Microsoft is still testing IE for 56K modems

In this age of HD YouTube videos and OS updates totaling hundred of MBs, it's sometimes easy to forget that somewhere out there are dial-up users.

Interesting to note then, that in Microsoft's IE test lab - which emulates DSL, cable modems, high bandwidth WAN and 4G speeds - they've also bothered with lowly 56K modems.

The company has posted a blog entry outlining IE testing, which includes a "mini-Internet" constructed for testing purposes. The aim is to try and make sure the browser runs "consistently fast across all classes of computer hardware." This network includes more than 120 computers, ranging from X64 desktops to an Atom N270 1.6Ghz netbook.

An estimated 5% of Australia's 6.7 million households with the Internet are still using dial-up, according to official estimates.

From Internet Activity, Australia, June 2011 (Australian Bureau of Statistics)