Pauses and delays in the transfer can be caused by you or others, and may have a dramatic impact. It is particularly important to take this into account when comparing alternatives using different networks.
Example: Transfers to TWICS via Datapak at 9600 bps rarely gave me higher effective speeds than 100 cps. The reason was that the connection between the Japanese telcom network and TWICS went through a 1200 bps gateway.
A high speed connection to your data transporter's network does not guarantee a high speed connection to the remote computer.
I used to go through Datapak at 9600 bps to a computer center in Oslo. There, I was connected through a local area network to the host computer. The effective speed was rarely higher than 4800 bps. Calling direct gave twice the speed.
Try to measure the effective transfer speed before selecting a routing for your data. Transfer the same amount of text through various networks. If future transfers are likely to take place at a given time of day, test at that time. If your planned application is retrieval of programs, retrieve programs. If you want to read news, then read news from the services that you want to compare. When a network service charging for volume (like Datapak) will also be part of a comparison, measuring volume is particularly important. Do not assume that you know the answer in advance.
| NOTE: Always calculate the cost based on a fixed volume, like | | for the transfer of 1000 characters. This is particularly | | important when you need to use different transfer speeds to | | access competing services. |
Network load varies considerably throughout the day depending on the number of simultaneous users, and their applications. This also applies to online services. The load is normally lowest, when the bulk of the users are asleep, and during weekends. When the load is low, you get more done per minute.
Planning and self-discipline pays off ——————————————————- The actual cost of using a given set of services depends a lot on your self-discipline, the tools you use, and on how well prepared you are:
* If accessing manually, use "quick" commands rather than menus to move at maximum speed to desired sources of information.
* Do not set your services to be used with colors, sound, or
special methods for displaying graphics, unless you have no
choice, or are willing to pay the extra cost. They increase
the volume of transferred text, and lower effective speed.