Wi-fi is also much faster than mobile phone data networks and traditional dial-up connections.

BBC: You could get online across London with the new plans.

It leases a data network supporting 4, 000 dial-up numbers--more than AOL, he says.

FORBES: Free For All

But 2.5G systems still transfer data at more than twice the rate of dial-up Internet modems found in homes.

CNN: Stuck On the Runway

Dr Dial, though, thinks his data point to an avian third way: that wings are for more than flying (or gliding, for that matter).

ECONOMIST: Birds that don't fly may be using their wings to run uphill

The company says three large US mobile operators are already customers for its Rocket Optimizer tech, meant to speed up all manner of data even as mobile connections have gone from dial-up to broadband speeds.

ENGADGET

The mobile grabs data off the Web about three times as fast as a regular dial-up phone connection, plenty of speed for e-mail and sending photographs or videoclips.

FORBES: 3G Phone

The data compression technique he used allowed images to be sent over what were then slow dial-up connections at much faster speeds than had been previously possible.

BBC: Webby Awards

Most WAP phones download data at 9.6 kilobits per second, a snail's pace compared to the typical desktop dial-up speed of 56 kbps.

CNN: The Game's the Thing?