What
is Web Acceleration?
Web Acceleration is a technology that improves web-surfing
by increasing download performance over normal telephone
lines. It provides a dramatic improvement in web-surfing
speed, which is especially important for dialup users
who either don’t have access to DSL service, or
don’t want to pay the higher price for such service.
Customers surfing the ‘net with this new technology
will find web pages download up to five times faster than
using traditional dialup.
How
does it work? The Accelerator utilizes caching
and compression to speed the delivery of web pages to the
browser on your computer. Caching, or storing—in this
case, on a compression server—reduces the time spent
waiting for the web content to be relayed from the web host
to the browser. Compression reduces the amount of data transferred
over the data connection, most importantly the last section
of the connection, which is the modem and telephone lines
that represent the final, and slowest, link to the customer.
An optional feature of the Accelerator software is the ability
to block annoying “pop-up” ads. This feature
further improves performance by avoiding the download of
unwanted content.
How
fast is it? Using the Accelerator, a dialup connection
that regularly averages 48,000 bits per second—a typical
download speed using a 56K modem—may see data rates
equivalent to as much as 240K. This speed is comparable
to what many DSL users average with connections costing
more than twice as much.
What
do I need to make it work? Because the Accelerator
works by caching on its own server, and by compressing the
data before sending it to a customer’s computer over
standard telephone lines through a normal dialup modem connection,
it does not require any new hardware. It also works anywhere
telephone service is available, with no distance limitations.
It does require a small amount of software, which can be
downloaded for free in just a few minutes. To download the
Windows version of the accelerator software, click here.
To download the Macintosh OSX version of this software,
click here. Once this process is complete, simply open the
file you downloaded; the Windows version will automatically
install itself at that point while the Macintosh version
will create a "virtual disk image" on your desktop
(just open this icon and launch the installer inside).
How
much does it cost? Best of all, the incremental
price of this new service, above the normal cost of dialup
access, is only $4.00 per month, making the full cost of
high-speed Internet service from Interisland.net only $26.00
monthly, or $266 per year (with prepayment discounts).
How
do I sign up? Just call The Computer Place at 378-8488
to request the service (anytime between 9am and 5pm weekdays,
or 10am and 4pm on Saturday). Web Acceleration is available
to everyone in San Juan County; in fact, you don't even
have to be an Interisland.net customer. When you call, we’ll
be happy to explain the process and set up your account
for acceleration. Soon you’ll be zooming around the
web and wondering how you ever lived without it!
