Real wireless Internet access is most accurately described as the kind that is based on radio frequencies. You might see homes with the little white rectangular box mounted near their eaves trough. Those are folks with Wireless Internet Access.

Let’s work this from the Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) to your computer.

From your ISP there will either be cabling or a radio transmitter that will relay signals to a tower. It may go through several towers before it gets to your home, or you might be close enough that you catch it off the first one.

See, the challenge with wireless Internet service is that it should be line-of-sight. That means that if you were to put your head in the middle of the receiver and look straight ahead, you have to be able to see the tower. (I do NOT recommend doing this since those signals could be less-than-healthy for you.)

Once the signal makes it to your nearest tower, it then travels directly to your receiver.  From your receiver, it will go over ordinary networking cable (RJ-45) to your modulator/demodulator (you know it as a modem). When it is modulating, it is turning your outgoing information into something that the wireless network understands. When it is demodulating, it is turning the signal into something your computer will understand. Clear as mud? I thought so. Here’s a picture.

As I said before, this is all done with radio frequencies. Do you have a cordless telephone? It will probably have numbers on it that read something like 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5.2 GHz or 5.7 GHz.? These are the radio frequencies in which your cordless phone operates. Well, so does wireless Internet!

The WISP’s use these frequencies because they don’t require a license to do so. Licenses cost money and come with severe restrictions, so why wouldn’t you use public frequencies? Ah hah! I heard someone say ’security’! You are correct. Yet communications over these frequencies are acceptably secure. That’s because encryption is added to the signal. They take something that someone might possible be able to unravel, put it through encryption and, voila, secure Internet signal. Well, as secure as it can be anyway. DES encryption is commonly used.

Now, I hear someone asking why there are different frequencies. Think of them like highways – too many cars on it and everything comes to a standstill. So we use more than one highway.

Something else to consider with wireless Internet is that the frequencies also offer different attributes. Have you noticed that you can’t take your new 5.2 GHz cordless phone three doors down and still be able to talk on it? Yet when you are in your house the clarity of voices on it beat your old 900Mhz phone easily.

It’s similar with wireless Internet. Looking at Motorola’s Canopy receivers, you’ll notice that the 900 Mhz receiver has an effective range of up to 40 miles! Then the 2.4GHz receiver is limited to about 5 miles. That’s a huge difference! Go all the way up to the 5.7 Ghz receiver and we’re down to a measly 2 miles. However, the 900 Mhz receiver is more likely to have its signal interfered with by other signals out there. So, your choice, range or quality of signal? Choose wisely.

Are you currently using stationary wireless a.k.a broadband wireless? Like it? Hate it? Does this article help you to understand better what is going on with it? Let us know, down below!

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There are two routes to go here. You can go the WiFi route, which is far more popular and usually in the broadband range for speed. Or, you can go the dial-up route which is slower, however you can access it from the convenience of your own home or maybe from a hotel without WiFi service.

It may be slower than molasses going uphill in winter, but beggars can’t be choosers.

All Free ISP

All Free ISP has a simple way to access their database and find a service provider near you. A major benefit is that their database covers the United States of America as well as Canada. You are more likely to find free service in the U.S.A. than in Canada, so I was pleasantly surprised to find several providers in my home province of Alberta.

Just go to All Free ISP and select your State or Province. You can also search by ZIP or Postal Code. Then click on our friend, the Go button. I’m also partial to his cousins the Enter and Next button – really handy fellows, the whole bunch.

The website then shows you a page of free and cheap ISPs you can access from your area. Here’s what showed up for me.

See how it breaks the list down into cities? That’s a nice touch. How about the rating system and letting you know what platforms are supported? Pretty nifty. From here, you can click on the name of an ISP and find out more about them. Let’s do that, shall we?

This just shows you a basic overview of the ISP. Really, do I need to explain this? No, exactly! That’s why I like this site. If you go to All Free ISP and follow through to this point, you’ll see that there is way more information than I’m showing here. Based on what they present, you can make an educated guess about whether you want to use this ISP or not.

At this point also, you realize that nothing is really free. If you choose Juno, you’ll be subjected to large banner ads for the privilege of using their service. No different than watching TV really.

Freedom List

You might be living or travelling outside of the northern two-thirds of North America and be in need of dial-up service. Yes, believe it or not, there is more to the world than North America. I know, shocker isn’t it?! Freedom List offers a, well, list of free ISPs broken down by country. Just take a look! Pretty impressive, huh?

So, if your WiFi card is broken, or you just can’t sit at the cafe any longer, check Freedom List out.

Your ISP

Another place to check for free dial-up Internet access is your current ISP. Many of them offer you a certain amount of hours of dial-up access for free, if you have a paid broadband account. Some of them even have directories of dial-up numbers that you can use across the country or even internationally. If they have a dial-up number near to where you are staying, chances are you won’t even have to pay long distance fees.

The best way to find out if your ISP has free dial-up is to check out their website, or call their customer service number. Usually, they’re more than glad to help you. The hardest part will be trying to remember how to make a connection using a dial-up modem again. What was once second nature is now a chore.

Your Town or County

Municipal Internet Access or Municipal WiFi seems to be an on-again off-again project for most communities. While driving across the countryside of Alberta for my job, I’ve noticed my WiFi card picking up access points that are provided by the county. If I were a resident of that county, I could get an account and access the Internet for little to no cost. It’s provided for with my taxes.

Municipalities also often provide totally free, unlimited Internet access at locations such as the municipal offices, libraries and some schools. To find out more about what your community offers, contact your local government offices.

Editor’s note: Remember, there are always security issues when using a public internet connection. Karl teaches you how to protect your personal information while enjoying free wifi connectivity.

Know of any other interesting ways to get legal free Internet access? Share it in the comments. We all like a freebie now and again. Got a tip on access being provided by your government? Let everyone know – it’s good to use the services you already pay for.

Image credit: andrewgrill

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Comcast came out and admitted to it’s practices in the United States last year. You can read about it here on wired. Since then there has been lot’s of speculation on if other ISP’s are doing the same thing…

What do you think?

Yeah we do also!

Now there is a free tool that will simulate BitTorrent activities and let you know if your speed or activities have been effected and to what extent. This program (aka bittorrent throttling test) and group have picked up momentum since 2008 and now have the backing of Google and other big names.

Are you curious as to if your ISP is throttling your torrent downloads and doing you dirty?

Well so are we.

Run the tool below on any web browser on any operating system and post back what your results are in the comments. It is strictly web based and nothing gets installed. So you can try it pretty much anywhere.

I tried this in the office on my Cogent circuit. It is a 100mb Ethernet handoff so I was not really expecting any throttling. All you need to run the test is browse on over to:

a title=”http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transparency/bttest.php” href=”http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transparency/bttest.php”>http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transparency/bttest.php.

You will be greeted by a web page that looks like this:

Simply scroll down on the page until you see the Start Testing button. You can run the detailed or the simple test. The only difference is the intensity of the test. Some ISP’s are believed to only throttle torrents after a certain period of time (greater than 5 minutes) so this will have you covered.

After you hit the Start testing button your test will begin and you will see a count down in a window that looks something like what you see below.

When the test is complete you will get your results. They will also look something like mine which you can see below. My ISP is NOT throttling my BT downloads or seeding activity and they go into detail on each point they checked as well as the speeds they were able to achieve with the transfers.

I love geeky statistics. Here are my results:

I had a buddy of mine run this against his machine on Comcast in Manhattan and his results came through with Throttling and max speeds of only 25kbps… Whoa that’s slow! Thanks for the tip El Di Pablo!

Post your results in the comments. And if you have another method of testing if your ISP is getting it’s grubby hands on your torrents post that as well. Don’t be shy kids

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Torrent users would attest to the fact that half of our time is spent looking for ‘healthy’ torrents and the other half trying to download (and a bit of upload too) at the maximum speed. The former is mandatory; the latter thankfully is within the realm of tweaking.

If you are the one who thinks that your torrent download speeds could do with a boost then keep reading. Below, you’ll find a few tips on how to speed up torrent download speed.

1. Your ISP is where it starts

Check the maximum download and upload speeds allowed by your ISP. Most ISP’s have specific bandwidths for both uploads and downloads. Obviously your torrent download speed won’t cross the cap set by the ISP. Go over to this article on Speed.io for broadband speed test and this one by Tina on ways to increase your connection speed. There are many other bandwidth testers like DSLReports which is included in the speed test within uTorrent.

2. Choosing the right BitTorrent client

Use the better clients out there like uTorrent, Vuze or the BitTorrent client itself. Wikipedia lists about 51 of them supporting the BitTorrent protocol. The choice of client used should always be updated to the latest version. The screenshots here depict uTorrent. The settings should be similarly configurable for other clients too. Mac users shuld also check our Transmission vs. uTorrent post

3. Go for healthy seeds and peers

A peer is any computer participating in the download and upload of a torrent file. A seed (or seeder) is anyone who has one complete copy of the file being shared across the torrent network. A leech (or a leecher) is the person who does not have the complete file yet but has joined the network to download it. A leecher becomes a seeder when he downloads the entire file and then shares it across the network.



For high torrent speeds, the best bet is in numbers. The greater the number of seeders, the healthier the torrent and the better the chance of higher speeds. The rule of thumb says to choose the torrent files with a high number of seeders and preferably lesser number of leechers i.e. a higher seed-leecher ratio.

4. Get through the firewall

Firewalls can block all incoming BitTorrent connections coming through. To ensure otherwise, a firewall should be manually configured to accept the connections and let it through the client. Windows XP has the Windows Firewall. Configure the firewall installed to accept the connections by checking the BitTorrent client on the allowed list i.e. Options – Preferences – Connection – check Add uTorrent to Windows Firewall. Also, check the Windows Firewall exception (if you keep it enabled) in your client too. Shutting down the firewall is not recommended as it leaves the computer open to attack.



Note: If the home computer is behind a router, it also should be configured through the feature called Port Range Forwarding to enable torrent traffic. The router documentation should have specific information on this.

5. Limit your upload rate

A peer to peer network is all about sharing alike, but an unlimited upload rate hits the download rate too. Using the speed tests, find out your maximum upload speed and then set your client’s upload rate (Global Upload Rate in uTorrent) to about 80% of your maximum upload speed. You can also try varying your upload speeds – keep it high initially and then gradually bring it down towards the middle of the download.

Note: Mind the speed units – it may be given in kilobits per second (kb/sec) or kilobytes per second (kB/sec). 1 kilobyte = 8 kilobit

6. Go to a different port

The default port for the BitTorrent protocol is any between port numbers 6881-6999. ISPs throttle traffic on these ports as BitTorrent sharing involves high bandwidth usage. It’s easy to configure a different port in your torrent client. Use some number above 10000 to get around ISPs and also avoid problems with other applications. By default, the uTorrent port is randomized each time it starts. Set a specific port by not enabling the Randomize Port setting.

7. Increase the number of Max Half Open TCP connections

This figure specifies how many connections a torrent client should attempt to establish simultaneously at any given time. Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or newer, limits this to a default of 10 as a barrier against virus multiplication. But that’s a bummer for torrent speeds as torrents too need a large number of simultaneous connections.

A patch has been available for a while from LvlLord which modifies the TCPIP.sys file in Windows to allow a higher number of TCP connections.



After running the patch, you have to set the number of connections in your torrent client. For example, in uTorrent go to Options – Preferences – Advanced – net.max_halfopen. Set any number from 50 to 100. But see that net.max_halfopen is set lower than the value set in TCPIP.SYS. Always check if it is still patched because Windows updates sometimes overwrite it.



8. Experiment with Protocol Encryption

Some ISPs love to act like Big Brothers and constrict bandwidth for P2P protocols. Protocol Encryption in most of the torrent clients helps to override this bandwidth shaping. Enable outgoing protocol encryption and put a checkmark on Allow Incoming Legacy Connections.



With protocol encryption, ISPs find it difficult if not impossible to detect that the traffic is coming from BitTorrent. Experiment with enabled, disabled and forced options because you could be getting better speeds with encryption disabled. Non-encryption makes a torrent connection compatible with someone who is not using encryption but as a minus it makes the torrent detectable to an ISP with a bandwidth restricting policy.

9. Bandwidth and connections

Your BitTorrent client’s settings options will let you enter figures for –

Global maximum number of connections gives the maximum number of connections that a BitTorrent client can make for any P2P exchange. Setting this too high does NOT mean higher speeds. Setting it too high would take up useless bandwidth and too low a figure would miss out on peers. For my 256kbps connection, I have a setting of 130.

Maximum number of connected peers per torrent gives the maximum number of peers that a BitTorrent client can connect to for any P2P exchange. Experiment by setting this number close to the available peers for a particular torrent. For my 256kbps connection, I have a default setting of 70.

Number of upload slots per torrent gives the maximum number of peers that a BitTorrent client will upload to for any P2P exchange. A low setting may affect downloads. For my 256kbps connection, I have a setting of 3.



uTorrent has a Speed Guide which handily calculates the figures for a particular connection.

10. Some common sense

Most BitTorrent clients allow us to view the individual files in a download. You can selectively disable the download of files you don’t think necessary.

Familiarize yourself with the customization settings of your particular client available in the Help files or at the website FAQs.

Some useful resources:

BitTorrent User Guide
uTorrent FAQ
Vuze FAQ

Optimizing the speed of torrent downloads is a lot of trial & error and a bit of patience. Do you have some tips to speed up torrent download speed? Any that you have successfully tried out? Maybe we can put some wind beneath the wings with your comments.

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The paranoids have said that this information can and will be abused. Either by some government organization somewhere in their attempt to monitor and control all communications, or by marketers to determine ‘the customer’s profile’ to be able to ‘provide better service’. That’s why the paranoids are crazy about anonymous internet surfing and make sure to cover their tracks on internet. It’s crucial to cover your tracks on the internet.

Personally speaking, I haven’t reached the privacy paranoid level yet, but I always could use some anonymity here and there – and I’m sure that everybody else does too.

JAP (JonDo)

Usually I use Toonel to hide my tracks, but I accidentally ran into another application called JAP (JonDo) and decided to give it a try. It’s another “cover your tracks” software which gives users the ability to stay anonymous online.

Some have said that this one is the best out there. The degree of the featured software anonymization abilities is so good that in 2004 the German police, while investigating cases related to child pornography, insisted on opening a back door to the product allowing them complete access. Even though the required modification was performed, it was subsequently removed as a result of court action by JAP.

You can download JAP from their download page, and they have one for everybody – Windows, Mac, Linux, and OS/2. They also have Java and (still in alpha) a Firefox version.

How Does It Work?

An ordinary internet connection will use a traceable address that can track which site you were visiting, and who your internet service provider (ISP) is. By knowing this, people can also tell where you come from. If there’s someone with ‘authority’ who wanted to push things a little bit further, they would be able to trace the specific location of your computer.

JAP will re-route your connection via a single static address which is shared by many JAP users. That way you become one among the many similar users. Neither the visited website nor an eavesdropper can determine which user visited which website.

So, instead of connecting directly to a Web Server, JAP uses integrated proxy services that hide the real IP address through a proxy mix cascade that effectively hides the identity of any one single user among the connections of all the other users – making it impossible, even for the proxy provider, to determine which IP belongs to which user.

Configuring Your System

After installing JAP, you need to configure your browser to use the local proxy server (127.0.0.1 – and the installer will tell you which port to use) for web browsing. Windows’ Firefox users can do this by going to Tools –> Options –> Advanced, then select the Network tab and choose Settings. Different browsers will have slightly different menus, but I’m sure everybody can get it right without too many difficulties.

If you want to stay hidden for any other activities besides browsing, you would also need to reconfigure the proxy settings for other applications which are connected to the internet. JAP supports various internet protocols such as: HTTP, HTTPS, FTP (download only), and Gopher; while file sharing, P2P, chat, IM, email and Internet telephony are unsupported.

To use the service, just do your normal internet activity while turning the JAP on. The provided control panel allows you to turn anonymity on or off, and also displays the current level of security. JAP comes pre-configured with several free service providers and also supports pay services. Services run by universities and other public infrastructures are free of charge for the user.

Have you used JAP? Or do you use another anonymity service?  Please share your opinion and/or information regarding this issue using the comment section below.

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Speedtest.net is a good place to test your internet speed. They operate through servers all over the world, so you can connect to a server near you, which increases the accuracy of your result.

As you may realize, your internet speed does not only depend on your ISP, it also depends on the hardware and software used on your end of the line. If you are using hardware provided by your ISP, there shouldn’t be a problem. The bottleneck for speed often sits in the connecting computer.

Here are a few tips to Increase the Speed of Your Internet Connection

(1) Connecting Port

This may seem obvious, but you should connect to the internet though an ethernet port, rather than a serial, parallel or USB port. If ethernet is not an option, it may be advisable to update your hardware.

(2) Enough RAM

Make sure your system memory can handle the load! If you want to browse fast, you will need to close other applications in case your RAM is maxed out.

(3) Fast Browser

Mozilla based browsers generally are among the fastest browsers, while still being comfortable to use. Whichever open source browser you pick, make sure you don’t overload it with extensions or addons, those will just slow your browser down dramatically. On the other hand, if speed and RAM are not an issue, go for the luxury!

Also there are a number of tweaks and addons to increase the speed of your browser.

(4) Increase Speed under Windows XP Pro

Windows XP Professional reserves 20% of your bandwidth for services like updates or spyware checks. If you would like to exploit this reserve, do the following:

1. Click [Windows] + [R] and type gpedit.msc in the Run window.
2. Under Computer Configuration expand the Administrative Templates.
3. Go to Network and click the QoS Packet Scheduler tab.
4. Double-click on Limit Reservable Bandwidth and enable it.
5. Finally change the Bandwidth limit to 0% and click Apply.
6. Reboot your computer and enjoy.

(5) Tweak Tools

There are a number of programs that promise to increase your internet speed. They may work, they may not. They all apply a number of changes to optimize your network settings. Whether or not they will really improve your internet speed or which one will work the best for you greatly depends on your system, hence it’s difficult to recommend an application.

For further reading I will refer you to a set of articles found on About.com. Start with DSL and Cable Broadband Speed Tweaks and work your way through the links at the bottom.

Which tools and tweaks worked best for you?

(By) This post was written by one of our regular authors, Tina from Recommended.

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