Max...it may be a combination of things..(always the hardest to figure out)....I saw the speed increase dramatically for a few days when you made some changes a few weeks ago,,,then it dropped--suddenly--to that agonizing pace...now it is back to just pretty darn slow..unless someone publicized this site in some 'MAJOR' way and got us thousands of new browsers, I don't see how it could change that fast....and, since I do not see any increase in posts in the forum..(a slight decrease, I think, due to being unable to read & respond with any speed..), I suspect that there is something in the site/phonelines/software/. Since there are 6 or 7 regular posters in this area that I see in person regularly, I have compared notes, and it has been slow for everyone.
....I confess, I am really only comparing this to other sites that I visit and trying to note whether the net as a whole seems slow, or just certain sites.

If it is just bandwidth, I would be interested in knowing what it would take to overcome this problem...is it just that $10,000 (or whatever)next plateau machine/phone connection? Since we deal 95% just with text, and don't have to contend with 1000's of locusts downloading porno pics, it seems like we shouldn't have to struggle so hard....*smile*...Keep looking...we are behind you....and thanks for the info & updates....it helps to know what is happening..