I live in a small village in Wales and I found out that I will probably never get broadband because the phone line to my house is too long.

Then I saw this ad for software that increases speeds considerably even over dial up.

Seems like a good idea -

Does anyone have any info on this?

They are at:

[www.onspeed.com]

Thanks for any opinions, facts etc.

Kate

Yes Kate, there seem to be a few rather poor reviews circulating on the web which misunderstand this software. I bought into it to reduce the very high cost of usage of the Vodafone Mobile Connect card I use with my laptop where it cuts the cost by about 75%, but was so pleased with the increase in browsing speed that I also added it to my desktop PC and now wouldn't be without it.

The biggest speed gains are when browsing web pages without flash content, there's no gain with previously compressed stuff like downloading exes etc, and there's no gain with the secure stages of sites like internet banks. However, Onspeed say that coming improvements this year will mean MP3 and Mpeg 4 downloads will benefit as well and they will continue to expand the capabilities.

In summary I think it's well worth the £24.99 per annum, and I know I will actually save more than that on my Vodafone charges so for those with Mobile Connect laptop cards it makes them money!

P.S. The compression (speed) showing for my coming into here to respond to your query is 5.09 times, making the nominal 56 kb connection into a nominal 285 kb, although as my connection was actually running at 48 kb, the true browsing speed was 244 kb.

The speed gain depends on the website content, Onspeed is dramatically successful with text, and a trick I sometimes use is to browse with graphics off, switching them on only when needed when reaching something I want to view. For example, I just went to Dabs home page like this and recorded a speed of well over 80 times, calculating as an amazing 4.6 mb broadband connection. After then selecting a Fujitsu Siemans laptop to browse to I switched on the graphics to see it's illustration as well, and the net speed gain of the whole trip into Dabs to it's conclusion was equal to a 1.4 mb broadband connection. Of course when used normally, you wouldn't get anything like these gains, but it's easy for me to browse like this with the Mozilla Firefox browser that I use.

dear kate
hello
I live in a village too and i had this your problem and when i rode your message , i can solve this problem
thank you for letter

Where can I download a copy, without having to buy it first.

I am searching for a magazine I had, a year ago, which compared 5 almost identical products as Onspeed.

It compared features, and measured the speeds of each product, against their claims.


I want to try them all out, before maybe deciding on getting one. All of my friends, who discussed this toy software, back then, said they would get it, but did not, and have decided not to get it without trying it out, first, along with others. They have convinced me not to, either. It turns out Onspeed was a demo when it came out, available as a 30 day trial, and one of my my friends tried it, and it was wasn't very good, graphically, if you wanted any half reasonable increase in speed as you get Not using it. It only worked, of sorts, on the Internet explorer. He had heard it had been improved but won't pay to find out as Onspeed was boasting 10 times normal dailup when it was between maybe 1 and 4 tines.

I want to try Onspeed for Firefox.

I do not want to Buy it first.

I do not want another email account, and give marketing info, or at least not one with such a silly name, that makes me think it is a piratical joke, and my friends will laugh.


I do not want to hook up to a web page that is going to take over my computer and set up email settings, etc.

Any suggestions?

[www.onspeed.com]

Some GreenNet users have said reasonably positive things about it, and it does seem to work OK on GreenNet email. There are several other similar services - ProxyConn keep wanting us to promote them. OnSpeed will recompress images sometimes, but if you're downloading a ZIP or MP3/video, it won't help a jot. Whether it is value for money is a different matter - I personally wouldn't bother.

Hey People,
First time on this forum and am enjoying this first topic I saw. I personally have used Onspeed and find it very useful. I use a cell phone as a modem hook unto my pc and it moves quick. It is a great software, can't wait for what they'll come up with next.
Does anyone knows of any other software that similar to onspeed?

Here's a trial link:
h**p://www.onspeed.com/downloads/onspeed_Linkard_Net-Active_Marketing_trial.exe

Note: NO LIVE POST

h**p=http

Peace



Sincerely Yours

Hi,

So far I'm not impressed maybe cause I ain't got it workin yet!
Just have the message 'tying to connet' but doesn't do anything. Anyone have any suggestions?

Many Thanks

I live in a rural area wheer I can't get broadband, so I got ONSPEED but stopped using it soon because with the bad picture quality you may just as well not browse the web at all. However, when I signed up for a years contract I wasn't fully aware that auto-renewal is a mandatory service.

Yesterday I received an email reminding me that the auto-renewal is up, containing the following: "If you do not wish to renew your ONSPEED account, please call our Customer Services team on 08707 58 58 59 [...] From outside the UK, please call: +44 8707 58 58 59. " and further "Please note: to cancel your automatic renewal, you must call ONSPEED. Requests via e-mail, fax or post will not be actioned."

I wonder if it is legal to stipulate that written cancellation will not be processed, not even via mail. As user of an online service I find it outrageous that:
- auto-renewal is mandatory, not an option
- even though ONSPEED provides online user accounts, they don't include an option to cancel the service
- you are only notified via an email address that you gave out a year ago and may by now be obsolete. A Google search showed that other users too got automatically renewed, because their address was obsolete and I just luckily spotted the email before the spam filter deleted it.

So far it is really about bad customer service, although it smells like they try to trick you into overlooking the renewal and making you stay because it is too much hassel to cancel. However, almost as if they know there is something fishy and expect customers not to know that they signed up for auto-renewal they also include the following in the renewal email: "Automatic renewal is covered within ONSPEED's standard Terms and Conditions."

But when I looked up the terms and conditions I found the following:
"11.5 You may inform us in writing (including by email) at any time that:

(a) you wish to stop using the Service immediately; or

(b) you do not wish to use the Service after the end of the Minimum Period or the then current Additional Period as the case may be."

Which is clearly contradictory to stipulating that written cancellations will not be processed.

I would be really interested to know if that auto-renewal email is legal. It certainly is a nuisance.

You find the terms and coditions at [www.onspeed.com]

Hi bgx

Only just read your post and wondered whether you ever found the answer to your query?

The practice of OnSpeed inthis instance certainly appears dodgy. As they are based in London, they will be subject to English consumer legislation and the people who can advise you are Consumer Direct, a national helpline run by Trading Standards. Their web site is [www.consumerdirect.gov.uk] and their telephone number is 08454 04 05 06 (Open Mon-Fri 8.00am-6.30pm; Sat 9.00am-1.00pm)

Sorry if this is too late to be of any use.

Phil



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 10/17/06 03:37PM by Phil.