>> Did you ever figure out what was going on? Cache/
>> compression of some kind?
>>
>> Sean
>
>Nope - still happens too. Some pdfs from an ftp site the
>other day came into the PC almost 4x as fast as their sizes
>suggested they should have, ie transfer was 1 minute/meg.
>I'm convinced that on odd occassions a 56k modem can
>go faster, but I appreciate there are Doubing Thomases
>amongst you with good technical reasons/opinions why it
>shouldn't happen

Well it is dependant on a number of things.

1. It is possible that the browser is downloading the file into a temporary
file while you are still fiddling around determining where to save it. You
can see this happening if you use Opera, as there is a download activity bar
at the bottom of the window. On small files the download into the temporary
file can be completed before you have finished selecting the save location.
Incontinent Exploder also saves to a temporary file before transferring to
the final save location, so I believe it does the same thing. It is possible
for this action to hide a reasonable piece of the download time.

2. If you are using your ISP's cache facility then the file can be
downloaded into that from the original location lightening fast, and your
download is then only at the speed/activity level of your ISP and you. This
can save considerable time in a large download, as you are not having to
send acknowledgements to packets considerable distances over a potentially
busy internet, your ISP has already done this in downloading into its cache.

3. AFAIK all 56k modems use compression on the data stream to achieve higher
than 56k equivalent data rates at the (equivalent) DB25 connector. For this
reason it is often possible to use 115k to connect to an external modem, and
subject to network traffic, achieve more than 56k actual data transfer
rates.

4. Do not forget that doing other browsing while downloading can
considerably slow down a file download. :)) If you have wandered away
thinking that you have started a large file which will take a while, and
leave the browser alone, you may be surprised at how much faster it runs
with no other activity.

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