OnSpeed: anyone using it?

[Tafia]

Any of you folks installed OnSpeed yet.

For those who haven't heard, it boosts dial-up download speed by 5 times and broadband by three times. £1.99 per month.

Many computer mags are raving over it.

www.onspeed.com

Any thoughts?

Cheers

T

[Fer]

This weeks Sunday Times said:

Q: Internet speed-up products claim to improve dial-up rates by 10 times. Do they work? Peter Bunbury, Bristol A: Onspeed (www.onspeed.com), Propel (www.propel.com) and other so-called internet accelerators compress the web pages and images you receive so that you have less to download. My own experience with Onspeed suggests that the benefits are patchy, depending on which sites you access, and that image quality suffers on the fastest settings. While pages load more quickly, there can also be a discernible gap before loading starts, especially with sites you’re visiting for the first time. My advice? Save your money and invest in broadband. Prices are dropping, and it will revolutionise your surfing and your life.

HTH,
C

[JamieBeeston]

Its just caching and compression, you never get 'live' access to content, it always has to go via their proxy servers, means if they are down, so is your net..

Its just Snakeoil imho.. if you want cache, enable it in IE...

Or just upgrade your Internet connection...

HTH.

[stin hambo]

Not worth it... It basically compresses the text and graphics so you get blotchy pics etc...

Doesn't speed up downloads though.

You need broadband!

[agent006]

Caching is entirely pointless for a home connection. We use caching and compression at packet level on our long slow network links at work. Works really well there because of lots of people transferring the same sort of data all day.

[Tafia]

stin hambo said:

Not worth it... It basically compresses the text and graphics so you get blotchy pics etc... Doesn't speed up downloads though. You need broadband!

Interesting responses. I fear I am too far from the exchange to have a reliable broadband connection.

Local chap I know tried it but had to revert to dial-up. I think we have to be within 3 miles (?)of the exchange to be sure.

Cheers

T

[robdickinson]

Tafia said:

stin hambo said: Not worth it... It basically compresses the text and graphics so you get blotchy pics etc... Doesn't speed up downloads though. You need broadband! Interesting responses. I fear I am too far from the exchange to have a reliable broadband connection. Local chap I know tried it but had to revert to dial-up. I think we have to be within 3 miles (?)of the exchange to be sure. Cheers T

Techmology is always moving forward, and BT are pushing DSL distances all the time, not sure what there up to now but a while ago RADSL was past 7k.

[trooper1212]

robdickinson said:

Techmology is always moving forward, and BT are pushing DSL distances all the time, not sure what there up to now but a while ago RADSL was past 7k.

Hasn't it just been opened up fully, so the only limit is whether your line can take it rather than an arbitrary distance from the exchange?

[robdickinson]

Possibly, there is some test you can do to see if the line will work, measuresbackground db or something.

Details I assume will be on www.adslguide.org or something.

[stin hambo]

Tafia said:

stin hambo said: Not worth it... It basically compresses the text and graphics so you get blotchy pics etc... Doesn't speed up downloads though. You need broadband! Interesting responses. I fear I am too far from the exchange to have a reliable broadband connection. Local chap I know tried it but had to revert to dial-up. I think we have to be within 3 miles (?)of the exchange to be sure. Cheers T

If I remember correctly, BT can offer extended reach ADSL for up to 5 miles now...