Wide World of Women

I want to get high-speed internet (3 mbps)
Is it a good idea? Is it not worth it?

I have windows xp
850 mhz processor
30 GB hard drive
USB port
CD-ROM

Basically I have all that is required but is there something else I should know that the companies don't tell us?

Been on some form of high-speed internet since 1997 and would never go back to dial-up.

Totally worth it. Plus, you'll finally be able to get all those great clips in the vid section.

The question is...is it processor related? Does my system have enough oomph to do it based on what I mentioned? (I forgot about the 192 MB of RAM)



...and the 150 HQ pic collections of actresses and models

My original high-speed internet (University connection) was like 50 Mbps on a Pentium Pro 200 MHz w/ 32 MB of RAM.

You have enough processor. The only issue will be with high-bitrate videos (like the HDTV ones I post). Those are probably too intensive for your PC to handle.

That won't be a problem since I would only check the pictures anyway.
If there was a way to save the videos to the system and then watch them, that would be even better.

You can save the videos. When you go to a vid link within RapidShare for instance, right click on the vid link and select "Save Target As". That will open up a dialog box where you can choose where to save the vid on your HD.

BTW... 30GB HD won't be enough if you download all of the clips from here. Get yourself more CDs or DVDs depending what kind of burner you have.

Just so you know ahead of time... the HD vids... even if you download them... they in all likelihood, will not play properly. They are processor intensive. Meaning that if you do not have a faster processor and high MB video card... they will be choppy.

I have a 1.2GHz spare... and most of the HD videos posted will not play at anything worth taking the time to download. The video will proceed around every 10 seconds with pauses/freeze frames in between.

My new PC has none of those problems.

That should not deter you however. I have had high-speed Internet since 1998 and it completely changes your Internet experience.

As long as you meet your ISP's minimum requirements (which you said you do)... you will not regret it.

Back when I first got it, it was around 1Mbps - I now have 6Mbps standard.

The Internet is made for high-speed connections these days.

What about something like google earth?
I have that now and it works but the images load very slow.
Because it won't work without an internet connection, would a faster connection help?

How does a person know if a slowness is due to processor speed or slow internet?

In one word, yes.

Broadband is worth it for any system that can handle it. If you're on the internet for over an hour then I assure you, it's well worth it. Think of it as buying time saved waiting for web pages to load at the very minimum. Don't sweat the details because a lot of that you just have to jump in to figure out.

Yes it's worth it. For instance i just downloaded 3finger's Alex Witt 50mb video in only 32 seconds. That size video would take you hours to download on dial-up. HQ pictures also load a LOT faster too.

I have had HSI since 1999 and the computer i was using then had a lot less power than your current system. You shouldn't have a problem receiving HSI.

Only a 30GB hard drive? If you take the plunge, invest in either an external hard drive or a ton of CD-Rs. Trust me!

What about getting a faster modem while still on dial-up service?

The whole thing about constantly being connected and risking viruses, hackers, and other nasties is not good.

I hate to ask, but how fast is your modem? Your not going to see any increase beyond 56k which is the current max.

Forget 56k! You won't see beyond 28.8K! No one ever got more than 28.8k because the phone companies were not going to upgrade their copper just so you can connect to AOL, Earthlink, etc faster. That is how DSL came along. Notice that DSL is only offered by the phone companies?!

You are better off upgrading to cable or Verizon FiOS if it is in your area. If FiOS is in your area, take that over cable.

Wait one minute! You mean to tell me you've never seen any of my clips!?!?!!!?!!!?

I'm not sure that's possible -- the only modems that have been available for the last many years are all the same speed: basically variable [depending on your phone line quality] up to a maximum of 56K. I'm told that if you get a VERY expensive modem it can do better than a cheapo one [e.g., it might be able to get 48K when the cheapo only goes 33.6 or worse], but still: dialup is dialup. And mostly sucks.

Basically, you're stuck with whatever the phone company wiring does for you, and in most places that are still dialup-only that means old/crappy wiring which means slow/flaky dialup connections. Nothing you can do about that; buying a new modem really won't help that much [maybe a little but not much].


Overblown fears. Get a decent firewall and run your system with a bit of a clue and you'll be OK. The first time you go to a website and <BANG> it comes up [rather than dribble-dribble-dribble] and you'll never go back to dialup.

Cal, this site may help you out http://www.dslreports.com/

Just take a look around and look in the forums on the top of the page

High speed is worth it,when it's working.My internet had been going off 4 or 5 times a day till about month ago.I complained to the VP of operations. and they sent a Tech out and he replace my dropline"something I told them they need to do about a year ago".haven't had any problems since.

Hey Laker.

Do you have DSL or Broadband?

Broadband