Internet Performance at All-Time High

Internet users downloading Web pages via modem connections are doing so at the fastest speeds in more than one year, according to Inverse Network Technology.

Industry average Web throughput has improved 34 percent, reaching 3.11 KB/second in May, up from January 1998 results of 2.05 KB/second. Web throughput measures the speed at which an end-user’s PC receives bytes of data over a standard dial-up line and 33.6 KB/second modem.

Users with industry standard V.90 modems, which operate at 56 KB, can expect their results to be about 22 percent faster, according to preliminary testing of ISPs using V.90 modems conducted by Inverse.

“The fact that Web performance has improved so dramatically indicates that ISPs are deploying new capacity in the networks at a rate that exceeds demand,” said Michael Watters, president and CEO of Inverse. “For end users, this translates to an improved experience using the Internet.”

The improved Web throughput statistics correspond to a significant improvement in call success rates since the winter months, according to tests conducted by Inverse in April and May of 1999.

In April, call failure rates fell during evening hours (6 p.m. to midnight) and business hour measurements (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) to 7.8 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. Call failure rate measure the likelihood of a user’s failing to connect to his ISP on the first try, because of factors such as busy signals, unanswered calls, failed logins, and modem problems.