. Unfortunately I still failed, that was the 3rd time :(

Now Im getting Home Highway (ISDN) installed on my line. My line quality is fine, I got mixed up. ISDN has a 10km range so Im very safe there.

When I do get ISDN, I will finally be able to play local servers at sub 100 pings, and will even be able to play on US servers with a good ping.

[mbigna]

Originally posted by Pitspawn
The external has an on-board controller as well as an on-board DSP. It doesnt make sense that the External is slower.

Im gonna return it to get a Diamond Supra Express 56e PRO External. Everyone goes on about them. I might as well give them a try.

Anything to get my friggin 56k to run faster. If only I could get broadband. If only. Actually, that DOES make sense. Modems without controllers or DSP's offload that work onto the CPU and this generally slows everything down. These are usually referred to as 'winmodems.' USRobotics makes the only internal modem I know with its own controller. It used to be called 'Gaming Modem' (or something like that), but now I think its simply called their 'Performance' model. I went checking on this thing and found that it does V.90, but is not yet upgradable to the new V.92 standard.

I think ALL external modems have onboard controllers because they will work with any computer (even Macs) that has a serial port.