Fine Tune Your Connection:  Surfing at high speed with DSL and Cable access is cool, but to be sure you're getting the speed you're paying for, you may have to fine tune your system settings.  You can check your speed at PCPitstop, DSLReports, MSN, Speakeasy, or at Verizon's speed test.

The actual throughput of your connection should be about 85-90% of your rated speed.  Connections are generally advertised in KBits/second.  For example, a 640KBit/second DSL connection should have a throughput of at least 544KBit/second or 64.0KByte/second. 

There's Help On The Web:  PCPitstop is a good site for all around fine tuning of your system, while DSLReports is the best place on the internet to find out everything you need to know about high speed connections and system settings.

Run the various tweak utilities to be sure your local settings are optimized for high speed.  Many users, after upgrading to broadband, unhappily find out that their systems are still optimized for dialup speed.  In fact, in some cases the broadband connection is slower then the old dialup connection, with some sites never responding.

Fortunately the tweaks will help you track down and adjust the correct settings for your connection.  Be aware, though, that some of the changes can't easily be undone, so it's a good idea to back up the registry before you apply any of the tweaks.

Verizon Users Take Note:  One of the settings that often has to be adjusted is the MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit).  Verizon DSL PPPOE users will find that if the setting is higher then 1492, mail and news postings won't work properly.  Some web sites will also be unresponsive.

If you have a router you can set the MTU setting on the router using your web browser.  This should negate having to set the MTU on each client on your network.  If you use Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing, the clients should run the tweaks on DSLReports to optimize settings to work properly with Verizon.

The best route to go, after you've spent some time on DSLReports, and PCPitstop, is to look to your ISP's home page to see if there are any local support groups covering your ISP and it's specific technical considerations.

A good ISP will have either dedicated newsgroups, web forums, or both.  These are places where users and tech support can exchange ideas and solve problems related to slow or dropped connections, and very specific fine tuning information.

My previous ISP, Worldnet, and current ISP, Verizon, both have excellent newsgroup coverage.  Verizon has 14 dedicated groups, and Worldnet had even more.  The groups are monitored by tech support, FA's (volunteer Forum Administrators), and advanced users.  Generally the help offered in the groups is much more technical then any help offered through phone support.

Even if you're not having any problems, it's a good idea to check the newsgroups regularly, so you can be better prepared if you do run into trouble.