There's an old adage in the world of sports: "You can't teach speed." An up-and-coming player is either fast or slow. It's that simple.
Or is it? Web accelerator software and solutions try to "teach" speed to dial-up connections, by performing tricks that pull data closer and tighter to your PC's screen. The software behind NetZero's HiSpeed 3G ads ("Surf up to 5x faster"), for instance, squeezes down Web images, strips out bandwidth-hogging advertisements, and keeps frequently accessed Web content on your hard disk in order to make your online experience seem faster and crisper.
To an extent, these solutions work. Dial-up users will notice that familiar Web pages load significantly faster when using accelerator solutions. In fact, tests at PC World have shown that users can see pages load in half the time of a normal connection. And given that ISPs like AOL, Earthlink, Netscape, and NetZero offer their accelerator packages for free, there's little reason not to use the tools to help boost your browsing.
That said, you'll be hard-pressed to find a "5x" increase in your browsing performance. What's more, the real heavy lifting won't get a boost at all. File transfers, e-mail downloads, and streaming media will all run like before. If you really want to make short work of media and file operations, you'll need a digital, broadband link to do it.
No, you won't get a 500-percent boost in Internet performance. But if broadband service is out of reach--whether due to cost or location--a Web accelerator can at least help take some of the sting out of the experience.
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