Here's how to do this (assuming you're using the Sympatico software):

Windows 95:

1. Click , point to Settings, then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click on Modems.
3. Select your modem by clicking its name in the list.
4. Click Properties.
5. Click the field below Maximum Speed and select 57600 Kbps.

Windows 3.x:

1. Double-click your Business Internet dialer icon on your desktop.
2. Click Properties.
3. Click Modem.
4. Make sure your port speed is set to 57600 Kbps.
   

Macintosh:
1. Locate and double-click FreePPP Setup.
2. Click the blue triangle to open the advanced settings window.
3. Click the Modems tab.
4. Double-click the name your modem in the list.
5. In the FreePPP Modem Configuration window, make sure that 57600 bps is selected for the Port Speed.

If you have your modem's speaker turned on when you connect to the Sympatico service, you'll hear a painful hissing-screeching sound just before you connect. This is called handshaking; it's the process whereby the two modems (your modem and the Business Internet dial-up modem) negotiate the highest speed at which they can reliably communicate with each other. During handshaking, modems compare their own capabilities, and then test the quality of the connection between them to find the highest transmission speed that it can tolerate.

Some modems are programmed to be very aggressive, and will try to start the connection off at a high speed (often being forced to downshift later on). Other modems are more conservative, and will start out slow, gearing up later as line conditions permit.

When modems attempt to exchange information faster than the line can handle (due to physical constraints, signal degradation, interference, and so on) errors result, requiring that information be re-sent. Since re-sending slows down the overall transfer rate, modems are generally better off communicating reliably at slower speeds than communicating unreliably at high speeds.

What is Data Compression?

Your computer is designed to communicate with your modem at such high speeds in order to accommodate hardware data compression (you may have heard this mentioned in your modem manual). With hardware data compression enabled, the sending modem analyzes the blocks of information it is being asked to transmit, looking for patterns. When a pattern is identified, the sending modem is often able to decrease the amount of actual information it needs to send by expressing the patterns via a kind of electronic shorthand.

This is an oversimplification (and, even so, complicated enough!), but the net result of this compression is the illusion of transmitting data faster than the actual physical speed of the modem. Make no mistake; your 33.6 Kbps modem can't actually transmit data faster than 33.6 Kbps. Anything more is just a clever programmer's trick.

Much of the data transmitted over the Internet is already compressed, using software data compression (i.e. most images, applications and so on). Hardware data compression generally won't be able to squeeze anything more out of data that's already been compressed using software methods.