I'm on dial-up, and my download speed typically hovers between 2 and 4 kilobytes per second. But, my download manager (Orbit) allows me to set my computer to close the download program, disconnect the phone line from my ISP and shut off the computer when it finishes downloading. That way, I just shut off the monitor and let the computer download all night long, and by morning I have my 80 MB download file.

I also have a laptop with a WIFI card so I can go to any McDonald's to get high speed internet. I can download files there 30 to 50 times as fast as I can at home. All McDonald's restaurants in Canada now offer free WIFI; I don't know about the US. So, if I need to download a big file, I just go to my local McDonald's, download it onto my laptop, put it on a memory stick and load it onto my desktop when I get home. Living with dial-up isn't all that bad when you can access high speed internet whenever you want.