The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
Modem Booster 1.0
Bernadette Houghton
 bernieh@iaccess.com.au

Modem Booster aims to speed up Internet downloads by optimising TCP/IP settings. The developers claim that average modem speed will improve by 10-50%, with as much as 300% improvement in extreme cases.

Installation is quick and simple, and afterwards you run the Configuration Wizard to configure Modem Booster for each of your ISPs. This involves answering a couple of straightforward questions, after which you're ready to begin tuning up your modem. The Auto Tune-Up option performs a series of 37 tests, automatically connecting and disconnecting to your ISP's Web site for each test. According to the Modem Booster documentation, the tests should take 1-2 hours to complete. Auto Tune-Up fine-tunes four aspects:

  • Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), the size of data packets transmitted by both ends.
  • Receive Window (RWIN), the amount of information you can receive at a particular moment.
  • Time-to-live (TTL), the time allowed for information to reach you before it retransmits.
  • Cache Size, the amount of temporary Web data your computer can hold.
W hen Auto Tune-Up completes, it produces a report showing the perfor-mance increase you can expect. You can fine-tune performance even more with the Manual Tune-Up option. Once tuning is completed you simply connect to your ISP using the Modem Booster dialler.

Assessment

When I first started testing Modem Booster, it hung each time I started a Tune-Up. However, the solution was available on Modem Booster's technical support Web pages - the tuning process doesn't like frame-based Web pages or those with JavaScript. So, if your ISP's home page uses these technologies, it's recommended that you tune-up your modem against http://www.altavista.com instead of your ISP home page.

Once I'd made this minor adjustment via the Configuration Wizard, Auto Tune-Up began rattling away. Unfortunately, it rattled very slowly. Very, VERY slowly! Because of the time the tests were taking, I had to cancel several tune-up sessions. I did eventually find the time to let the tests run for a full hour, but in that time Auto Tune-Up completed only seven tests. Estimating that I'd need another five hours to complete the remaining 29 tests, I gave up. Unfortunately, if you cancel a tune-up session mid-stride, you lose any information gathered during the session; so it's not possible to split a tune-up over multiple sessions.


Figure 1. A Modem Booster tune-up in progress


Figure 2. Results of a tune-up (as seen from a screen print from the documentation)

The Modem Booster documentation recommends that tuning be done overnight and unattended. Unfortunately that wasn't possible in my case, since my ISP's logon procedures require my attendance. At present, the tune-up process works only with the Windows 95/98 Dial Up Networking dialler, although in some cases (not mine, unfortunately!) it is possible to use scripts to automate the logon process.

Unfortunately, my review of Modem Booster remains inconclusive since I wasn't able to complete the full range of tests. However, you can download an evaluation copy free of charge, and try it out for yourself; your experience may be different to mine.

Cost and Availability

US$19.95. Download an evaluation copy from http://www.inklineglobal.com/download/index.html.

Minimum System Requirements

386 processor, 8 MB RAM, 2 MB free hard disk space.

Reprinted from the June 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia