Propel software creates faster Web experience -- at a
good price
By Jon Fortt
Mercury News
If you are like most people, you have dial-up Internet access. Either
high-speed connections aren't available in your area, or you've decided they're
too expensive. This means you're doomed to slow page-load times, right?
Wrong.
A San Jose company called Propel has an alternative. You download a piece of software that talks to Propel's
server computers. Together, the software and the servers figure out a way to
speed your dial-up connection.
Propel Accelerator costs about $5 a month, and there's no hardware to
install. This week, the company began offering a two-week free trial of the
newly launched service; previously, the free trial had only run for one week.
Propel Accelerator sounds like a hoax; there are plenty of pop-up
advertisements and unsolicited e-mails out there that exclaim, ``Boost your
Internet connection speed!'' or ``Your connection is not optimized.'' That
software provides little if any benefit. Propel actually works.
I conducted my own Propel performance test using a stopwatch and my
temperamental 3-year-old 366-megahertz Celeron laptop with 64 megabytes of
memory. My dial-up connection, through EarthLink, was receiving from 48 to 52
kilobits of data per second. That's one of the faster dial-up connections.
Here's how the test worked:
First, I went to a few of the more popular Web sites: CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo,
Google, ESPN, Hotmail, Amazon.com, eBay and Travelocity. I also visited
SiliconValley.com, a Web site that publishes stories from the San Jose Mercury
News. I used the stopwatch to gauge how long it took each home page to load.
Then I restarted the laptop, and timed it again. I timed from when I clicked the
mouse to when the page completely finished loading.
Next, I went to Propel's Web site and downloaded the software in just a few
minutes to start a two-week free trial.
I double-clicked on the file, ``propelsetup,'' that resulted from the
download. The software installed itself in a matter of seconds. I then connected
to EarthLink and started browsing.
The most dramatic performance improvements came from Yahoo, which went from
loading in 13 seconds to 4 seconds; and eBay, which went from 46 seconds to 7.
Every page I tested loaded at least twice as fast.
The folks at Propel said my load times were still slower than they should
have been, so other tests might achieve faster times. Still, I was pleased with
the results; if I weren't already a DSL subscriber, I would probably pay the
monthly fee for Propel Accelerator.
Considering DSL costs at least $40 a month, and Propel can
give you a fast Web browsing experience for as little as $15 a month -- $10 for
Netzero's unlimited Internet access,
plus $5 for Propel -- it's a pretty good deal.
Propel is similar to an old Internet idea, but is different in some important
ways. The old idea involves using a computer's storage, or ``cache,'' to keep a
copy of a Web page. That way, when the user asks for the Web page, it gets
recalled from the computer's storage, which is faster than pulling it off the
Internet.
The problem with the old cache model is that it does not work well for pages
that change often -- e-commerce and news sites, for instance. Propel Accelerator
works better. Instead of storing an entire page into cache, the software stores
pieces of the page. Then Propel's server computers mediate, sending a minimal
amount of data to your computer as you surf the Web. As a result, the connection
seems faster.
Steve Kirsch, Propel's founder and chief executive, is the real deal: He came
to Silicon Valley in 1980, long before the dot-com gold rush. A few years later,
he invented an optical mouse.
Then he founded a software company called Frame Technologies, which Adobe
Systems bought. Then a search engine called Infoseek, which Disney bought and
turned into Go.com. He first thought he would sell Propel technology to
businesses, to speed database access. When the economy tanked, the company
rethought its strategy.
Kirsch has millions of dollars already, so he doesn't need to con the public
in some get-rich-quick scheme. He's already rich.
``I came up with this algorithm, and it's like I can turn lead into gold,''
Kirsch told me. ``Most people thought I was nuts.''
As with all magic, there are some caveats. Propel Accelerator works only with
Windows PCs that have at least 32 megabytes of memory. It works best after the
first time you visit a Web site. Also, Propel doesn't speed up everything. The
process of downloading files is as sluggish as ever, and so is watching movie
trailers online. Propel also doesn't speed up graphic animation or secure Web
pages.
Sign-up now!
