Speeding Up My Connection

[Latindancer]

I have a laptop ( Windows 7 ) with a wireless connection, using an Edge modem. Although the modem is supposed to handle a connection speed of up to 450 kbps, in reality it is quite slow. Using the Thaivisa speedtest it's between 80 and 145 kbps.......though it SEEMS like 56 k or much less, sometimes.

I have seen a few "modem boosters" or "download boosters" which utilize different means to do so. Could someone suggest one which they may have found success with in the same or similar setup ?

My internet service provider is AIS / GSM. It couldn't be them, could it ?

[hml367]

Make sure your modem settings are set to EDGE only if that is what you are using, or 3G only if that is what you are using.

If the modem is set to automatically select which network to connect to, it can easily jump between servers.

MSPain

[2008bangkok]

All these boosters that claim to boost your speed in my opinion are a load of crap, at best some of them may make your browsing speed a little bit better but none of them will give you better speeds for downloading.

The claim that edge can provide 450 kpps are very unusual and not normal mainstream speeds, you would have to be practically on next to the cell tower to even think about them speeds.

Around 100 is normal for any edge..in short its <deleted> and should only be used for emergency browsing and email pick up..

I hear hutch have just released there 3g upgrade via a USB dongle its advertised all over BKK that might be your way forward if you need mobile or cannot get anything else

[Latindancer]

The claim that edge can provide 450 kpps are very unusual and not normal mainstream speeds, you would have to be practically on next to the cell tower to even think about them speeds.

Actually, I AM right next to a cell phone tower ! It's on the top of my building, only about 10 meters away

The thing is, my speed seems similar to my old 56 k dialup back in Oz.....very poor.

Erm......how do I set my modem to Edge only ? I'm a bit of a novice, but not completely.

[hml367]

Hello.

I can use AIS EDGE far past Mae Jo and consistently get 200 kb download.

In the modem interface, under Tools, there is a Network option. Set that to whichever it shows that would be EDGE only. For my AIS accounts that would be GSM ONLY.

Regarding towers: I believe the number of users connected through a particular tower would affect the signal strength to each user.

MSPain

The claim that edge can provide 450 kpps are very unusual and not normal mainstream speeds, you would have to be practically on next to the cell tower to even think about them speeds.

Actually, I AM right next to a cell phone tower ! It's on the top of my building, only about 10 meters away

The thing is, my speed seems similar to my old 56 k dialup back in Oz.....very poor.

Erm......how do I set my modem to Edge only ? I'm a bit of a novice, but not completely.

[hml367]

I almost forgot.... another big factor is if your antennae (in the modem) is near something that absorbs or blocks the radio signal. I moved my modem about 3 feet and increased my signal, consistency, and speed dramatically.

MSPain

[monty]

The 473.6 kbps which is advertised on the modem is possible, but the local phone companies don't allow it. They limit the theoretical top speed to exactly half that (236.8 kbps) so they can have more users online without overloading their cell towers.

You get assigned what they call slots, with each slot capable of 59,2 kbps. Edge allows for maximum 8 simultaneous slots, but the local phone companies only give you 4 (hence, 4 X 59.2 = 236.8 kbps)

The actual speed you will get depends on the signal strength (lower signal strength reduces the attainable speed per slot), and more importantly, on how many people are connected to the same cell tower as you. Both voice calls and internet users!

As the GSM system is primarily a phone system, it will always give priority to voice calls. So if more people start making phone calls, your maximum speed will drop with 59.2 kbps for each slot they take away from you (which they then use to support the extra phone calls).

Where I live (outside the city, so not to many phone calls) speeds are relatively stable at between 150 and 200 kbps.

The programs claiming to speed up your "connection" won't help much (if at all) on actual data transfer speeds, but there are services (subscription) which for example reduce the quality of all the graphics on a page, so much less data has to be transmitted to get you the complete website (albeit at lower image quality).

Another thing affecting your browsing experience is latency. Which in layman's terms is the reaction time of the system, i.e. how long it takes between you sending a request, and the system starts sending the data you requested. This reaction time on most mobile internet systems is much slower then on dial up, hence the feeling everything is sluggish.

Download one big file will come in much faster then on dial up, 100 kbps is more then double the speed already, so downloading an MP3 will take between 2 and 4 times less time then on dial up...

[Latindancer]

Thanks folks ! You're champions ! Now I understand.....it's a combination of slotting and latency. That also explains why the speed test results would vary.I'll change my modem settings as described.

I must confess that I'm completely ignorant about 3G.......would it speed things up in my situation ?