Net download speed: Set the pace

Net download speed: Set the pace

By Lim Tri Santosa

BANDUNG (JP): One day my boss kept asking me if he could have
a look on "my Internet". I said he could, and he logged in and
directed the browser to a search engine so he could find the
information he wanted.

It was the first time he had encountered the Internet. Fifteen
minutes later he called me and said: "The Internet is running too
slow. Could you reboot it, please?"

I would love to reset the Internet, but how? No one can
control the Internet traffic. Yes, the problem with Internet
connection is speed; the problem of the Internet user is time and
money. The slower the traffic, the more time and money spent.
What a waste!

Some downloading take longer than others. Your download speed
depends on several variables, including your modem transfer
speed, the size of the file to download, the quality of your
Internet connection and server speed at the host site.

If you are downloading at a crawl, you may want to cancel it
and try again during off-peak Internet usage times, such as late
at night. But I think it would be unwise to wake up in the middle
of the night or wait until midnight to turn on your computer just
to download files from the Internet. Everyone needs a good sleep
to work or carry on with their activities in the morning.

Because many of the files you may want to download will take
time to be transferred to your computer, you will want to save
yourself the headache of discovering, after the fact, that you
downloaded a file that won't work on your computer.

Here's the worst case scenario; you're in the middle of trying
to download a large file only to have the server reset or the
phone connection broken by someone picking up your extension
while you are connected, or a thunderstorm breaks.

Speed and Safe

Of course, you can download the file right after
disconnection, but how long would it take to start over again?
Even though you may have a fast connection, downloading can be
much slower. Why? Because the problem does not always lie with
your provider's connection speed, the slow speed can be caused by
the remote site from which you are trying to download. You won't
get a faster speed while downloading if the remote-site speed is
slow.

The fact is there is no faster speed to achieve when connected
to the Internet, only the current connection speed between the
user and Internet Service Provider (ISP). Even when the remote-
site speed is faster than the speed between the user and ISP. No
one can deny it. That's the reason why downloading e-mail from
your ISP POP server is much faster than downloading a website or
a file from a remote site, other than your ISP.

Thus downloading files directly from your ISP is the fastest
speed available to you. You will never waste time waiting for
slow sites. There is a new free service from Em@ilFile at
http:www.emailfile.com which can deliver any files from the
Internet to your e-mail address as an attachment.

The service supports both File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and
HTTP for downloading. How does it work?

Just fill in the file location address and your e-mail address
at Em@ilFile web-form, then click the Submit button. Generally,
it will be delivered to your e-mail address within 15 minutes. If
Em@ilFile server fails to find the file you request, you will
receive an e-mail message describing the error.

How do you know the file location address to be downloaded?
Once you have found the file you want to download by browsing or
searching the Internet, point your cursor to a download link then
click the right-mouse button, choose properties. You can copy the
full URL address and paste it into the file location field at
http://www.emailfile.com.

The main limitation of this service is you cannot download
files larger than 3MB. And you can not ask to download more than
one file at the same time. Em@ilFile will advise you that your e-
mail address recently submitted URL for downloading and you must
wait before your first request is completed.

Here's the cool way, a trick I use to fool Em@ilFile service.
You can make several e-mail addresses from free web-based e-mail
services like Yahoo E-mail, Alta Vista E-mail.

These web-based e-mail services have an option to forward any
e-mails to your original POP e-mail address. Thus you can use
your web-based e-mail addresses to ask for several files to be
downloaded. The benefit is Em@ilFile server will download and
deliver your requested files to your original e-mail address at
the same time.

If you have a problem with getting "cut off" or "dropped"
while downloading large files more than 3MB from the Internet,
then Net Vampire (http://www.netvampire.com) is for you. Net
Vampire is free software. Use Em@ilFile service to deliver Net
Vampire software to your e-mail address (file location address at
http://www.netvampire.com/ftp/netvampire.zip).

What's so great about this product is the way you can make it
"browser aware". You can press the "Alt" key before downloading a
large file and Net Vampire will take over. Once Net Vampire takes
over the downloading, it will be completed without starting over
again! Even if you get disconnected, Net Vampire will pick up
where you got dropped off.

I find this feature very useful, especially when there is a
thunderstorm or I need to terminate the connection to receive a
phone call. If you need to download more than one file you can
run them parallel or line them up one after the other.

This program is intended to replace the downloading feature in
your browser (either Netscape or the Internet Explorer). It is a
kind of tricky to make Net Vampire "browser aware". Here are the
steps to take. Close your browser if it is still open. Open Net
Vampire on the program menu, click on Input command, then place a
check by Monitor Browser Click. Now restart your browser and go
somewhere on the Internet from where you want to download a large
file. Hold down the Alt key before you click on the link to
download.

That's all you need to do. Net Vampire will protect the
downloading and you can stop and resume the downloading whenever
you like. You do not need to download a big file in a single
Internet connection. You can resume downloading tomorrow, two
days later, anytime you want. You can check the progress of the
downloading any time by clicking on the small Net Vampire window.
Net Vampire is easy to use, though the program has numerous
options, you don't need to use or understand most of them for
simple downloading.

One last piece of advice; please do not use the above service
or freeware to download any pornographic files or any commercial
pirated software in many websites. You must refrain from doing
that, otherwise you will spend more time and money to pay phone
charges just to download the indecent and illegal files.

Oops, I forgot, before opening and unzipping any download
file, first scan it with the most up-to-date virus scanner you
have, otherwise take it at your own risk.