Low Speed Internet Thread poster: Valentine-Roy
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I will be moving to a rural area where only low speed Internet is offered.
I have a degree in translation and have done work in the past but now intend to make it my full time career. I am training myself to use WORDFAST (CAT).
Will the low speed connection raise major problems?
Thanks,
An almost newbie
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 07:55
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
ENIAD wrote:
Will the low speed connection raise major problems?
Not really, but I would suggest using Gmail because you can see upfront whether there is a big file to download. Also don't be shy to tell clients that you can't accept large files.
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ENIAD wrote:
I will be moving to a rural area where only low speed Internet is offered.
I have a degree in translation and have done work in the past but now intend to make it my full time career. I am training myself to use WORDFAST (CAT).
Will the low speed connection raise major problems?
Thanks,
An almost newbie
If it's the good old telephone modem speed (52kbps I think) then doing your normal research and correspondence will be annyoingly slow, perhaps so much so that it will affect your productivity.
If the connection is unreliable as well as slow (weak signal on mobile internet, for example) then it could be a major problem. Of course it also depends to some extent on what kind of work you're planning on doing.
| | | | | I agree with Samuel | Jul 19, 2009 |
You can do practically anything using low speed connection. In case of email - Samuel is right Gmail is a good choice - especially that it has this unstable connection mode when all your emails are available locally on your machine and emails are downloaded and sent as soon as connection is available.
Also if you find that you earn decent money but your download speed hampers your productivity you can always use internet via satellite dish - it may be used only for downloading but t... See more You can do practically anything using low speed connection. In case of email - Samuel is right Gmail is a good choice - especially that it has this unstable connection mode when all your emails are available locally on your machine and emails are downloaded and sent as soon as connection is available.
Also if you find that you earn decent money but your download speed hampers your productivity you can always use internet via satellite dish - it may be used only for downloading but the download is fast and available practically everywhere, you will still need a return channel for the upload.
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
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LEXpert
United States
Local time: 00:55
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
+ ...
| Software for download only | Jul 19, 2009 |
Make sure that you back up the installation file for any software that is available only as a download (which seems to be more and more common these days). These files tend to be very large and can take a long time to re-download should you need to reinstall them. Updates for subscription services (e.g., antivirus) will take longer also. If an agency needs to send you a larger attachment, you can ask if they use FTP. It won'... See more Make sure that you back up the installation file for any software that is available only as a download (which seems to be more and more common these days). These files tend to be very large and can take a long time to re-download should you need to reinstall them. Updates for subscription services (e.g., antivirus) will take longer also. If an agency needs to send you a larger attachment, you can ask if they use FTP. It won't be blazing fast, but still probably faster than downloading an e-mail attachment of similar size. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 06:55
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| It won't be easy | Jul 19, 2009 |
I only recently got a broadband connection, and even now it's the minimum, but it's light-years ahead of what I had before!
I'm not sure what you will have, but I had a 56k dial-up connection. The main problems that haven't been raised so far are (a) EVERY SCREEN takes ages to load, (b) the phone-line is engaged every moment that you are on-line, and (c) you often pay per number of hours of connection or by the amount of data passed back and forth.
You may well find tha... See more I only recently got a broadband connection, and even now it's the minimum, but it's light-years ahead of what I had before!
I'm not sure what you will have, but I had a 56k dial-up connection. The main problems that haven't been raised so far are (a) EVERY SCREEN takes ages to load, (b) the phone-line is engaged every moment that you are on-line, and (c) you often pay per number of hours of connection or by the amount of data passed back and forth.
You may well find that (b) and (c) are not a problem as there are sometimes ways around them and you can limit downloads to a certain extent eg ask friends and family to download to USB key, use cybercafés, take a laptop to free Wifi hotspots, ...
What you can't do, as a professional translator, is stop doing any research on the internet. When EVERY screen load takes anything from 30 seconds to several minutes, it just doesn't work. A few sites (such as Google Mail) have special 'light' screens for slow connections, but most don't and the problem is getting worse as pages are tending to be weighed down with all sorts of c**p in the form of piccies, videos, etc
I can only say that it was a very large factor in our decision to move!
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | slow, but go | Jul 19, 2009 |
To cut the traffic switch off all graphics, Java, and Flash in you browser.
If you use on-line TMs the traffic will be rather low... more critical is the stability of connection.
Where you need speed is when you receive and return jobs.
If not speed, then cheap traffic.
I started with 14400 baud modem in 1990s...
[Редактировалось 2009-07-19 20:14 GMT]
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 07:55
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Optimise your internet usage | Jul 19, 2009 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
I'm not sure what you will have, but I had a 56k dial-up connection. The main problems that haven't been raised so far are (a) EVERY SCREEN takes ages to load...
There was a time when I had rather slow internet access, namely what in South Africa is termed "56k" (which only happens if you're the only one on the net, so in reality your speed is about 14.4). Here are some things you can do to optimise your internet usage:
* Use a stable or slightly older operating system that doesn't require constant online updates. Windows 2000 ought to do it. You can run MS Word 2000 on it with ease, and it'll work with Wordfast.
* Use Opera for internet browsing, and set it to download only cached images, and no multimedia. It has keyboard shortcuts for enabling these things when you need it.
* When downloading large files, use a download manager such as FlashGet to increase your download speed a bit.
* If you use POP3 mail, get a program that helps you see the mails and select the ones you want to download and delete before you actually download them. An abandonware version of MailWasher should do the trick (is limited to a single mail account).
And don't forget to check out some of the tips from people in your situation:
http://www.labnol.org/software/browse-websites-faster-on-slow-internet-connections/8059/
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Claudio Porcellana (X)
Italy
| low speed internet | Jul 19, 2009 |
Hi Eniad
check if you can have an ISDN connection, at least
it not only doubles the 56Kb but it offer a digital connection, not analogic as a standard 56Kb
it mean a quicker login and a very stable conection PLUS the chance to do and receive voice calls, while you are downloading/uploading data
I used it for 2 years and it was better than nothing
;-D
BUT try to find a flat rate, if possible, otherwise the service can be very expensi... See more Hi Eniad
check if you can have an ISDN connection, at least
it not only doubles the 56Kb but it offer a digital connection, not analogic as a standard 56Kb
it mean a quicker login and a very stable conection PLUS the chance to do and receive voice calls, while you are downloading/uploading data
I used it for 2 years and it was better than nothing
;-D
BUT try to find a flat rate, if possible, otherwise the service can be very expensive as you pay 2 calls for every connection (plus a connection fee, may be)
you can also check for satellite connections or even radio link connections:
they are much more expensive, but it can be well worthwhile if you can work more smoothly or have bigger jobs
do a look here
http://www.satsig.net/satellite-internet/satellite-internet-canada.htm
Claudio
[Edited at 2009-07-20 00:34 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | sarandor
United States
Local time: 01:55
English to Russian
+ ...
| Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 07:55
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| ISDN versus... | Jul 20, 2009 |
Claudio Porcellana wrote:
Check if you can have an ISDN connection, at least. It not only doubles the 56Kb but it offer a digital connection, not analogic as a standard 56Kb. It means a quicker login and a very stable conection PLUS the chance to do and receive voice calls, while you are downloading/uploading data.
In South Africa, ISDN connections are charged per minute of connection time, whereas ASDL is charged per megabyte downloaded (regardless of connection time, which is presumed to be always-on in most cases). Isn't it the same where you're from?
The OP said that she's moving to "rural" surroundings where internet is slow. Presumably this means no ADSL or ISDN. On the other hand, everything is relative. Perhaps the OP has had cable up to now (100 Mbps) and will only be able to get ADSL (5 Mbps)... who knows? Can the OP please let us know what is "slow internet" where she'll be at?
| | | | Valentine-Roy
Local time: 01:55
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Hi everybody,
I was able to collect more info concerning where I will be moving. There is only the most basic of connection available, at 56Kb. The good news is that it is unlimited access.
There were also talk of accelerators which upgrade the delivery of text material up 14 times but being an enlightened paranoid, I figured that it may just boost it closer to the advertised 56 Kb speed.
The connection is ISDN and the salesperson was surprised by my question since he a... See more Hi everybody,
I was able to collect more info concerning where I will be moving. There is only the most basic of connection available, at 56Kb. The good news is that it is unlimited access.
There were also talk of accelerators which upgrade the delivery of text material up 14 times but being an enlightened paranoid, I figured that it may just boost it closer to the advertised 56 Kb speed.
The connection is ISDN and the salesperson was surprised by my question since he associated ASDL with high speed Internet and ISDN with low speed. I do not know if that makes sense to you.
I am also investigating the satellite connection and may have found a few providers. Costs have come down in the past years but it is still expensive so I will try to make do the slow connection way for now, using the smart advice that has been given here. I have read it all and will look at it in more details later.
Thanks a lot for your help on behalf of myself and of other users who experience or will experience the same working conditions.
Please feel free to comment or ask further questions.
ENIAD\DIANE
[Edited at 2009-07-21 06:07 GMT]
[Edited at 2009-07-21 06:15 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Claudio Porcellana (X)
Italy
Hi Murray
here in Italy I used ISDN even in a caravan, settled in a wood, near a veeeery little villlage (1000 beings or so) ....
in practice, ISDN is delivered on the same standard telephone copper wires and the difference is only a filter in your home, so you can have ISDN everywere there is a phone line
My last ISDN plan (from 2004 to 2007) featured ISDN 2x64 Kbps at about 30 EUR per month for 6 hour a day (if I remember well) but currently you can find... See more Hi Murray
here in Italy I used ISDN even in a caravan, settled in a wood, near a veeeery little villlage (1000 beings or so) ....
in practice, ISDN is delivered on the same standard telephone copper wires and the difference is only a filter in your home, so you can have ISDN everywere there is a phone line
My last ISDN plan (from 2004 to 2007) featured ISDN 2x64 Kbps at about 30 EUR per month for 6 hour a day (if I remember well) but currently you can find business plans at a flat rate (connection always-on) of 20 EUR per month or so
my current ADSL 7 MB plan (from 2007 to date) is a flat rate (connection always-on) at 30 EUR per month including all local area and national calls
BTW, here in Italy you can hope to have an ADSL line only if your village is more than 3000 beings
don't know in Canada ....
Claudio
Samuel Murray wrote: Claudio Porcellana wrote:
Check if you can have an ISDN connection, at least. It not only doubles the 56Kb but it offer a digital connection, not analogic as a standard 56Kb. It means a quicker login and a very stable conection PLUS the chance to do and receive voice calls, while you are downloading/uploading data. In South Africa, ISDN connections are charged per minute of connection time, whereas ASDL is charged per megabyte downloaded (regardless of connection time, which is presumed to be always-on in most cases). Isn't it the same where you're from? The OP said that she's moving to "rural" surroundings where internet is slow. Presumably this means no ADSL or ISDN. On the other hand, everything is relative. Perhaps the OP has had cable up to now (100 Mbps) and will only be able to get ADSL (5 Mbps)... who knows? Can the OP please let us know what is "slow internet" where she'll be at?
[Edited at 2009-07-22 01:09 GMT]
[Edited at 2009-07-22 01:13 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 07:55
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| High and low speed | Jul 22, 2009 |
ENIAD wrote:
The connection is ISDN and the salesperson was surprised by my question since he associated ASDL with high speed Internet and ISDN with low speed.
The sales person has probably never used the technology that came prior to ISDN, therefore his association with ISDN as "slower than" instead of "faster than". ADSL is generally faster than ISDN, but ISDN is generally faster than old-style dial-up that achieved speeds in the range of 14.4 to 28.8 kbps.
I am also investigating the satellite connection and may have found a few providers. Costs have come down in the past years but it is still expensive...
Do these providers give you a free modem in exchange for signing a contract of, say, two years? New internet offerings became available at all times and it is unwise to sign yourself in for two whole years just because the modem is "free". The modem might seem expensive if you buy it once-off but the freedom to switch providers or connection plan may be worth the extra money.
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