• Comcast Internet
• Verizon Online DSL
• Time Warner Cable
• AT&T DSL Service
• NetZero HiSpeed
• Copper.net HiSpeed

Sponsored Links

High Speed Topics

• Quick Comparison
• Informative Articles
• Glossary of Terms
• DSL vs Cable
• Connection Test
• Student Guide

Related Resources

• Dialup Connections
• DSL Connections
• Cable / Broadband
• Satellite Connections
• Wireless Information
• Telecom Industry

Home > Dialup Internet > How Fast Is Dial Up?

How Fast Is Dial Up?

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 dial up Internet access 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 Internet connection. If you want to go faster than this, you'll need either DSL or Cable.

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 (such as NetZero HiSpeed) actually do is to compress, cache, and filter data so that certain downloads take much less time. This technology has satisfied many current dial up Internet users, but as Internet content continues to grow larger and larger in file size, "high speed" dial up Internet accelerators are making less and less of a difference when compared to actual broadband Internet access.

It is important to note that when you read of DSL and Cable providers claiming their service is 70 or 140 times faster than dial up, you should check the small print. It will typically say that those claims are based on a 28 Kbps dial up modem, which is an older modem that is almost completely obsolete. The truth is (as of December 2006) that a typical 1.5 Mbps DSL connection would be roughly 30 times faster than 56 Kbps dial up. As for cable, a standard residential cable Internet account will typically operate at around 5.0 Mbps downstream, which is around 100 times faster than a 56 kbps dial up modem.

The fact remains that while DSL and Cable technologies continue to reach new limits of speed, your dial up connection will always be limited to a maximum speed of 48 Kbps.

	More Articles About Dial Up Internet		Common Questions About Dial Up
	Review Of Fast Dial Up Internet Offers		What Causes Dial Up To Be Slow?
	When Dial Up Is Still A Good Choice		How Fast Is Dial Up?
	Common Internet Connection Problems		What Is A Dialup Modem?
	Avoiding Long Distance Access Charges		What Is Broadband vs Dial Up?
	The Evolution Of Dialup Internet		Can I Get Free Dial Up Service?

To compare accelerated dial up service with broadband cable and high speed DSL, return to our main Dial Up Internet Access overview page.