RE: FLASH: Is: simulating modems speeds with digital access [OT] Was:Have to have Feature!!!

[Frederico]

On 7/11/1999 5:36 PM, dartfrogmedia via

maildartfrogmedia [dot] com

, said:


>just installed cable modem access and miss my pokey 56k connection. Do you

>have a method for simulating user internet connection speeds? 


Cable modems are fast and cheap, but have a widespread disadvantage of 

limiting access to a single physical location, with few, if any, options 

for auxillary access. I've heard tale that TCI has recently provided 

pay-for-play dialup numbers, in certain areas for those who still need 

access to email and such when on the road, but I have no confirmation 

where and how this is possible.


One of the great advantages of DSL, while speed/cost may be less 

competitive at the moment, is that (depending on ISP) you still have 

access to your ISP dialup numbers, and generally not at an additional 

cost. They also generally allow for multiple simultaneous connections, 

allowing you to serve from your DSL-connected box to a different dialup 

box. Quite handy when you have that not-so-rare client who needs a 

website, but doesn't even have personal web access to approve your 

designs.


So, if you travel a lot, or are a web developer still in need of testing 

your sites at modem speeds, DSL is often a choice worth considering for 

the conveniences.


So, anyhow, to your problem, I can think of a long list of solutions. 

One, of course, and perhaps the best is to pop another $10-20/month for a 

dialup account somewhere (or switch to DSL), and use it for 

testing/travel purposes. If you will need national coverage in case of 

travel,  I don't recommend AOL for this necessarily, because surfing via 

AOL servers is slower than it should be. Another national provider may be 

a better option for your general use, although it is arguable that using 

AOL dialup for this will give an accurate representation of what eleven 

million potential patrons might experience. Plus, it gives you direct 

access to their crappy software, if their patrons are likely to be part 

of your audience, remembering of course that you can use any browser via 

an AOL connection. AOL also has both "bring your own access" plans, as 

well as fairly low cost "by the minute" options still in place, so you 

can decide how much of a tax-writeoff you want to go for. (We use the 

BYOA unlimited access option for $5/month to maintain direct testing 

ability). 


Perhaps you even have a local relative or friend who will loan you dialup 

account access for the occasional testing purpose, should your overhead 

be too intense to absorb another monthly expense.


A second option is to create a BBS situation with Personal Web Sharing on 

one or more computers, and just create a modem to modem connection to 

internally test your sites, this generally being acceptable for emulating 

conditions on a live server. If you have two phone lines and two 

machines, this is easily accomplished.  Though you do not have to have an 

actual active phone line with Mac modems, an RJ-45 cable is enough ( I 

don't know about wintel), it doesn't account for line damage/traffic, so 

two dialtone access lines are advised. You can even host on an 

intentionally slow machine to simulate a highly-trafficed server (or just 

serve from NT, which should do the same <kidding>). You can also make 

this happen on one machine with two modems, but you'll spend more time 

configuring it to work than it is worth.


And don't forget that when testing via modem, you can restrict your 56k 

modem connect speed via modem scripts to cap your access to v34, 28.8 and 

slower connections to accurately represent connection speeds for older 

modem users.


Some people use modified Serial to Serial connections to simulate modem 

connections, but I'll argue the math is accurate in representing actual 

modems, given the lack of compression, etc.


I know that Mac developers have access to some shareware that will 

emulate a variable modem connection via your browser of choice on a local 

drive (by somehow restricting the feed-rate of your drive), but, not 

having the need for it, I can neither vouch for it or even remember the 

name. A search at veriontracker and/or Sherlock with Mac-centric plugins 

should return positive results. Similar modem emulators may be avialable 

for wintel.


So, bottom line is this: You either need a standard analog dialup access 

in addition to digital access via your cable ISP or another ISP such as 

DSL providers($0-$20/mo additional cost, or pay by the minute), or a 

second computer with modem ($50-$100 used-$300 new), or time to configure 

a single box ($?). Myself, I have to recommend the multiple computer 

route, as this gives you the option of testing slower/faster processors 

and other OS's. If your primary workstation is Mac, a $100-ish investment 

in an old wintel, $40 for System Commander Deluxe, and the cost of each 

OS will allow you to configure a single box for all the other flavors of 

OS/browsers quite easily. One rather poor (financially and otherwise) web 

designer I know even takes the time to swap out a P-75 chip for a 

P-II-200 chip on the same board, so he doesn't have to spend money on a 

second CPU . One can see why he is a poor web designer, or at least a 

poor businessman.


HTH


Frederico


~Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans.~


                       --John Lennon



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