About Improving ADSL connection

[Cippu]

Im new with all this tweakin etc. stuff so i got this page and though that ill ask one simple question from u ppl who understand something of these things. I got PII 400 with 256/256 ADSL connection. I was wondering 2 things : 1st. is it any way possible me to improve my download speed ? I c that here is lots of stuff guided to do but i bet if i start to do em all my stuff boots up :D SO if there is a simple way to check or improve it i'd appreciate all you'r help. And if not i'm happy if even someone says it to me. 2nd. I can access all peoples stuff in any sharing program and so can my friend but he lives 1 kilometer away from me and he has same connection but we cant access eachother !!! What's wrong then ? I think we can belong into same area network but what could we do to access eachother ?
Thanks all of you're help and this is great site just have to view this with looooots of time.

[Kip Patterson]

Welcome to Speedguide! Sorry, I don't speak Suomi.

To begin with, you are using a cache or proxy. You may wish to remove it.

There is a known problem with the software in the CISCO routers that prevents two users on the same Cable router from talking to each other. Your ISP will need to upgrade the operating system of the router in order to fix it.

Kip