One of the biggest throughput problems, line noise, is easy to detect. You can hear it even over a dial tone. Noise is never a problem with digital connections such as ISDN lines, cable modems, or DSL, but on a regular phone line, it can be a killer.

You can check your line's noise by logging off your computer and then picking up a phone that's on the same line as your modem. If it sounds as though someone's ripping open birthday presents, you have line noise. It's caused by a variety of factors, from poor wiring at your own location to moisture in the phone company's junction boxes. What can you do about it? By yourself, nothing.

You can pester your phone company to fix the connection, but be warned: telephone companies have a tendency to try to turn the tables with excuses such as "Your phone is probably faulty," or "It's your problem if you have a computer on this line."

And there may not be anything the phone company can do. The circuit could be spoiled by cross talk (overlapping signals) from phone wiring and unshielded power lines or from other devices that emit electromagnetic radiation. It's also possible that moisture or cheap components in your phone receiver could create crackling. You can figure this out by testing an apparently noisy phone line with more than one telephone.

If your building has a network interface device junction box (most buildings with multiple phones lines have one--a small gray junction box mounted outside), plug a phone in there to listen for line noise. If you hear no noise at the junction box but do hear noise on your extension, the line noise is caused by the wiring or an electromagnetic radiation problem inside your building.

If this is the case, call in your phone company's service engineers. If the bad wiring is inside your home, the telephone company will probably charge you for inspection and repairs. Always ask how much they will charge before you invite a service representative into the building.

Replacing wiring yourself can be tedious and costly. But if you decide to do it yourself, use shielded cable for long runs, especially if you're installing more than one line. A handy tool to have, and one the professionals use, is a phone wire with a phone on one end and a pair of alligator clips on the other. Use it to check wires at each junction along the way. You can make your own with Radio Shack parts.

What a hassle, right? That's why digital lines are such a great idea.

Upgrade Your Phone Line
If you cleaned up your phone line, customized the Windows Registry, and followed our other tips, and you still crave speed, consider abandoning your traditional connection altogether--or at least modifying it drastically. Your current options for high-speed Internet access are cable connections, digital subscriber lines (DSL), and ISDN.

Cable Modems
Cable connections to the Net, provided by companies such as RoadRunner, typically cost a flat rate of about $40 per month and can theoretically download data at an enormous 30 mbps. But cable still hasn't penetrated much beyond metropolitan areas. Check CNET's Web Services page to understand why that is and where the providers are in your area. If you live in an area with cable Net service and spend a lot of time online, consider spending a little extra money for a lot of extra speed.

DSL and Other Alternatives
Digital subscriber lines piggyback on your phone line to deliver data at up to 6.1 mbps, yet they still leave room on the phone line for you to make a regular voice call. You may not see that kind of speed where you live, however, because slower forms called CDSL (consumer DSL) and G.Lite (or DSL Lite) can bring digital lines to your house without some of the costly hardware requirements. Look for speeds of about 1.5 mbps from these versions, which still is about 30 times faster than a 56-kbps modem at its best.

The only downside to DSL is that right now it's available only in urban parts of the country. DSL service pricing is all over the map, ranging from $40 per month for a slow (640 kbps) Bell Atlantic deployment on up to about $200 per month or more for corporate users. FreeDSL, an attractive-sounding alternative, is available only where DSL is already installed, and it's free because you're forced to watch advertisements constantly scroll by in addition to those carried on Web sites.

Your last two options are less than ideal. ISDN is slower than and just as expensive as DSL. But this type of connection is still faster than an analog modem because ISDN combines two 64-kbps data channels for a total of 128 kbps for data transfer. Your final option, a satellite link, delivers data at about 400 kbps. But it costs $300 to $600 for the dish, plus installation, plus a subscription plan, and you'll need to keep your modem and ISP because it's only a one-way system--you can't upload data to it. This will not be the Net technology of the future. In fact, it's already slipping into the past.

Crank Up Your Modem Speed
So, those of us who aren't jacked in to cable modems or DSL lines are dialing in with 56-kbps modems, right? If not, you should be.

If your ISP offers 56.6-kbps connections and you have a 28.8-kbps modem (see "Clock Your ISP"), you're not getting the most out of your Internet service. Upgrading to a faster modem will let you take advantage of every drop of speed your ISP provides.

Speed Limits
But don't expect any miracles. Stepping up from 33.6 kbps to 56 kbps may not increase your connection speed by that much. For one thing, a true 56.6-kbps connection is against the law. The Federal Communications Commission put a cap on the amount of data you can send through a phone line because more powerful signals bleed over onto adjacent phone lines, causing cross talk. So, for the time being, 53 kbps is your functional limit, but even that speed is tough to achieve. Connection speed depends heavily on phone line quality, which can be a real crap shoot. Most tests show that throughput in the mid-40s is more the norm, so if you manage to connect at 48, enjoy it.

With all those obstacles, why should you bother to upgrade? Because it makes good sense. A 56-kbps modem gives you the best chance to achieve the fastest connection your phone line allows. Besides, modems aren't that expensive these days. There's no reason not to upgrade. So, all you 14.4 holdouts, what are you waiting for? Click here to compare the prices of internal and external modems.

Shop With Caution
As you shop, be aware that one type of modem (usually called a Winmodem) borrows your system's resources to do some of its work. If you're running anything slower than a Pentium II, this can hobble your speed. Winmodems typically cost less than the more independent models. But unless you run a superfast system, it may not be worth the upgrade.

Two Modems, Twice the Speed
So, what else can you do to crank up your connection speed? Dial-up modems aren't expected to become any faster; for that, you need DSL or a cable modem. But it's possible to use two modems, two phone lines, and a special account with your ISP for a connection that can top 100 kbps. It's called multilink bonding, and any Windows 98 machine supports it.

When you use a multilink connection, the first modem dials and connects to the Web, then the second modem kicks in. Information is divided between them, putting most of the load on the first modem. To set up multilink bonding, you have to connect two modems to your computer and be sure that they're not competing for interrupts, signals that your computer hardware uses to assign tasks to its various devices. COM1 and COM3 by default share an interrupt, as do COM2 and COM4, but Windows 98 (not 95, however) automatically reassigns interrupt numbers where possible. Each modem must be on its own phone line, and your ISP must support multilinking. If it does, your phone service cost may double. So, if DSL is available in your area, you may want to go that route instead (see "Upgrade Your Phone Line").

To establish a multilink connection on a Windows 98 system:

1.	Click the Start button and select Programs/Accessories/Communications/Dial-Up Networking.
2.	Right-click your Internet connection icon and choose Properties. If you don't have a connection already configured, double-click Make New Connection, type multilink, and select your fastest modem (if there's a difference). In the next window, enter your ISP's access number and click OK. Right-click the resulting icon and choose Properties.
3.	Select the Multilink tab. Click Use Additional Devices and select your second modem, listed in the window below. Type in the phone number the second modem will dial (it may be the same as the first number; your ISP will tell you).

That's all you need to do. Just dial in and enjoy the ride.