Propel Accelerator Frequently Asked Questions.

1. What is Propel Accelerator?

It's the fastest Web Accelerator on the market!

Propel Accelerator is a subscription-based service that works with your existing EZ-Net dial-up connection, allowing you to dramatically increase your surfing speed. Pages that previously took almost 30 seconds to load, can now be viewed in less than 7 seconds, on average, and sometimes even faster.

Propel Accelerator is the next best thing to DSL, at a fraction of the price. Unlike costly and limited-availability broadband solutions, Propel Accelerator is:

 

2. How does it work?

Propel Accelerator is designed to provide maximum acceleration for the Web sites you visit regularly. So, the more you surf, the faster your favorite pages will load!

Specifically, Propel Accelerator speeds up the delivery of Web pages four ways:

  1. Compression. Propel Accelerator delivers text and graphics more efficiently, using a proprietary compression technology that significantly reduces the size of Web pages and page elements sent to your browser.

  2. Caching. Propel Accelerator improves upon your browser's caching ability. Propel intelligently retains and reuses Web pages and page elements that have previously been sent to your PC. That's why the longer Propel Accelerator is in use on your PC, the faster your Web pages will load.

  3. Persistent Connections. Propel Accelerator uses proprietary techniques to carefully manage and optimize the communication between your modem and our network of servers through a persistent connection. This eliminates the time wasted re-establishing and closing TCP/IP connections.

  4. Optional Content Filtering. Propel Accelerator lets you block unsolicited content, such as pop-up ads and in page ads, which contributes to long wait times.

 

3. How Fast is it?

With Propel Accelerator, Web pages load an average of 3 to 5 times faster. The more regularly you visit specific Web sites, the better the performance you will receive.

Here is an example of tests we ran with and without Propel Accelerator.

Popular Web Sites *Before Propel® *With Propel How much Faster
with Propel?
Ebay 11.65 seconds 2.97 seconds 3.92 X faster!
USA Today 32.43 seconds 3.77 seconds 8.60 X faster!
Mapquest.com 30.56 seconds 5.01 seconds 6.10 X faster!
Monster.com 11.74 seconds 3.04 seconds 3.86 X faster!
CNN 11.68 seconds 2.26 seconds 5.17 X faster!
*Average time calculated based on loading the home page. First time visit to a Web page loads on average 2 times faster. Subsequent visits to the page load, on average,
3 times faster.

What Gets Accelerated?

Most Web content will be accelerated, but there are certain exceptions:

What will be accelerated
What will *not* be accelerated
All text - HTML, markup, and javascript
Streaming media, and audio and video files
Most graphics & photos - including jpeg and gif images
Secure pages, such as those used for online banking and credit card forms and pages accessed over VPN
Most banner ads - including animated gif images and Macromedia Flash content
Files downloaded outside your browser using ftp
All browser-based emails
All emails that contain images - even when read in a dedicated email program
MP3 files, executables & other files - when downloaded from within your web browser (depending on the quality of your connection).


4. What does Propel Accelerator cost?

Propel Accelerator costs just $2.95 +tax per month in addition to your monthly dial-up fees with EZ-Net. Your first bill will be pro-rated according to the day of the month you sign up on (so it will be less than $2.95) and each subsequent bill will be for $2.95 per month. You can cancel at any time, however, monthly Propel Acceleration fees are non-refundable (once you use Propel in a given month, you owe for that month in full).

 

5. Will Propel Accelerator work on my PC?

Propel Accelerator has been through rigorous third-party testing to ensure that:

Compatibility:

Platforms: Windows 98/NT 4.0/2000/ME/XP (sorry, no Macintosh support yet.)
Connections: Any low-speed Internet connection, like a dial-up connection.
Browsers:

IE 5.0 or later, AOL 6 and 7, or Netscape 4.7 or later, MSN Explorer
See special instructions for Opera and Mozilla
Utilities: Works with many ad blockers, popup stoppers, personal firewalls, and other utilities.

System Requirements:

Available Disk space: 25 MB
(135 MB recommended)
Total System memory (RAM): 32 MB
(64 MB highly recommended)

Unfortunately, Propel Accelerator will NOT work along with EZ-Net's Bess Internet Filtering service. EZ-Net customers who subscribe to use Multilink PPP or Multi-Port dial-up use should call us to set up Propel service.

 

6. How do I download the Propel Accelerator application?

When you sign up using the online form, you are sent a confirmation email that gives instructions including the address for downloading the Propel Accelerator program.

 

7. How do I sign up?

That's EZ! Just click here and fill out the short sign-up form and you will be on your way to surfing the Web faster with Propel Accelerator from EZ-Net!

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to email sales@ez-net.com.