What are you guys doin to help with your internet connection speed?

[KDOG]

Right now, Im using Download Accelarator Plus, and IntelliDial-up and that's it. I can tell a difference, but not much. I can still only get 26.4 and its like bleh, and DSL is not available in my area!!! AAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!

 

[HannibalX]

You could get a big spool of Cat5 cable and walk to your cable company, then ask them to plug it in their router, heh.

 

[Electric Amish]

I feel your pain, KDog. I'm in the same boat....

amish

 

[pm]

I definitely know what this is like.

1. Quadruple-check that nothing is available in your area. I live in Fort Collins, CO, and once I worked out that I was out of DSL range, I thought I was doomed. It turns out that after I'd researched a little that 256K microwave and IDSL were both available in my neighborhood for reasonable rates and I never knew it. Check the area report section of www.dslreports.com and ask around your town.

2. You could try modem-bonding (multiple modems tied together). Phone your ISP and ask if they do it. If not find someone who does.

3. Consider ISDN. It's expensive, but it's 5X faster than your current connection (128kb/s). It's available in most places.

4. Phone your telco and ask about leased line rates. Seriously. It depends entirely on how much money you want to throw at this, but you can get leased lines for a lot cheaper than you could even two years ago. They are below $200/month in some areas. The equipment cost is high (>$600) but on the plus side you will have a real T1 connection, really low latency, and can brag about it to any of your geek friends. Also if you can find a neighbor or two, you could set up a local network with your neighbors and split the cost. Where there's a will...

5. Wait. By winter we should have broadband satellite, and by next summer high speed wireless should start really taking off using the cellphone network. The latencies will suck on both, but bandwidth should be high.