Re: Is Serial downloading faster than downloading 2 files a the same time?

No... ideally the pipeline between you and your ISP/connection is as fat as it
is going to get, it doesn't swell and shrink depending on the amount of 
data going through it.  There may be phone line conditions, ISP connection 
issues, or the host web servers connection which may all make the line 
fluctuate in clearity, but if you connect at 28.8 kbps, that's all that can be 
squeezed through.

So, if you download 500K at once or 2x250K files, the net amount of data 
to be transferred is 500K.  that will occur, for example, in one 30 minute 
chunk or 2x15 minute serial chunks.  This will be hard to reproduce due to 
differences in each connection, modem, modem config, tcp/ip stack, and 
other variables, which may give one or the other an edge in testing.

Compression of files also factors in, so two files of differing 
composition will have different compression ratios and thus download 
differently.

But it's a good question... good luck,

Ben Saitz
mailto:bsaitz@cloud9.net