More Detailed Information on How BrowseFast Works

Your browser uses TCP/IP to transfer data. TCP/IP data transfer rate typically graphs as follows.

Please keep in mind, the slower your modem and/or machine the better BrowseFast works! This data was collected from a powerful developer's machine.

1. The browser asks the server for information and the transmission rate increases slightly.
2. While the server fulfills your request, the browser waits.
3. The server starts to transmit data and the transmission rate increases rapidly.
4. While you read NO data is transmitted. Note the large drops in the graph.
5. If you start another browser to read mail, download a file, or retrieve search results, etc…, then the amount of data transmitted(throughput) is much higher. Please note the difference between sections 4, 5 and 6 above.

To summarize, TCP/IP does not fully utilize the modem. Moreover, while you browse a page, the modem is NOT utilized.

Take advantage of this dead time, by forcing another instance of the browser to read data for you.

Multitasking may seem unnatural at first. Our tests show that multitasking usually improves data throughput by 33%. Over slow international connections, we have seen test results which increase throughput by 6 times!

• BrowseFast Netscape Navigator and Windows 3.1, 95 and NT multitasking features. Multitasking allows you to browse a web page and download from different servers at the same time. Multitasking is like having a telephone with multiple lines.

• Computers are subject to the "weakest link" principle. Your response time depends on your slowest device. The slowest device on your computer is the modem. However, the internet may be much slower than your modem. Obviously, there is no modem activity while you are reading a loaded web page. It makes sense for another browser to "cache" information.

• Your wait depends on the popularity of an Internet server, the server's capability, the time of day and sometimes the phase of the moon... There is no way to predict which server has the best response time. So, with BrowseFast you connect to multiple servers and use the server which responds first.

• Winsock.dll(a Microsoft standard) is the file which usually handles internet communications. Winsock.dll is designed to communicate with multiple servers at the same time. If the communications between the servers doesn't fully utilize the modem, then it makes sense to talk with more than one server to better utilize the modem.