Internet Surfing Made Faster with Web Accelerators?

A web accelerator is technically any service that will speed up the performance of your dial-up Internet access. Web accelerators are becoming more and more popular as a way to surf the internet at faster speeds without subscribing to a more expensive DSL or broadband service.

How Does an Accelerator Work?

1. Maximizing Your Cache Settings - copies of sites you visit are saved on your computer.
2. Re-routing Your Browser to a "Mirror Site" - a copy of a site saved on a closer server.
3. Pop-up Filtering - blocking Pop-up windows and automatic webpage redirects.
4. Compressing Images - removing finer details of images to make them load faster.

Should I Use an Accelerator?

Many ISP providers including AOL, MSN, AT&T, Qwest and Earthlink, now offer Accelerator Services to their dial-up clients and proclaim that dial-up internet surfing speed can be improved by up to 5 times faster than "normal." There are even private companies that allow you to download accelerators independent of your ISP. For those without access to cable or DSL, this can really feel like you are zooming through the internet! But before you run out and install your own accelerator, consider the following:

• Maximizing Your Cache Settings on Your Computer - Keeping copies of sites you visit in a folder on your hard-drive, means more memory is used up, spyware and adware programs can be installed on your hard-drive, and accessing "saved" versions of webpages may very well keep you from seeing that site's most current information.
• Re-routing Your Browser to a "Mirror Site" - a copy of a site on a closer server. For example, say you live in Louisiana and you want to access Google.com. Well, Google is located in California, so your Accelerator provider makes a copy of Google and loads it on a server in Texas. When you type in Google.com, your accelerator re-routes you to their copy site in Texas. Theoretically, you connect to the site faster, but you are gaining a couple seconds or even nano-seconds of speed to connect to a copy.
• Pop-up Filtering - blocking Pop-up windows and automatic redirects. Ah, the annoying pop-ups... Use your browser's preinstalled pop-up blocker and set it to ask you if you want the page blocked. Sometimes there is information you might actually want from a pop-up... and you certainly don't want to stay on a webpage that has nothing on it if it has been moved and there is an automatic re-direct to the new page!
• Compressing Images - removing finer details of images to make them load faster. This would include most banner ads and Flash illustrations as well as graphics and photographs. Many accelerators now offer the option to not compress images, or to compress them less. However, this potentially defeats the purpose of an accelerator as images are typically the parts of a website that slow the page loading process to begin with! Besides, what good is that new monitor you bought with the ability to view millions of colors when you go and compress the colors to merely 256 or even 128?

Most website designers do not care much for "accelerators" as we feel they give the user merely an illusion of speed and that the price for this illusion is too high. You may find the faster load times a joy and do not mind the loss of image quality and other compromises. If you are still not sure, call your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and ask their advice.

Infrared image of Saturn taken from NSSDC Photo Gallery  (10" x 5" Original)
This 5K image should take about 3 seconds to load on a 28k modem.	Mild Compression and the image will load in 2 seconds. Note the "banding"	High Compression and the image loads in 1 second. Note the loss of color.

Do I have an Accelerator on my Computer?

Check the images of Saturn above. Do they all look pretty much the same? Then you may very well, have an accelerator. Still not sure? View the full-sized image at NSSCD Photo Gallery - if the image loads quickly but is banded or fuzzy, then you probably do. Call your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and ask them for advice on how to manage your accelerator, or how to remove it if you prefer. (P.S. If the NSSCD link doesn't work, then try this one: Saturn Photo)

Where to next?