What is the Upload Speed of Dial Up Service?
Dial-up Internet service was the original for most Americans to connect to the Internet during the 1990s and into the first part of the 21st century before broadband connections became widely available. Due to the underlying technology that dial-up Internet service is based on, there is no universal guaranteed upload or download speed that can be quoted for all locations. The Federal Communications Commission defined a maximum speed that dial up was limited to back in 1996, curbing dial-up connections to 53Kbps (KiloBits per second) on a single line.
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History
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The public use of the Internet began in the mid-1990s, having grown from its roots as a military/industrial communications research tool. Before this time, a BBS system existed that was accessed using 1,200-baud modems that were later made obsolete by the 2,400-baud standard. As the Internet started becoming more popular, the 14.4Kbps modem was introduced followed in quick succession with the 28.8, the 33.6, and, finally, the 56K standard.
Technology
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A modem is a device that allows for computers to communication with each other across the standard telephone network. The acronym modem stands for Modulator-Demodulator that describes the process of taking digital data, translating it to an analog signal that can be piped through the telephone network over a telephone call and then reversing that analog stream back into the digital format that computers use.
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Telephone Network
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The telephone network, technically referred to as PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), is made up of copper wires that carry voice and data streams. It should be noted that the legacy copper plant is being replaced with fiber optic cabling, but when the entire network will be upgraded to fiber optics remains unknown, if it is ever completed. With respect to modem technology, one fact needs to be kept in mind--the farther the customer is from the telephone company's central office, or switching office, the slower the modem will connect at to pass data. Add to that fact that a fair portion of the copper wiring deployed in the United States has been on the utility poles for decades and that its condition has been degraded to understand why a dial-up connection is a rural location might be less than optimal.
Speed Tests
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Several sites that provide speed tests where you can get a reasonable estimate of what your upload and download speeds are at any given moment. As a recommendation, perform several iteration of the speed test at different times throughout the day, record the results and see if you notice any difference. If you see a pattern where your speeds are consistently higher on Sunday at 3 a.m. as compared to Friday at 4:30 p.m., your problem might be with your ISP as opposed to the dial-up technology.
Shotgun Modems
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If you search Ebay, you might be able to find a shotgun modem setup. These modems bond two-dial up connections together to double throughput speeds. This technology requires two telephone lines and two separate dial-up accounts from your ISP or from two different ISPs.
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