[photo-3d] Re: Download times (was Question for newsletter editors - pdf picture quality)

["Robert Brand" <rb@xxxxxxxxxx>]

"Abram Klooswyk wrote:
> So you don't have telephone rates?  Here we have...

I realy feel sympathetic to your situation and everyone else with 
similar issues. I get the feeling that all is not so nice for many  
photo-3D members as this thread continues. Maybe the following will 
help a few.

I just checked my download calculator and it says that a straight 
500Kb download via a 28K modem should take 2 minutes 22 seconds 
barring any Internet issues. The same file will take 1 minute 13 
seconds via a 56K modem. Double that time for Internet overheads and 
we are talking about 2 1/2 to 5 minutes once every 1 to 2 months. I 
don't see what all the fuss is about. Even if links are slow from 
time to time, we are not talking about the end of the earth for 
newsletter editors.

If download times like these are an issue, then I expect that it is 
time to upgrade to a cable/sat modem or DSL if finances or your 
telephone company/service provider will allow.

If the times that I have indicated seem much less than you are 
experiencing here are some reasons:

You may have your browser (or other instances of your browser) 
connected to a web page that is constantly refreshing its content 
such as renewing banner advertisments or the worst - live cameras. 
Unless you are sure, it can really slow you down with multiple 
browsers open. Too many active applications/programs running on your 
PC will also cause problems

(If you run a web site make sure that the page you use for downloads 
is not full of Java or other heavy or refreshing content)

If downloading from a page with content that refreshes, try moving 
off that page once the download is underway. Most browsers will 
support this.

If your modem is slower than 28K then it's time to spend the money on 
a new one. I expect that most service providers around the world 
support 56K these days. Please think about an external modem as most 
internal ones use the processing power of the PC to do the work. That 
will only load down older systems further causing downloads to stall 
(breaks during transmission or retransmission).

Those with telephone rate issues will ultimately save by doing their 
browsing/downloads in the shortest possible time - upgrade now to 56k 
if possible.

It's possible that noise on your local phone line causes modem 
errors. The modem drops the speed and then stays set low for the rest 
of the call. Talk to your service provider about fixes such as 
connecting at a fixed speed. Another similar issue can be cured by 
setting the modem to connect at a known fixed speed that is lower 
than the maximum, but you will not experience the retries that slow 
down transmissions so much.

If the PC comms port that your modem uses is set slower than the 
modem is capable of... well, talk to your service provider about how 
to set this higher or your wasting your modem power.

If your PC is old, it can contribute. Try looking at the modem 
receive lamps. If its "on" most of the time during a download, fine, 
but if there are lots of breaks of one or more seconds, its possible 
that yuor PC is calling a halt to the transmission during the 
download. This maybe an Internet issue, but if the PC is really old - 
time to consider an upgrade.

Here's one that affected me recently. I had a NEW PC that was doing 
the above and was heavily loaded. It was a RAM issue. It was using 
all of the available RAM and then stopped to read and write the 
overflow to disk. I doubled the RAM and cured the issue.

Finally it may just be time to change your service provider. Many 
just have a small link to the Internet backbone and make more money 
by sharing this with more and more users.

Good luck and I hope that the above will help your on-line 3D 
experience. If you would like to discuss technical issues re PCs and 
especially MS NT, then please post technical issues re PCs to the 
Sydney Stereo Camera Club forum at:

         http://www.sscc.asn.au/sscc/index.htm

Robert Brand