How to Cope with a Dial-Up Connection

If you live in one of the 15 percent of American households that has a dial-up Internet connection, you might be annoyed with the longer page loading time, connection speeds and slower downloads. But, if you are going to have dial-up service for the foreseeable future, there are a few things you can do to help cope. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Research your providers. Not every company's dial-up connections are the same. Some companies offer features like pop-up blockers and web accelerators that will help you browse faster.
2. Avoid dealing with enormous files. If you want to email photos, format them into a smaller size so that they won't take as long to transfer. If you must download a big file using a dial-up connection, try to do so at night. There tends to be less Internet traffic at night, plus you won't be tying up you phone line for hours at a time. Some dial-up programs will allow you to select a "disconnect when finished" feature so that your computer will disconnect from the Internet when the file is done downloading.
3. Choose your software wisely. Certain browsers, for example, might load pages faster than others. You will also want to research which browser is best for the kind of Web surfing you do. For example, if you have an older computer, Opera might be your best bet because it places fewer requirements on your system. If you are an average user, Mozilla Firefox might be better for you.