Is it just me?

When IMing with other members (either on AOL or AIM) I experience extreme slowdown on these forums (forae?). And in the computer vernacular - get AOL'd. After exiting the internet.
I can quit IMing and notice a definite speed increase.

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenum?

Steve Case, do you carry a grudge?

From the SECRET underground laboratories of
The Ancient Mariner
where the wheels are turning veeeeerrrrrry slowly
Must be this last week of almost daily rains.

Fred, I don't notice any difference during an IM.

It's Smoke & Mirrors for me as to how they do it, Fred.

But the more 'connections' you have open, the more drain there is going to be on your resources.

For example, when I'm on line, COMPAQ knows it somehow and if there is an update for my computer, it will download in the background. Microsoft knows when I'm on line and alerts me when there is a critical update to windows or Office 97.

If I log into AIM, they are looking for me and all the buddies I have to see if we're on line and sending that status to those who have me on their list ect.

I SUPPOSE all this would be moot if you had one of those superfast cable connections, but even with a 56.6K it might slow things down.

But Tim will weigh in here soon with his astute observations and you'd be better off using his answer rather than mine.

John

Fred, I belive the problem is on the west coast. With the phone system's resources overloaded AOL has gone back to using carrier pigeons during peak times to reduce the burden on the system. And AOL has gone back to shipping e-mail by rail again, you may notice that sometimes your e-mail has a routing path. Sometimes I'll see the chat logs with the routing path as Sunset Limited, City of St. Louis with a RPO cancelation on the e-mail and then the final leg is done the old fashion way - on horseback, I was driving by the phone company yesterday and I saw a guy on a horse race up and jump off and run in with a leather sack. And sometimes if a horse throws a shoe you can add in another 1-2 hours before the Amish Wagon Club (AWC) sends out a blacksmith to get a rider on his way again. You may want to move closer to the center of the country to speed up your e-mail and IM's

Just a thought,
Mark