Someone please help me with my internet connection!!

T

Teasy

Veteran
Ok, just over a year ago I used to connect to the net with this same system using a Elsa MicroLink Fun II serial modem. I used to connect at 41k everytime. I then got ISDN for around a year (BTW when I had ISDN a modem would connect at 50k, so I assume they turned the gain right up when installing ISDN).

Anyway I recently got rid of ISDN and moved back to a normal phone line. Now when I connect with the same modem and same OS (installed from the same disk) I get a 26.4k connection everytime. I've tried 5 different ISP's. I phoned BT and asked them to turn up the gain, which they did. None of it gave me a connection any faster then 26.1k. So I phoned BT again and asked if they had installed a DACS on my line when they uninstalled ISDN. They said no there was no DACS on my line.

So I decided to try a different modem. I borrowed a Supra Express Pro PCI and tried that. This time I got a 32.1k connection. Still not good enough of course since I used to get 41k and now with the gain right up I should get more like 49 to 50k. So I looked around the net and found that a lot of people were having problems connection at good speeds with modems using WinXP. Usually a fresh install of WinXP seemed to fix the problem for them. While I had never had this problem with WinXP before I thought it was worth trying. So I formated and re-installed WinXP.

The first time I re-connection (with the Elsa serial modem) I got a 38k connection. This connection was to MS's ISP refer number as well (I'd forgoten to save my ISP number.. oops), which is always slow. So I was sure I'd finally get a good connection to a decent ISP. So I find my ISP details and connect... 26.4k.. :devilish:

So I tried the Surpa Express again, and got the same 32.1k connection. Since then I have gotten a 38k connection once in about 50 tries (I'm using the Supra Express now) on my normal ISP. But I cannot get higher then that, and usually its 32.1k.

Does anyone have any idea's of what I can do to fix this? AFAICS there is no problem with my phone line. BT claim its not DACS'd and the gain is right up. Also if it was DACS'd then I think it'd be impossible for me to get a 38k connection. So surely this has to be a problem with WinXP and modems. But what? I mean I used to use WinXP with this same modem before getting ISDN. So what can I do?!?!

I just can't live with a 32.1k connection that downloads at around 28k (3.5kbps) at best, its painful!!!
 
Try a different OS?
Try a different computer?
Try a different phone line?
...good news is since your line is not Dac'sd it means you wont have to jump thru hurdles to get your BB when it becomes available.
 
I'm not really sure what you mean there Simon :)

Tahir

All good suggestions thanks. Unfortunately I can't try any of them at the moment. But I'll definitely try them in a few days.

BTW I'm not sure when I might get BB. I may still be sitting here waiting for broadband in 2005 :(

If anyone has any other idea's about how to sort this out, then please post them.
 
believe it or not, the quality/condition of the cable connecting your modem to the wall socket can have an adverse effect

not too long ago i swapped out an internal modem for an external one but left the new cable in the box as i already had one
the new modem performed worse than the usual poor performance that is to be expected with a dial-up
it wasn't till i saw a post by someone else about the cable that out of desperation i broke out the new one and tried it in place of the one i'd been using for ages
it worked

this was general transfer stability and not connect speed though, but i take connect speeds with a pinch of salt - too high and the thing grinds to a halt very soon after connecting
 
Teasy said:
I'm not really sure what you mean there Simon :)
Click to expand...
Sorry for being flippant. FWIW, my (£12) 56k modem gets (IIRC) ~35 with both Linux and W2K with Onetel's ISP service, but as I'm located at the other end of the country, I guess that's not much use to you.
 
I tested my connection speed with those sites. One of them didn't work, something to do with MS Virtual Machine. Anyway here are the results of the other two.

1= 26.8kbits/s

2= 26.1kbits/s

This is from a V90 modem one a phone line that BT claim is working fine and has the gain turned right up.... :rolleyes:
 
Simon F said:
Teasy said:
I'm not really sure what you mean there Simon :)
Click to expand...
Sorry for being flippant. FWIW, my (£12) 56k modem gets (IIRC) ~35 with both Linux and W2K with Onetel's ISP service, but as I'm located at the other end of the country, I guess that's not much use to you.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I checked and I actually get 44kbs from my 56k modem.
 
Yeah that's around about what I used to get with this same system and my external modem before getting ISDN. I used to get 41.3k, now with that modem I get 26.1k. Its all very confusing. The same system, the same phone line, no phone line problems according to BT, the gain turned right up. Yet where before I got 41.3k I now get 26.1k. As if that wasn't wierd enough my other modem, a PCI one, gives me 32k (all be it about 27k in reality, but you never get top reported speeds when downloading with a modem anyway so..).

I still have a few things to try. Like using a different PC on this line. As well as trying this PC on another line. But if those two things don't tell me anything then I'm really going to be utterly lost.

I'm even thinking of going with a satellite ISP.
 
Teasy said:
I still have a few things to try. Like using a different PC on this line. As well as trying this PC on another line. But if those two things don't tell me anything then I'm really going to be utterly lost.
Click to expand...

Have you tried connecting your PC directly (via the modem) to another PC and cut-out BT almost entirely. That would surely detect if it's a problem with your system or not.
 
I have been through a few diagnostics with Teasy and it is not a system problem.

He is being limited to V34 for some reason and I think it is his phone line.

The speed slightly increased when adding some AT Commands but only to the level of a 33.6K modem.
 
I just tried one of those speed test sites again. Here is the result:

Bandwidth place speed test = 350kbitsps

Hehehe, I finally got a satellite internet connection. No more crappy 32kbit download speeds.. f*ck BT! :D
 
Doh! Trust me to see this now...

Actually the 41K was a very bad result for the ISDN.

(For those who don't know)

ISDN comprised 2x64Kb data channels ("B-Channels") and two tiny signelling ("D-Channels"). The B Channel bandwidth is guaranteed, so using an analog modem over it is connecting you at 64Kb to your destination whereupon the analogue modem negotiates a lower speed to talk to the ISP at. The gain on the line won't matter at all.

(Moving on)

Did you have BT Highway? If so they might have altered/damaged the ends of your copper pair when installing the box. Although with BT Highway I know for a fact it's all designed to work fine if the ISDN is turned off again but I don't know if it might degrade the signal.
 
Rob M

The 41k connection was the normal modem connection that I used to get with my line before I had ISDN installed. With ISDN I got 64k/128k connections everytime (and 50k with a V90 modem). So they definitely didn't damage my line when installing ISDN.

BTW yeah I had Home Highway. I actually still have the Home Highway box on my wall because I wouldn't pay extra (on top of the £50 fee I had to pay for them to disable ISDN) for them to remove the equipment at my house.
 
"1099 kbps" and my phoneline is DAC'd (damned locally owned phone company) and no DSL or cable will be available for a few years.... :D

edit: oh did i mention that i was d/l streaming 64k audio while i ran the test?

edit2:

much better- 1221932.94b/s and 1251 kbps 8)
 
hum but im more looking forward to a 1googolplex connection (1googleplex = 1 x 10^googol, and 1googol = 1 x 10^100, and no im not shitting you- those are real names for real numbers)
 
What sort connection do you have Sage?

I might actually be able to get ADSL by the end of this year. My telephone exchange has 145 registrations of interest for ADSL and BT have now said that they'll upgrade it when it hits 350.

BTW I upgraded my sat connection recently and now get 950kbps on that test (I've had 1200kbps max when downloading big files). Not quite as fast as your connection, but it'll certainly do after having to use a 26k modem connection :)
 
I have a fixed wireless connection (IEEE 802.11b) and get pings around 40. BTW what satellite do you have? $80 a month is a bit expensive for less than a T1 and being behind 2 NAT's (one I have no controll over) which means NO server of ANY kind. I cant even send/recieve files over ICQ :devilish:
 
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