does anyone here use ib's tws platform with a 56k modem/ISP? reason i ask is that my backup will be such a 56k line, and i noticed before with some brokers like datek, it is very difficult to go around navigating the buy/sell screens, porfolio, etc with that speed. just wanted to get some feedback. Thanks.
I use a 56k as a backup and even at an actual connect speed of 33.6 it works fine. Just don't stream anything else at the same time like Briefing.com or esignal or you'll probably choke the bandwidth.
I've used IB and quotes.com on a 56k modem a few times when I've been on the road. It is definitely tradeable but of course not ideal. The difficulty is that some hotels with "business centers" don't always open when the markets open (Pacific time zone). I've tipped the manager on duty $100 before to open the business center early for me; or sometimes you can stay in one hotel and go to another who's business center opens early. Fortunatley these days more and more hotels are adding broadband access from your room.
56k works fine for ib.. i use it all the time on the road with my charting software running too.. no problemo.. -qwik
IB and realtime charting packages bandwidth is very small. usually less than a 1KB per second. you don't need a lot of internet capacity for trading. the kind of problems you might run into is connection stability. that's something else. I remember on the road to, I often chose to switch to lower speed (33.6) because the connection would be more stable. as a backup it's obviously plenty. and any serious retail trader should have such a back up even when you have broadband access.