Connect to the Internet

DSL at Happy Trails

Kiva Networks provides DSL service at Happy Trails. Technical Support: Call 4 Pair Networks at 602-235-0591 for all installation requests, customer care and customer service issues.

You can login to your account at the 4Pair website -- www.4pairnetworks.com -- but due to a quirk in their server, only if you're connected to the Internet via your Kiva account. However, it appears that you may be able to sign up for service -- anything from a day, a week, a month, or month-to-month -- at their site or extend your service, using a credit card via any Internet connection.

Qwest -- 1-800-247-7285 -- also provides DSL service at Happy Trails. This is the way to go if you can also get Qwest where you go during the "off season".

You don't need a "land-line" phone account to get DSL at HT as we own the phone lines out to each lot.

Cable Internet at Happy Trails

Cox Cable will be our cable Internet provider.

Lorna Walker [602-694-1813] is our direct customer contact. Call her for more information or to sign up. She also handles seasonal changes for you. Don't bother trying to get specific info at their website or through the yellow pages. The information for Happy Trails hasn't percolated that far yet. ;-)
http://cox.net/

WiFi Hotspots

All public Internet access, Wifi hotspots; Ethernet (wired) connections at hotels, for example; and public computers, at libraries or hotel "business centers", for example. See my WiFi class notes for more information. There is also a good answer for serious road warriors.

Northwest Regional Library -- Surprise Branch

16089 N. Bullard Ave. (South of Bell Road)
Surprise, AZ 85374
623-544-6371

There is no charge to use the computers there. Present a driver's license (any state) and something that shows your name and address in Surprise, e.g., utility bill or a piece of forwarded mail (the envelope). 9-9 Mon.-Thur.; 9-5 Fri.-Sat.; 1-5 Sun.

Instant DNS

Domain Name Service (DNS) is just the "Yellow Pages of the Internet": Before your computer can go get a website, it must look up the site's *numerical* Internet Address. Now it can place your call, so to speak. :-)

"OpenDNS" is a new (free) DNS service that provides blazing speed. Normally your ISP provides the DNS for you. The DNS your ISP provides is almost certainly not as agile." [PC World article] [more]
Update: Some trouble using OpenDNS on some VPNs (virtual private networks) has been reported.

Test and improve your connection speed

Connection speeds vary a lot from moment to moment, and hour to hour. Repeat your tests several times, and at different times of the day, to get the real picture. It's essential to record your test results or you'll get hopelessly confused.

Speedtest.net, Speakeasy, CNet, Broadband Reports and Numion will test your connection speed, but improving connection speed is a bit tricky.
TweakMASTER is the best way for mere mortals to do it. It's not hard to use, but it requires patience, persistence, and maybe paper and pencil to succeed. :-) And you need to go through the process again if your connection type changes, say from dial-up to DSL.

Picking a dial-up ISP

There are thousands of ISPs to choose from. You could even become an ISP yourself. :-) Most dial-up ISPs just retail services from one of the wholesale ISPs. Juno, Earthlink, AOL and MSN are still independent ISPs. Some of their services, for example security and spam filtering are worthwhile too.

Decide what you want as your permanent email address before you pick an ISP. Pick a strategy that fits your situation. Then pick your ISP.
I prefer an ISP that does not force you to use their own proprietary software, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer. I consider it essential to be able to use an alternative browser like Firefox.
Mike Diamond and I have had good service from A1above.com, which morphed into POPDial.com a while back. They have plans as low as $6.95 per month. They have pretty broad coverage across the country.
Juno's software is minimally invasive. They offer acceleration of your connection, great email and other pluses. Several people that I know get good results with Juno.
MSN provides a MSN version of Webroot's "Spy Sweeper", which is one of the best. You also get virus protection for email, plus spam and pop-up protection. MSN supports Firefox.
AOL comes at a premium price, but they now offer real value for your money. Their recent "9.0 Security Edition" offers a firewall, on- and off-line antivirus and spyware detection, parental controls, pop-up blocking, as well as protection from Spam and SpIM. AOL supports Firefox.
Earthlink offers Norton AntiVirus and Norton Personal Firewall as well as spam protection and pop-up blocking. Earthlink supports Firefox.
You can find oodles more ISPs with a Google search.

Accelerate your surfing

You can easily reduce the time it takes to load Web pages by using an acceleration service. Propel Accelerator is one example. Most pages load 3 or 4 times as fast. That steps a 28.8 K connection up to 90 or 120 K, and a 50 K connection up to 150 or 200 K.

If you use Earthlink Plus or StarNet for your dial-up connection you are already have Propel - it's built into your service. Many other ISPs -- including POPDial, MSN and Juno -- also offer acceleration.
http://www.propel.com/ -- click "try it now"
http://www.techsupportalert.com/accelerators.htm -- report on acceleration and Propel
http://www.dansdata.com/propel.htm -- review of Propel

Here's how Propel Accelerator works:

1. Graphics are the biggest, and thus slowest part of most Web pages to download. Graphics are usually already compressed, but Propel can compress them even more. I usually use a compression factor of 2, but even 3 yields fair images.

2. Most Web pages have a lot of wasted "white space" in them which does nothing for the way your browser displays the page. Propel cleans up those Web pages before it relays them.

3. Propel creates it's own "smart" cache on your computer. (With Propel, you can reduce your browser's regular cache size and still get good results.) The caching strategy is "smart" because it breaks Web pages into parts and only needs to download any pieces that have changed.

4. Propel also blocks ads and pop-up windows.

Propel sounds like snake oil -- it's not. Propel uses a new approach that really does work. It's well worth the cost (you can try it free for 10 days).
http://www.propel.com/ -- click "try it now"
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-352109-1204-20305559.html
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/business/3914704.htm -- good explanation and verification

Propel is fairly easy to set up, but it's not a snap. You need to follow their directions carefully. I recommend that beginners get help with installation. Don't forget that there will now be two browser caches on your hard drive. You can reduce your browser's cache size (called "Temporary Internet Files" for Internet Explorer) now if you want. I use 128 MB for Propel's cache and 5 MB for my browser's.

The local cache can produce a problem, particularly at Web sites that require a password, you will not be able to get the desired page to load. The only cure is to empty your cache. Remember that you now have two caches on your hard drive. You need to empty your browser's cache (temporary Internet files) and Propel's (from the icon in the tray area).

Larry Stanford uses Propel with his Verizon wireless service, and it works quite well. The connection speed using a cell phone can be as low as 14.4 Kbps. (For comparison, ordinary dialup is 2 to 4 times faster than that.) You can imagine how much better his wireless connection is with Propel.

Proxyconn Accelerator, and some ISPs offer similar services. These work pretty much the same as Propel Accelerator.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,107372,00.asp -- review at PC World
http://www.propel.com/ -- click "try it now" - $60 per year
http://www.proxyconn.com/ -- Proxyconn Accelerator - $60 per year

None of these acceleration services speed up file downloads, videos, or secure Web pages.

Connection problems

Does your Internet connection randomly shut down? Does it work OK during the morning and intermittently after dinner? You're probably seeing a telephone system problem, not a telephone line or ISP problem. This system problem is caused by overloaded telephone circuits between here and your ISP.

Some of the overload may just be people chatting, but I suspect most of it is the number of people online at that time of day. There's not much you can do about this problem. Some people report that a true "hardware" modem works better than a "Win modem" (which virtually all computers come with). I don't know -- I may try it someday.

If you see the problem at all times of the day, then it's most likely your ISP or a noisy line. I don't think that's my problem. I currently have two ISPs, one in the 602 area code and one in the 623 area code. I have trouble with both of them during the evening, fortunately it's rarely at the exact same time. Give your ISP a call if you think they can help.

But first check your phone line noise: Pick up the phone, dial a digit (to kill the dial-tone) and listen. If you hear noise (crackling or popping) call the Happy Trails telephone maintenance crew. Do NOT call Qwest -- it will cost you $80 if they find the problem is between your lot and the Town Center.

Sometimes your connection may just stop working. The easiest thing to try for dial-up is just disconnect and reconnect. For DSL, right-click the connection and click "repair".