How to Speed Up Dial-up Connection

A dial-up connection uses a telephone line for Internet connection. The computer or router uses a device called modem which is connected to the telephone line, uses this connection to dial into an Internet Service Provider's (ISP) modem to establish a node-to-node connection, where the former node is the user's modem and the latter node is the ISP's modem.

In remote places where broadband services are unavailable, people have to rely on this dail-up connection.

A router is used when a single Internet connection is shared by many computer terminals i.e. all of them are connected to the router and the router routes the data packets meant for a particular computer exactly to that terminal. Now, a modem when connected to the computer terminal, enables the access to the Internet, via phone line or cable.

Conceptually, the modern modems allow a speed of 56 kbps (kilobit per second). Nevertheless, factors like noise in the telephone line can affect the speed of the connection considerably, rendering an actual speed of 40 kbps - 50 kbps.

It will give worst performance in noisy areas, especially if the telephone line has shared users. In such a case, the speed can reduce to as low as 20 kbps. Sometimes, inefficient connection infrastructure can cause the dial-up to slow down.

• Check if your modem is properly installed or not. If you think something is wrong, uninstall the entire setup and re-install by reading the manual instructions carefully. If you cannot do so, call a professional to check the connections.

• If you have a test program, follow the manual guidelines and test the connection. If you are not provided with the testing software, call your ISP for testing the connections.

• Plug a phone set into the phone line that you are using for the dial-up connection to check for noise. If there is too much noise, call the telephone company technician to examine the reason for the same. The noise can be due to faulty or damaged telephone wires used for connecting the computer to the phone line or the phone line to the telephone pole.

• Another reason for noise due to damaged telephone lines can be sharing of your phone line without your knowledge.
• Use the latest basic software for your modem device to obtain added and effective performance.
• Set your Internet connection speed to maximum by going to the Control Panel - Modems - Properties.

The time delay or latency of the dial-up connection generally prevents the users from using online applications that feature considerable speed requirements. Online games are the best examples of such applications since, the advanced graphics options that are included in these games need high speeds for streaming data.

Same logic applies for playing high quality videos and for video conferencing too.
Sometimes just managing the computer memory well can improve the speed of the connection. Defragment the computer's logical drives once in a while. The space that frees up can add speed to the overall performance.

Scanning the computer with an antivirus software can help to eliminate computer viruses that enter the system through web pages. This will enhance the performance further. Many such small steps can enhance the capacity of the computer to a significant extent and can help to upgrade your Internet connection speed.