INTERNET LOADING……. LOADING FAILED
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNET
Internet, from computer dictionary is the worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate with one another, is not new in Nigeria; so many people are used to the internet. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational, and other computer systems, that route data and messages.
Nduka Dagbue of Getachus Nigeria Ltd, said “the Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers).”
One or more Internet nodes can go off line without endangering the Internet as a whole or causing communications on the Internet to stop, because no single computer or network controls it. The genesis of the Internet was a decentralized network called ARPANET created by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1969 to facilitate communications in the event of a nuclear attack. Eventually other networks, including BITNET, Usenet, UUCP, and NSFnet, were connected to ARPANET. Currently the Internet offers a range of services to users, such as FTP, e-mail, the World Wide Web, Usenet news, Gopher, IRC, telnet, and others.
TYPES OF INTERNET CONNECTIONS IN NIGERIA
There are many ways to connect to the internet world wide. The three most popular ways in Nigeria are Wireless Broadband, Satellite (Vsat), and Dial-up.
Wireless Broadband Connection
Wireless, from computer dictionary is pertaining to, or characteristic of communications that take place without the use of interconnecting wires or cables, such as by radio, microwave, or infrared light.
Wireless Internet or wireless broadband is one of the newest Internet connection types. Instead of using telephone or cable networks for your Internet connection, you use radio frequency bands. Wireless Internet provides an always-on connection which can be accessed from anywhere — as long as you are geographically within a network coverage area. Example, in my class we can connect to the wireless, but if we travel distance from the network, we will not have access to the wireless network again.
Most wireless Internet sites offer content as basic text with limited graphics. Wireless communication is limited by how far a system's signals can reach. Wireless LANs use small cells, called micro cells to extend their system's range. This is similar (as the name would indicate) to cellular telephone technology. At any point in time, a mobile PC equipped with a Wireless LAN adapter is associated with a single access point and its micro cell, or area of coverage. Individual micro cells overlap to allow continuous communication within wired network.
According to Nduka Dagbue of Getachus Nigeria Ltd, Wireless Broadband internet connections are becoming very popular in Nigeria right now as a result of ease of connection and wide availability. The only draw back to it is that most of the providers operate from unlicensed frequencies with its attendant issues of interference. The Licensed frequencies are even not spared. As a result of this, service qualities can not be guaranteed.
Satellite (Vsat) Connection
This allows a user to access the Internet via a satellite that orbits the earth.
A satellite is stationed in geosynchronous orbit that acts as a microwave relay station, receiving signals sent from a ground-based station (earth station), amplifying them, and retransmitting them on a different frequency to another ground-based station. Initially used for telephone and television signals, communications satellites can also be used for high-speed transmission of computer data. Two factors affecting the use of satellites with computers, however, are propagation delay (the time lag caused by the distance travelled by the signal) and security concerns.
According to Nduka Dagbue of Getachus Nigeria Ltd, A dish antenna, measuring about two feet high by three feet wide by three feet deep, transmits and receives signals. Uplink speeds are nominally 50 to 150 Kbps for a subscriber using a single computer. The downlink occurs at speeds ranging from about 150 Kbps to more than 1200 Kbps, depending on factors such as Internet traffic, the capacity of the server, and the sizes of downloaded files.
Dial-up Connection
Dial-up Connection is a remote network through the use of a modem. Dial-up networking is typically used in reference to telecommuting, although the term is equally applicable to connecting to the Internet. Dialup Connections are mainly analog connectivity which requires dial-up access. This means that every time you need to access the Internet, your modems must dial a number to secure a connection. Communication Companies in Nigeria provides such modem for home use and office use.
According to Nduka Dagbue of Getachus Nigeria Ltd, Dial-up connectivity offers several key advantages. It is most inexpensive solution and it is available anywhere there is a phone line. On the other hand, it is the slowest connection available, particularly when there are many users on the network needing remote access, and it requires waiting while a dial-up link is being made.
CAUSES OF SLOW AND FRUSTRATING INTERNET ACCESS
High speed Broad band Internet connections run at a much faster rate than any dial-up connection. It helps to download high capacity of anything, and it’s very fast. However, if you are looking for a specific connection rate, be cautious.
Causes 1: If your Hard Ware equipments were not properly installed, do not expect high level of efficiency from it. You can lose up to 70% efficiency from your equipments if not properly installed.
Causes 2: If your ISP (Internet Service Provider) did not follow the terms and conditions and provide low bandwidth, you can always use some bandwidth testing website to verify the actual bandwidth you have, most ISP already provided such service, you can get the bandwidth testing feature or ask them to check for you.
Causes 3: If your Windows or router is not compatible with each other, it can cause extra overheads and slow down internet access dramatically. If you have a router older than 2 years, your router may not be compatible with your windows, prepare to replace it.
Causes 4: Your Internet Explorer is not optimized, too many checking and fancy features delays everything, and you may want to use a faster browser! Like Google Chrome, Fire Fox etc.
Causes 5: Your system may be infected by Virus and Spyware, and they constantly consume Internet bandwidth to send private information or establish a connection to the hacker's computer, this will breach Windows firewall because a port has been open and used to allow the hacker to gain access to your computer anytime.
Causes 6: If too many people are trying to access the same site at the same time, it could cause congestion and slow down the entire site. Like the Jamb web-site, at times could not be accessed, many people checking their result at the same time. If a Web site has particularly high traffic at the time you are trying to access it, your slow connection speed could be the fault of the Web site.
Causes 7: Your Internet browser was hijacked by unauthorized BHO (Browser Helper Object), and using the bandwidth to send your privacy data to the hacker. The constant connection will dominate your computer bandwidth and eventually freeze up during Internet connection! (Nduka Dagbue of Getachus Nigeria Ltd).
Causes 8: Bandwidth choices, this is very important, most people complain, they just got a bandwidth and its finish just in a week! You cannot use a bandwidth designed for the home user to run a cyber café of office, they are designed to perform optimally during off peak periods. Also you do not expect dedicated Bandwidth to perform like shared bandwidth. Your bandwidth choice must be done in accordance with your work load. Always remember that there is no free lunch on the internet. If your choice of bandwidth is inappropriate, there is no way you will get more than you have paid for.
Causes 9: The installation of your Local area network is also important, it could be frustrating when working online and the connection stop due to bad LAN, as soon as your internet service provider terminates internet at your location, the rest is up to you. If your LAN is not properly installed, do not expect to get high internet speed from your connection.
Causes 10: Heavy downloads can cause delay, during periods of heavy downloads on your network, do not expect to get high internet access speed, mind you most providers constantly monitor their networks and will immediately notices a site with very heavy downloads and place some restrictions on it. If you want to be constantly downloading big files, then you must subscribe for the appropriate bandwidth.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION FOR SLOW AND FRUSTRATING INTERNET ACCESS (Nduka Dagbue of Getachus Nigeria Ltd)
Step-1: Check what is the speed provided to you? Let us understand what exactly is kbps. It is nothing but Kilo Bits per second. Let us take the example of 512kbps.
When you download it shows the speed in KBps i.e. Kilo Bytes per second. And one byte is equal to 8 bits. So if you have a connection 512 kbps then you will get a speed not more than 64KBps. (i.e 512/8) .If you getting above 50KBps download speed than its pretty good speed. If you are getting less than 20KBps speed while downloading then you have to be concerned about it.
Step 2: You are really getting less speed.
If you are getting less speed, than ask yourself a few questions?
Q1. Do I have good antivirus software whose virus database is up to date?
Q2. Do I have good anti-spyware software installed which has the most recent updated spyware definitions?
Q3. Do I have a good firewall like that of zone alarm to prevent external intrusion by hackers?
Q4. Do I have sufficient hardware to support the high speed internet connection? Like sufficient RAM and CPU speed?
Q5. Is my computer fully optimized for a good speed?
If all the answers of the above questions are yes then you have the rights to concern about your internet provider (ISP).
Step 3: Suppose everything is in place and you want some tweak to enhance the internet speed then follow the following steps.
Did you know a whopping of 20% bandwidth is reserved for Windows update service? Of course it will slow down your internet speed when the update process is going on in your computer. You can disable it. So that window can’t act like a king and ask for a reservation in bandwidth share.
For this follow the following steps.
1. Log into the Administrator account. (Remember to log into
"Administrator" account, this is important)
(How to log into Administrator account: Log off from your account. After it logged off press Ctrl+Alt+Del then log into the Administrator account using Administrator as user name and the password given during the installation of the windows XP)
2. Click on start - click run - type gpedit.msc
3. Expand the "local computer policy" branch.
4. Expand the "administrative templates" branch
5. Expand the "network branch"
6. Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left window
7. In right window double click the "limit reservable bandwidth" setting
8. On setting tab check the "enabled" item
9. Where it says "Bandwidth limit %" change it to read 0
Reboot the system.
Most probably it will not slow your internet connection while windows service updates its program. Because now windows can't ask for a reservation in bandwidth, it has to share internet with other programs.
Step 4: If you have not taken a high speed connection then it is a good idea to block java and flash components of a web page. Because these components use a lot of bandwidth. Set up your IE not to download or show images during browsing. It will help to open up pages much faster, which enables you to read articles and blogs without having to wait ten minutes for the page to load. In Internet Explorer this can be done by going to Tools / Internet Options / Advance Tab / scroll down until you see “Show Pictures”; just uncheck that.
Step 5: Delete Index.dat files
These files will significantly slow down your computer's speed on the internet in most cases. These were designed to re-record all your internet history. These files can grow up to 100MB! Microsoft claims the files were designed to increase internet speed .But many times it does the opposite. Again it may expose your browsing activity to spy ware soft wares, which is a security concern too.
Index.dat are files hidden on your computer that contain all of the Web sites that you have ever visited. Every URL, and every Web page is listed there. Not only that but all of the email that has been sent or received through Outlook or Outlook Express is also being logged. The file names and locations depend on what version of Internet Explorer you have. If you are running IE version 4.0 or above, the file name is "index.dat". Microsoft has not supplied an adequate explanation as to what these files are for or why they have been hidden so well.
According to Microsoft, these files are used to cache visited Web sites to help speed up the loading of Web pages in Internet Explorer. Obviously this cannot be the case because when you clear the Temporary Internet
Files the "index.dat" files remain behind and continue to grow. If you delete or clear the Temporary Internet Files, there is absolutely no need to index the URL cache because those files no longer exist.
Don't waste your hard earned money on soft wares to speed up internet connection. They simply remove your internet history and index.dat files and just change few registry setting.
How to Delete Index.dat file Manually?
The index.dat file is used by Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer.
You cannot delete a file that is in use by a running program. If you feel you need to delete the file, you will have to shutdown all instances of Explorer and IE. This includes applications that may host the Web browser control: Outlook, Messenger, IE, Product Studio, Visual Studio, Help, Windows Media Player, etc. Your best bet is just close everything. When you are left with a desktop and a start menu, you will still need to shutdown Explorer. To cleanly shutdown Explorer: Start->Shutdown->CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+Click 'Cancel'. You can use Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC, File->Run...) at this point to open a command window. You should be able to go delete the index.dat file.
Step 6: Always use a download manager to download. You can go for Free Download Manager. This is free and has really good features. I personally like this software.
Step 7: If your internet speed is hampering your browsing activity then, always make the automatic update features of all software disabled except for Anti-virus and Anti-spyware programs. But don't forget to update those manually on a regular basis when internet is idle. It definitely increases your internet speed. Even make the windows automatic update as manual. Don't forget to update it regularly by manual process.
Step 8: Reduce Web Cache Space: You need to reduce your web cache space to the minimum because this way your browser does not need to search much in the temporary files. For this you need to do the following:
Click Start > Click on Control Panel > Double Click on Internet Options >
Click on Setting option under the Browsing History [Delete temporary files, history, cookies, saved passwords & web information].
Click Start > Click on Control Panel > Double Click on Internet Options >
Click on Setting option under the Browsing History [Delete temporary files, history, cookies, saved passwords & web information].
Now reduce the cache size to the minimum recommended disk space which is normally 50Mb disk space. This way your internet connection speed will increase to some extent.
Step 9: Internet Service Provider Issues
Internet speed ultimately depends on the service provider. Your ISP may change their network's configuration, or suffer technical difficulties, that inadvertently cause your Internet connection to run slow. ISPs may also intentionally install filters or controls on the network that can lower your performance. Don't hesitate to contact or change your service provider if you suspect they are responsible for a slow Internet connection and cannot resolve the issue.
You need fast connection, to connect to the world...................... stay connected.
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