Accelerated Dial Up Internet Service

I know, I know . . . dial up. Not really a hot topic for Internet service any longer. There are really only two reasons left for consumers to even consider using dial up: 1) when there is just no broadband available, and 2) when they want to save money. However, that second reason isn't as valid as it used to be as the price of entry-level broadband plans have come down.

In recent years, many DSL and cable providers began offering basic broadband plans that cost between $14.95 to $24.95 per month. This is actually comparable to the cost of most dial up Internet providers, and it is actually cheaper than many of the premium dial up services.

Also, since you can usually get a lower price when you bundle your broadband plan together with your phone or television service, it makes it that much more attractive to get basic DSL or cable, even it is the slowest plan they offer. These economy plans will range from 384 Kbps to

So, if you are still using dial up Internet service because it's cheap, you should check into some of the low cost offers you can currently get with either DSL Internet or Cable Internet. The best

Although dial up Internet has been in decline, many people still use it in rural areas or just to save a little money. The good news for people using dial up Internet is that you can get an accellerated form of dial up which speeds up your Web browser downloads.

How Fast Is Dial Up Internet?

The maximum speed of a dial up Internet connection is 56 Kbps. The truth is that this speed is actually limited to around 53 Kbps due to FCC regulations having to do with line noise, but since the speeds listed for most dial up modems is 56 Kbps, most people just say "56k" for simplicity.

Since a dial up Internet connection relies on copper phone lines (the same lines used for standard phone service), dial up speed will always be limited by the bandwidth of those phone lines. Most studies of dial up download speeds point to about 48 Kbps as the actual maximum download speed you can expect from a dial up connection. If you want to go faster than this, you'll need to sign up for some form of broadband.

It is possible to use certain types of download accelerator technologies to make your dial up downloads function more efficiently, but the speeds will never truly exceed 48 kilobytes per second (Kbps). What these services actually do is to compress, cache, and filter data so that certain types of downloads (mainly HTML & graphics) take much less time.

Is Dial Up Internet Service Your Only Option?

As of early 2011, around 10% of Americans are still using a dial up Internet service. If you live in a rural portion of the U.S., you do have two options for high speed Internet:

The first is EV-DO, which is Wireless Internet Service provided by Sprint and Verizon. EV-DO is nearly nationwide and has speeds several times faster than dial up. The main downside is that you will be limited to only 5 GB in bandwidth per month, which means that wireless is only a good choice if you occasionally browse the Web and check email. It is not for heavy use.

The second alternative to dial up is using is Satellite Internet Providers. This is going to be a costly option with many inherent problems, but if you live far away from any population centers, then it may be your only choice for broadband in your home.

In order to be 100% sure what type of Internet service is available to your home, you can use our free form which checks for ISPs by address and/or phone number:

Save Money On Verizon Internet / TV / Phone Bundles - Call 1-877-476-0648

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Richard Lee Thomason
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If you'd like to compare other forms of High Speed Internet, such as DSL and cable, with dial up Internet providers, then please return to our home page.