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Thread ID: 43926 2004-04-01 02:22:00 Can someone please explain!Fast download on dialup. Neil McC (178) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
226407 2004-04-02 05:37:00 Yes Graham, I should have inserted 'anecdotal', but as the same thing has happened to me downloading zipped binary files from Simtel, I regard my own experience of it "as evidence".
The big problem is I do think about the physics of it..............
Terry Porritt (14)
226408 2004-04-02 05:49:00 It might seem like magic, (or even be indistinguishable -- A. Clark?)), but professional magicians know that there's a lot of hard work involved in magic. Fast modems have had a lot of hard work.

I'm sure I would have noticed fast downloads from Simtel when it was based at White Sands missile range.

Are your downloads done using a browser? I'm sure there's a lot of this preloading going on. Very wasteful of bandwidth worldwide, but making things appear to happen quicker. It would be interesting to run Ethereal or something like that in the background, and see what is coming over your connection, and compare the files with what you have actually requested.
Graham L (2)
226409 2004-04-02 05:53:00 P.S. Terry, go to Simtel, and get a file from well down a directory. Then get one which is close to the top of the directory. If it's preloading, the bottom one should come slowly (normal speed), and one near the start of the directory might give the anomalous transfer speed. Graham L (2)
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