Dial Up Questions

Gooberman

Gooberman

Active Member
As some know i'm stuck with dialup for awhile and I just got a few questions

1.) Why is dial up limited to 56 KB/s Download and 2-5 KB/s Upload?
2.) How to I prevent lagging out of games (Halo 1 1-4 peeps Empire Earth 2 and other RTS games)
3.) Who invented Dial Up.
4.) How can I make it go faster without multi Link? :)
 
The answer to all your answers is GET BROADBAND. i was stuck with dial-up for years and was close to homicide. the i got broadband and all my trobles went away. Seriously its not worth it it may seem cheaper but the time you leave it on its not ;D
 
I live in rural area! it's this or Satellite which no way in hell my mom will get
(I some how got free Dialup :D) Yes It's really pissing me off
It disconnects for no reasons alot and the max KB/s I got out of upload was 10 KB/s (Which kicks ass for Dial up)
 
Gooberman said:
As some know i'm stuck with dialup for awhile and I just got a few questions

1.) Why is dial up limited to 56 KB/s Download and 2-5 KB/s Upload?
2.) How to I prevent lagging out of games (Halo 1 1-4 peeps Empire Earth 2 and other RTS games)
3.) Who invented Dial Up.
4.) How can I make it go faster without multi Link? :)
Click to expand...

1) First the rating is actually 56kb/s (Kilo-bits not bytes a second), so technically it is limited to 7KB/s max (yes, Kilo-bytes this time). But, there is also TCP/IP overhead to consider. Thus you will never really reach that 7KB/s throughput.

This limitation is brought about by the frequency bandwidth limitations of that particular technology over POTS lines.


2) You will forever face this problem with a dialup connection on modern games that require higher throughput. And, you will also never see ping times very low. 250ms and less on a dial-up connection is considered great.

3) Modem technology evolved way back in the 1950's as part of the US defense network. It's related to how all of what we call the internet today began. The first commercial modem was developed by AT&T (Bell 103) back in 1962. The modem that you recognize today was invented by Dennis Hayes (hence Hayes-Compatible modems) and Dale Hetherington in 1977.

4) You don't. The 56kb/s limit is a physical limit of the technology. That is the maximum throughput available on that technology. You can use compression techniques to speed the transfer of compressable material, but that compressed data stream can only travel up to that maximum of 56kb/s. Also, depending on the condition of your POTS lines and how many analog-digital conversions occur between you and the phone company, you will very seldom even connect at that speed (at least with any stability).
 
Since your mom won't let you get Broadband you could subscribe to Verizon (or other phone companies) who offer wireless internet, they usually give you the adapter free with a subscription.
 
gtk30 said:
I think GPRS or EDGE is better than DialUp, you can get it on your cellphone anywhere you live.
Click to expand...

JTM said:
Since your mom won't let you get Broadband you could subscribe to Verizon (or other phone companies) who offer wireless internet, they usually give you the adapter free with a subscription.
Click to expand...
Cellular broadband would probably be a better alternative, but only if you get good-great coverage in your area, if you are only getting 1-2 bars then speeds and latency will probably be worse then dial-up.

GPRS max speed of 114Kbps
EDGE max speed of 236Kbps (latency can be as low as 150ms or less even)
3G has a max speed ranging around 14Mbps, although usually I've found it to be between 1-3Mbps on my iPhone, and latency is almost always under 200-250ms.

Random note, at work right now I just tested the speed on 3G with 4/5 bars and I got a max download speed of 1Mbps, 286Kbps upload, and 197ms latency.
 
Last edited:
One more note on GPRS/EDGE. The data stream you get over those is not steady. You will get data packets in bursts. Latency can be horribly inconsistent and will get much worse (along with overall speed) as the signal drops and the error rates rise.

I used a 3G cell service as my sole internet service for a while a few years back. It works very well for web-browsing, email checking, and light-moderate usage. It will be faster than dial-up in most cases, but it never worked very well for me with games. The best data rates I have seen were in well covered metropolitan areas.

Land-line systems are much better if you can get them as all radio based services (Cellular, Satellite, and to a much lesser extent WiFi) suffer from higher latency and packet loss. That doesn't mean that youcan'tget great wireless service though. Make sure to check the coverage in your area before committing.

Edit: I have gotten 3Mb/s (down) and sub 100ms pings before (barely) but not often in my area. Your biggest bottleneck will be on the weak upload speeds.
 
Last edited:
I can get between 1-4 bars with Nextel and my sister can get 1-5 bars with Alltel Just depends on where i'm standing If i was to get G3 (Probably won't unless I get some money :D) If I was to place the reciever somewhere I get 3-4 bars with the phone I'll get a faster connection?

I wish someone around me would get a T1 line and split it with all of us that would be great :) (isn't T1 1.5 MB/s?) I've actually learned why it costs so much though :)
 
Gooberman said:
I can get between 1-4 bars with Nextel and my sister can get 1-5 bars with Alltel Just depends on where i'm standing If i was to get G3 (Probably won't unless I get some money :D) If I was to place the reciever somewhere I get 3-4 bars with the phone I'll get a faster connection?

I wish someone around me would get a T1 line and split it with all of us that would be great :) (isn't T1 1.5 MB/s?) I've actually learned why it costs so much though :)
Click to expand...

A T1 line is 1.5Mb/s (Mega-bits - not Bytes). 1MB/s is equivalent to 8Mb/s (note the capital "B" for Bytes and the lowercase "b" for bits).

You can get cellular repeaters that will significantly boost your reception in a weak area. They are basically a standalone transceiver that has a much more powerful radio than your cell phone does. AT&T is also offering a cellular-over-broadband solution. This will enable folks with a broadband connection, but no cell service at their house (and an AT&T account) to send and receive phone calls on their AT&T cell phones.
 
Grr everyone tells me MB instead of Mb that makes me mad :( like someone from a game said they had 20 MB/s DSL xD
(I have AT&T phone service :D)
 
Gooberman said:
Grr everyone tells me MB instead of Mb that makes me mad :( like someone from a game said they had 20 MB/s DSL xD
(I have AT&T phone service :D)
Click to expand...

They probably mean 20Mega-bit then. There are only a few places in the world that offer anything close to a 20Mega-byte residential service. The US is not one of them.

Since you have AT&T service, you should check with them for G3 coverage in your area and what it would cost to tether your phone to your computer, or to get a card (better option).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top