Note that a 28,8 modem does not guarantee that you will actually connect at that speed. The fastest connection available is a T 1 which is a direct connect. The Information Highway has lots of traffic jams. Get a sense of what times your connections work fastest and try to schedule computer use at those times. If you have a home computer or are using an old school computer, the speed of the computer can sometimes be a factor in internet use.
Computers made in the last two years tend to have lots of memory and fast processors.
Windows 3.1 will run on less. If your computer takes a lot of time to load Netscape then it is likely that the computer will also take time displaying graphics from the internet, thus increasing wait time. There are several user settings that you can enable to make BSCW run faster. These settings are located in your user menu bar at the bottom of most pages. Using the hand icon is very helpful for catching up on new activity in any workspace.