What dial-up ISP offer 256k speeds?

Question

I know that by law they are allowed to go up to that speed, although some people still think that the law limits it to 56k.

Answer 1

The law (FCC) DOES indeed limit analog devices from offering a modulation scheme that is beyond around 56K. Anything beyond that is not "dial up" as defined as switched access with no additional filtering equipment or line conditioning required. DSL uses traditional lines, but as any DSL user knows, you must have a filter for every analog telephone, fax, or answering machine. Termination is into a DSLAM, not a 5ESS or similar local switch.

Accessing the net using dialup beyond 56K, you are getting compression - which in a total text environment, is highly compressible. JPEG graphics are also intelligently reduced in resolution to "appear" to load faster, when in fact they are stripped down versions of their prior self. A binary file will travel at slightly less than 56K.

Answer 2

Dial up is limited to 56k, but there MIGHT be some companies offering some additional software (if they are still around) that use compression, filtering and storing of web pages you visit frequently to speed up the display of the pages. See below...Good luck.

Answer 3

If you can find a dial-up modem that is faster than 56K, more power to you. If you can't, it doesn't matter what speed the ISP offers.