Digital exchanges make life almost bearable. And if your internet service provider offers alternative local numbers, try switching between them when the going gets rough. It might also be worth trying the Pretoria number from Jo'burg, for example. The dirty secret of Internet Service Providers is that its the international connection which costs them the most money, which means its the area they're most likely to skimp on. The lesson is that the best times to surf are the worst times.
Office workers migrate en masse to the 'net after lunch when boredom sets in.
From 3.00 to 5.00pm is particularly bad, but speed returns between 5.00 and 6.00pm when most citizens are stuck in bottlenecks of a different kind. East coast Americans roll out of bed at around 3.00pm our time, and you can feel the slow-down on US sites. Serious geeks keep mental charts of waking and sleeping times around the world and shift their attentions west to east across the globe, staying an hour or so ahead of the rising sun. Leased lines turn a headache into a productivity tool that even the dimmest can easily master. But not all digital lines are born equal.