Speed Up Your Internet Connection

How can I make the most of a wired ADSL broadband connection?

I have a 7.4mb adsl (phoneline) broadband connection from Virgin Media. Currently it is conected to my PC by a splitter, adsl cable and a Thompson USB modem connected by USB1.0. How could i improve on this to make it faster or better? * i cant make it better or faster by using a router or wireless because that would be slower right? * the adsl cable is 15 metres and cost me £16 so should be pretty good and specialised? * the USB modem was free - could i get a better or faster modem? * would installing a USB2.0 port into the PC make a big difference?

Public Comments

1. None of your ideas will make it significantly faster. But 7.4mbit is very fast. If it feels slow its because of contention (other users sharing bandwidth at peak time) or adware and clutter on your PC.
2. USB 2 is a lot faster than USB 1.1 so in theory yes this would improve your data rate. however a proper ethernet modem/router would make the connection much better, it would also allow you to use wireless if you wanted too. ethernet has a much better bandwidth than USB. even the slowest wireless connections run at 11Mb/s these days, cabled etherned runs at a minimum of 100Mb/s so would easily cope with a 7.5mb/s adsl connection. don't worry about the long adsl cable, that just connects the phone line to the modem. if i were you i'd decide if i want wireless or cable and then choose a modem/router/firewall combined device from someone line linksys, or netgear or d-link. far superior than a USB modem and a lot more secure.
3. 7.4mb is very good.