i was just curious if anyone knew how NetZero is supposidly providing a dial-up connection that is 10x faster than a typical 56k without using any kind of new hardware? im not interested in getting NetZero cause i already have broadband, but everytime i see that commercial where they have the two computers set up next to eachother i wonder how they do it. (i was thinking they just have the "faster" PC loading all those pages from cache to fool people haha)

From what I understand they use programing that changes picture quality so it takes less time to download......I am far from sure though.

They probably use a proxy server that caches more stuff on their end.

NetZero uses technology developed by SlipStream for their Hi-Speed service. It speeds up HTML, markup, and JavaScript, and 'accelerates' graphics. It does not increase download speeds however.

The SlipStream technology (through a patented proprietary data compression algorithm) compresses, optimizes, and streamlines web content.

Here is some info I found at their site http://www.slipstreamdata.com/sp.html:

==


System Overview

The SlipStream Accelerator Server retrieves data from the requested external web server using a high-speed Internet connection, then compresses and optimizes the content for the last mile trip. The Accelerator Server optimizes the traffic over the HTTP, POP3 and SMTP protocols.

http://www.slipstreamdata.com/images/sp_features.jpg

Most often, the Accelerator Server is located at the service provider's location, but with extensive testing it has been determined that even when Accelerator Servers are located in remote areas, great improvements in performance are still possible. This allows users to achieve dramatic acceleration even when they are not dialed into their own ISP locally. The SlipStream platform is comprised of two components: a scalable, high-performance, configurable content acceleration server and a lightweight client software application. These two components communicate over an accelerated bandwidth channel, resulting in significant performance gains and bandwidth requirement reduction.

==

Hmmm... looks nice, but for $10 a month more DSL looks a lot nicer :-D

I have the NetZero HS and it is not what I thought it was. The 'high speed' only applies to pictures, links and text. It DOES NOT apply to downloads or anything that requires alot of bandwith. So, it looks like the web is faster, but only on things that you are looking at. ALSO, when you get the software and use it fo rhte first time, the pictures come out blurry! Not a good thing. You will have to adjust the settings. And the more defined you make a picture, the slower the connection.

Another thing is the price. It might say that it is only 14.99, but that is what it is per month and you have to pay 6 MONTHS IN ADVANCE.
The way that I see it, when my 6 months are up, I am ging to the $10 program. Still cheaper and the same stinkin speed.

they do tell you that if you read the fine print bluedos.

always good to read

Isn't that similar to AOL's .ART images? It alters any .gif or .jpeg that an AOL user sees on the www into a low quality compressed .ART format. It can be manually enabled/disabled via the AOL preferences.

Something like that. And yes, we did read the fine print. We thought that it might be worth a shot, but so far, we are not impresssed. I would not advise anyone to get it unless you have a decent dial up line. Ours... well, we live out in the middle of BFE and it is just bad.