[RESOLVED]Is there a faster alternative for HTTP download? (URLDownloadToFile) urlmon

[gabba]

I am making an application that is speed-critical, and needs to download a file over HTTP and parse the download within 0.3 seconds.
The program needs to be able to complete at least 3 cycles per second.

The actual page being downloaded is actually a very modest 5900 bytes, but I cannot seem to get my VB application to download it any faster than 400ms, even on an 8MBps connection. Our work has an 8MB connection, so the actual environment is the same, and I am using the same disk speed (the benchmarks are around the same too).

Can I cut the download time of 400ms to to maybe 50 - 200ms? The parser takes about 20ms, and that is simplified to a stick-figure.

Here is my download module:

Public Declare Function URLDownloadToFile Lib "urlmon" Alias "URLDownloadToFileA" (ByVal pCaller As Long, ByVal szURL As String, ByVal szFileName As String, ByVal dwReserved As Long, ByVal lpfnCB As Long) As Long

Public Function DownloadFile() As String
Dim lngRetVal As Long
Dim hfile As Long
LocalFilename = "C:\jEdit.working.temp"
lngRetVal = URLDownloadToFile(0, strCurrentURL, LocalFilename, 0, 0)
      hfile = FreeFile
      Open LocalFilename For Input As #hfile
         DownloadFile = Input$(LOF(hfile), hfile)
      Close #hfile
End Function

Are there any FAST alternatives to URLDownloadToFile?

I have tried Winsock, but the average (over 50+ tries.. I lost count) is about 800ms.

Many thanks in advance,

Gab