Quick loading on dialup

[JamesCWilson]

As somebody as has had to suffer on a dialup connection for many years, I can completely understand the frustration of dialup users when the webpages they are visiting are incredibly slow. Sometimes this is due to a graphics intensive website, and other times it is due to web hosting and/or server problems. Have any of you tested out your web host on a dialup connection, to see if it was loading in a reasonable amount of time?

 

[Joes Datacenter]

I will usually test mine on slow connections and from a command line web browser such as lynx. I like photoshop as well because when you save a photo for web it will automatically show you the speed on different connection types.

 

[ldcdc]

Have any of you tested out your web host on a dialup connection, to see if it was loading in a reasonable amount of time?

Can't say that I've done that recently, but I always try to keep my website pages size to a minimum, containing mostly text.

 

[SenseiSteve]

Design depends on the intended audience, but generally YES. I have reasonably fast connections, but still find myself waiting on some sites. Some I don't wait for - others I do. Depends on what I'm searching for. I couldn't handle dial up anymore. LOL

 

[cyberworldhost]

I haven't try on a dialup connection but on a slow computer to test.

 

[Dave B]

DI couldn't handle dial up anymore. LOL

You're not kidding, I would probably do myself in. But, I can still fondly remember the days when I thought I was the man, cruising along at 14.4.

Dave

 

[SenseiSteve]

You're not kidding, I would probably do myself in. But, I can still fondly remember the days when I thought I was the man, cruising along at 14.4.

Dave

Absolutely, I remember our first BBS was at 300 baud on an acoustic coupler.

 

[Dave B]

Nice. The first computer I ever used was an Apple II+ with a 300 baud modem.

Dave

 

[JamesCWilson]

I actually still have a Dialup connection that I use as backup in case the Cable goes out, and I do make a point to test my websites using Dialup on a somewhat regular basis. Also it is worth noting that I NEVER touch flash on any of my sites for this exact reason. Flash tends to be a complete nightmare for anyone who doesn't happen to be using a high speed connection.

 

[HJ-Andrew]

Here's a blast from the past: http://www.sonnyradio.com/dialupkid.htm

 

[sherwood]

Yes, in designing a website, we should keep in mind that some internet users are still using dial up connections. I cannot find a dial up connection to test my website, so I just try to keep it as light as possible.

 

[AL-Benjamin]

Here's a blast from the past: http://www.sonnyradio.com/dialupkid.htm

Owwww man

 

[hostwebdata]

never tryed it my self but most people now run cable or dsl lines
if i had dialup i would go madd:crash:

 

[SenseiSteve]

Here's a great demo of a 300 baud acoustic modem.

 

[Virtuous_Host]

Well unless your web host has a mobile version or low quality version dial up users will have a problem compared to broadband. I think that's more of a barrier in technology and not the web host fault.

 

[SenseiSteve]

Of course there's the barrier of technology. I have DSL at my salon and cable at home, and the difference is day and night. A good number of folks, right now, in rural Illinois are still stuck with dial up though. That base is decreasing fairly quickly as broadband expands. One of my competitors grew his business focusing on these rural areas and was very successful for years, but that model isn't nearly as attractive anymore. When you're designing your site, or pondering what to promote, you need to forecast your market and audience.

 

[JamesCWilson]

The funny thing is that whenever any of us go back to using dialup again after relying on Cable for so long, we just can't understand how we were able to put up with that slow of a speed for oh so long. As it is, I actually didn't get Cable internet until long after it became popular, since it wasn't available in our area for the longest of times.

 

[SenseiSteve]

Well, I'm still waiting on U-Verse at home, but am beginning to think that's never going to happen.

I can remember when I was selling ISDN connections, designing charts to show comparative download times to dial up. And it wasn't just download times - with many ISP's it took half an hour sometimes just to get a connection.

 

[expertwebhost]

I have a GPRS connection as a backup which gives me 5kbps speed which helps me test my sites for speed on slow connections.

 

[SenseiSteve]

Just doing some simple math in my head ... isn't that like less than 2GB transfer monthly?