Dial Up?

[Henry]

Is anyone trading full time from a dial-up connection, and is the performance acceptable?

I'm trying to figure out logistics for a potential house move which may involve some temporary accommodation somewhere along the line. As most (all?) broadband providers want you to sign a 12 month contract, it looks like an all-you-can-eat dial-up deal may be in order temporarily.

I suppose the best way to find out is to try it, but I'd be interested to know if anyone already does.

H.

 

[ChartMan]

It'll suffice for most needs, unless you scalp by the second.....

 

[JonnyT]

Hi Henry,

Whilst I have broadband I think you will be OK.

For instance Sierra/Mytrack and IB is not that intensive.

JonnyT

 

[Skimbleshanks]

I have dial-up as my back-up, and it is OK. Admittedly, I am only running the absolute minimum in terms of trading platform, charts, etc, but it is acceptable. When I am using dial-up, I use an alarm clock to remind me of when the automatic cut-out is due, so that I can disconnect and reconnect at my convenience rather than in the middle of a trade.

Broadband providers may have a 12 month contract; this just means you have to agree to pay whatever's left of the 12 months if you cancel. So in the worst case scenario it is only a couple of hundred pounds.

 

[farzin]

It really depends on how you are trading. If yo are a day trader in different markets at the same time and need to have multiple monitors and windows or if you have a live charting system (as the minimum recommended connection for the last one is ADSL), the dial up connection or even an ISDN line would not be suitable but if you just look at a few stocks and indices, then I think a dial up would be enough.

If you take a broadband and you move, with paying another £60 connection fee you can move it to the new location or number. One more thing which BT customer services told me is that if you move to a new location which BT can not provide you with ADSL you can diconnect and you wouldn't be charged for the rest of 12 months term of your contract. I assume this should be the same with other ISPs.

 

[options]

I'm in the same boat as you Henry. Mid move, but staying in 3 different places. Kills the trading for the intraday chart from Sierra.

Anyway.
I have both broadband and dial up as I suspect quite a lot of traders do. There is very little difference on the IB screen if at all between the two connections.

You only really need broadband if your skitting through sites and downloading music files from the net. As long as you don't lose connection to your trading screen you will notice very little difference from IB, as long as your computer is reasonably new and has enough power.

However there is a difference if you do lose connection and you have to get back on quickly. Dial up takes forever.

There are quite a lot of isp's doing one month contracts now. Who really wants to be tied to a 12 month one?

Sniffout.com
adsl4home.com are a couple I can think of off the top of me head. Time for a google search m8. Cheapest uk broadband.

Both of those are around the 20 pound mark with prices looking set to fall further from the isp's

As an aside, my broadband is currently running slower than the 56k dial up. (2 different comps)Still at the stage where i am trying to find out if it's the computer or the isp.

Regards.

Options.

 

[Henry]

Thanks for the replies and info all - my mind is much more at rest!

H.