Broadband and Computer Speed?

Additional details: I want the download to be instant.  Is this possible or am I asking to much out of what I have?  Thanks again for your assistance. 

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You may be asking for to much. There are a number of factors that come into play here. And there are a number of things that you can do and there are some things that you just don’t have any control over.

When you say you want your pages to download instantly, there are two pieces to consider. 1: how fast can your system find the right page, and 2. how fast can the data get from where it is to where you are.

How fast your system finds the right page depends on how big your internet cache is (does your system have to go over the net or is the page already loaded on your system) and on something called DNS (domain Name Service). Machines use addresses like 192.168.1.1. So when you type in something like www.google.com, your machine has to actually determine the address associated with that name before it can go out and access the required page. So when you type in www.google.com, your system has to determine if it knows the address for the site, and if not, then it has to request the address from a Domain Name Server (somewhere out in the cloud). Once it has the address of www.google.com (74.125.95.147), it can then go to the IP address of the machine (or system) and start requesting data.

Now for the second part, how fast can the data get from over there to over here. If you have the capability of looking at low level requests, you’ll see that bringing in a single page is composed of numerous requests (and each one takes time). And what is included in that time is not just how fast your data can travel from point A to point B, but also how fast your system can put the information together into a coherent web page, AND how fast the machine serving the data can actually send the data to you. If that server is stressed out (meaning that it’s a popular site and it is not capable of handling everybody’s request), you’ll have to wait in line to get your requests serviced.

So if you are using something like dial up with low end machine, you’ll be trying to drain a swimming pool using a straw (your dial up connection) and your cheeks (your machine). They just don’t have the power for some of the applications that are curently on the net.

Now, if you have a faster, broadband connection (a big pipe) and a higher end machine (a big suction pump), you’ll do a lot better at getting information into your home. However, sometimes you won’t get anything because the pool will be dry (the server on the other end is busy filling up other pools).

Compared to dial up, broadband will do a lot better, but you will end up on occassion waiting for some pages to appear on your system and it won’t be due to anything on your side.

Hope this helps.