Modem Booster & Stay Connected!

Company: InKline Global, Inc.
Product: Modem Booster & Stay Connected!
Street Price: $19.95 & $19.95
Date Reviewed: October 4, 2000
Reviewed By: Kevin

System Setup:

Still running on a old 56k? Not getting the speed you would like? There is a couple really good programs called Modem Boosterr & Stay Connected! from InKline Global, Inc. Are these products for you? Read on to find out...

Wanting to make sure to cover all bases, I installed the program on two separate computers, one with a good old hardware based modem, and the other is a cheaper Winmodem. 

System #1
P-II 300mhz @ 360mhz
64mb PC100
Cnet External Hardware Based V.90 56K Modem

System #2
Pentium 120
16mb EDO
Creative Labs K56Flex Winmodem

Installation:

Well this is pretty straight forward. I downloaded the software [1.49mb] and double clicked on it to install. The whole installation process took no more then 5 minutes.

Running the program:

After installation it will prompt you to reboot, after rebooting I started up the program. When you first run the program, it prompts you to put in your isp info, and after doing that you have 2 choices. You can choose either Auto Tune-Up or Manual Tune-Up, I chose Auto Tune-Up because this automatically decides what settings are best for your connection, and require no more input from me while it does its thing. In my case it had to dial into and hang up from my isp 36 times which took over 30 minutes! After it was done it listed the performance increases, which are shown in the next section.

Tests:

System #1:

System #2:

Now it's time to see if these figures above are true. I reconnected to the internet to try out my "boosted" connection, and while I did notice a bit of a speed increase in normal browsing, I only saw a 0.1k/0.2k difference in download speed. However the ping tests showed different results.

Ping Tests:

System 1
Avg. ping to Extremeoverclocking.com BEFORE Modem Booster:203
Avg. Ping to Extremeoverclocking.com AFTER Modem Booster:182

This shows a decent decrease in ping times.

System 2
Avg. ping to Extremeoverclocking.com BEFORE Modem Booster:289
Avg. ping to Extremeoverclocking.com AFTER Modem Booster:254

This shows about the same as above, but this was on a winmodem, known for high pings.

Conclusion:

While this product didn't help my download speeds much, it did help my ping a significant amount. As any online gamer knows, the lower the ping the better chance you have of your shot hitting it's target. I have never had much luck with this type of program in the past, but this one seemed to actually work well.

Where to get it:
Modem Booster sells for $19.95.
And can be purchased direct from: InKline Global, Inc.

PRO's: Lower ping times & slight speed increase.
Con's: Download speed not really affected, long auto tune-up time.

Rating: 7/10

Stay Connected!

Installation:

The installation of this product was about the same as the Modem Booster. Just download the file and click to install.

Running the program:

After installation double click on the icon to start. You will have to enter your isp info, your login, pass, etc. Then your set, just right click on the taskbar icon and it starts to work!

How it works:

This program works by sending out packets of data to keep your connection alive. While in AOL mode it auto-clicks the pop-up "Would you like to stay online?".  Many programs are like this, however this one seems to be the most user friendly.

Which ISP's does it work on:

Currently it works on all Dial-Up Networking based ISP's, AOL, CompuServe, NetZero, and Freeaccess.

Conclusion:

While there are many programs out there like this, Stay Connected! seems to be the most "user friendly". Anyone with AOL, NetZero or any other ISP that disconnects you a lot should look into this product. It performs well and using it is as easy as 1,2,3.

Where to get it:
Stay Connected! sells for $19.95
And can be purchased direct from: InKline Global, Inc.

PRO's: Don't get kicked offline!
CON's: Price is a little steep for this type of program, seems to be a little buggy.

Rating: 8/10

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