Dial-up modem connect speed?

[Jim Adney]

Over the past year my dial-up modem connect speed has been working
it's way downward. I used to connect at around 44-46k, but it's been
going down, more or less stepwise, first to about 40k, and now to
33-36k, although I actually had one connect at 19k.

I called my local phone service repair line to see what they had to
say about this, and was told that they will only guarantee 14.4k. To
me, this seems rediculously slow, but I haven't called anyone else.

What do people out there get these days? Is switching local telco
providers likely to make any difference? Is there any chance that the
14.4k is just a smoke screen that I need to poke thru a bit to get
better results.

And, yes, I used a laptop to connect directly to the telco service
disconnect with the rest of my house disconnected. The results were
the same, so I'm sure that the problem is outside my home.

Please don't bother suggesting something faster. I know about those
options. My dial-up ISP is free, and would prefer to avoid the
considerable extra expense of a high speed connection.

-

 

[NSM]

Over the past year my dial-up modem connect speed has been working
it's way downward. I used to connect at around 44-46k, but it's been
going down, more or less stepwise, first to about 40k, and now to
33-36k, although I actually had one connect at 19k.

See if you can call different numbers - perhaps a friend. If it's consistent
as to speed it's pretty much the line.

N

 

[Andy Sullivan]

Over the past year my dial-up modem connect speed has been working
it's way downward. I used to connect at around 44-46k, but it's been
going down, more or less stepwise, first to about 40k, and now to
33-36k, although I actually had one connect at 19k.

I called my local phone service repair line to see what they had to
say about this, and was told that they will only guarantee 14.4k. To
me, this seems rediculously slow, but I haven't called anyone else.

What do people out there get these days? Is switching local telco
providers likely to make any difference? Is there any chance that the
14.4k is just a smoke screen that I need to poke thru a bit to get
better results.

Legally the phone co. is only obligated to provide 9600bps.
I get a minimum of 49K, usually 50K from Earthlink dialup,
but there are 11 local access numbers from where I live.

And, yes, I used a laptop to connect directly to the telco service
disconnect with the rest of my house disconnected. The results were
the same, so I'm sure that the problem is outside my home.

Not quite following you. Have you tried from an immediate
neighbor's house?

Please don't bother suggesting something faster. I know about those
options. My dial-up ISP is free, and would prefer to avoid the
considerable extra expense of a high speed connection.

Does your ISP offer any other local access numbers? If so,
try them. Or just for a test, use a number that's not local and
see if there's any difference.

 

[Jonathan]

One guy here went and soldered all the connections right out to the pod on
the street, the cable is usually just spliced into jack points etc. That
worked really well.

JD

 

[RichK]

What do people out there get these days? Is switching local telco
providers likely to make any difference? Is there any chance that the
14.4k is just a smoke screen that I need to poke thru a bit to get
better results.

We all had modem problems at one time. Find out from your telco TS what is
the distnace from your house to their equipment. Overk 10K feet will not
give you good connection.

I know it worked well before, but something has changed. They could have
re-routed the lines, although unlikely.

Changing local service providers over the same POTS will not help. You will
connect via the same lines and hardware. If you can get phone service via
cable company, that is a guarantee of 50K conneciton. Been there.

Your ISP may have changed their modems and they are not as compatible with
yours - that could be the reason for speed drop

Using another dialup number may give you anther set of hardware modems. It
can help that way. Putting area code in front of your number may help too,
as you use different ckts in the phone company.

You phone lines could have gotten noisier over time. Loose connection,
cables swaying in the wind, etc.

An finally, your modem may have deteriorated as well. They do fail - have
seen it.

Modem connection troubleshooting is the most frustrating part of a PC. I
have spent more time on that, than on all other things combined.

Rich

 

[Jim Yanik]

Over the past year my dial-up modem connect speed has been working
it's way downward. I used to connect at around 44-46k, but it's been
going down, more or less stepwise, first to about 40k, and now to
33-36k, although I actually had one connect at 19k.

I called my local phone service repair line to see what they had to
say about this, and was told that they will only guarantee 14.4k. To
me, this seems rediculously slow, but I haven't called anyone else.

What do people out there get these days? Is switching local telco
providers likely to make any difference? Is there any chance that the
14.4k is just a smoke screen that I need to poke thru a bit to get
better results.

And, yes, I used a laptop to connect directly to the telco service
disconnect with the rest of my house disconnected. The results were
the same, so I'm sure that the problem is outside my home.

Please don't bother suggesting something faster. I know about those
options. My dial-up ISP is free, and would prefer to avoid the
considerable extra expense of a high speed connection.

-

Mine is usually 48K for a 56K modem,but if the line is noisy,it drops to
28K.
Occasionally,it hits 49.2K,but is unstable at that speed.(dropouts)

 

[jango2]

Could it be that the bandwidth available to them per subscriber has
reduced over the past year as the number of subscribers they're
catering to has gone up?

 

[NSM]

One guy here went and soldered all the connections right out to the pod on
the street, the cable is usually just spliced into jack points etc. That
worked really well.

Push down connectors are notoriously bad.

N

 

[Jim Adney]

Not quite following you. Have you tried from an immediate
neighbor's house?

As a check to see if the problem was something to do with my home
interior wiring, I went to my home's network interface and
disconnected my home from the incoming line. Then I plugged my laptop
into the network interface and checked to see what speed I could
connect at. I got the same slow speed as from inside the house.

I have not checked with a neighbor. That's a good idea. I'll also ask
them what they get.

I DID try connecting from work, and got good connect speeds: well into
the 40s, so I don't think there's any question where the problem is.
THe only question is whether I can do anything about it, or get
someone else to do something about it.

Does your ISP offer any other local access numbers? If so,
try them. Or just for a test, use a number that's not local and
see if there's any difference.

No there's just one number, but it actually connects to probably
hundreds of lines on their end.

-

 

[Jim Adney]

We all had modem problems at one time. Find out from your telco TS what is
the distnace from your house to their equipment. Overk 10K feet will not
give you good connection.

Hmmm, do you think they will just tell me this?

I know it worked well before, but something has changed. They could have
re-routed the lines, although unlikely.

The first drop in speed occurred when they replaced a broken wire into
my house. They replaced a very old single pair (looked like large zip
cord, with copper coated steet wires in it) with a multiple pair
cable, even though I'm only using a single pair. The service man told
me that this was what they were doing everywhere, so that the next
time someone wanted to upgrade the wires would already be available.

Is it safe to assume that if he didn't get the pairing right then I'd
also have problems with voice? Voice is fine, and noise free.

Changing local service providers over the same POTS will not help. You will
connect via the same lines and hardware. If you can get phone service via
cable company, that is a guarantee of 50K conneciton. Been there.

That's what I figured about my LSP.

I don't have cable (I figure I watch too much TV already.) Wouldn't a
cable modem give much more than 50k?

Your ISP may have changed their modems and they are not as compatible with
yours - that could be the reason for speed drop

No, it works from work, and I know they have not changed.

Using another dialup number may give you anther set of hardware modems. It
can help that way. Putting area code in front of your number may help too,
as you use different ckts in the phone company.

Hmmm, I'll have to try adding the area code. I don't know if that will
get thru on this system, but I can try it.

You phone lines could have gotten noisier over time. Loose connection,
cables swaying in the wind, etc.

Certainly possible, but there's no noise on voice.

An finally, your modem may have deteriorated as well. They do fail - have
seen it.

The results with 2 different modems (laptop and desktop) are the same
from home, and the laptop connects nicely from work.

I think that all I know at this point is that the problem is somewhere
between my home and my ISP, and not actually IN either end.

-

 

[Jim Adney]

Could it be that the bandwidth available to them per subscriber has
reduced over the past year as the number of subscribers they're
catering to has gone up?

I have no such trouble when I dial into the same ISP from work.
Granted this is usually at a different time of day, but I often dial
in from home at odd times, and the result is always the same: ie poor
from home, good from work.

I'll ask my neighbor if I can try it from there. That strikes me as a
possibly useful test.

-

 

[Andy Sullivan]

Hmmm, do you think they will just tell me this?


The first drop in speed occurred when they replaced a broken wire into
my house. They replaced a very old single pair (looked like large zip
cord, with copper coated steet wires in it) with a multiple pair
cable, even though I'm only using a single pair. The service man told
me that this was what they were doing everywhere, so that the next
time someone wanted to upgrade the wires would already be available.

If this splitter was put on the drop wire into your house,
that's likely the cause of your problem. You should call
your local telco and request they remove the splitter.
Tell them you're unable to get 9600bps service for faxes
(white lie) and they'll be legally obligated to remove it.

 

[RichK]

Hmmm, do you think they will just tell me this?

If your lucky, they will. At one time it was no hassle. Now the people
working service desks are dumber and dumber. Tell them you're considering
DSL and have to know. Some will tell you yes/no, but insist because you
want to know if the DSL signal will be of good quality.

The first drop in speed occurred when they replaced a broken wire into
my house.

I doubt, that's the reason, but if you remember it happening, then it cold
be.

I don't have cable (I figure I watch too much TV already.) Wouldn't a
cable modem give much more than 50k?

Cable modem - YES. I was referring to using the cable company to provide
phone service. They install a small box (strangly called a modem) at your
house and connect your phone lines to it. Your distance to the box becomes
zero - it's in you basemet, so your modem connects at full speed.

Rich

 

[Jim Adney]

If this splitter was put on the drop wire into your house,
that's likely the cause of your problem. You should call
your local telco and request they remove the splitter.
Tell them you're unable to get 9600bps service for faxes
(white lie) and they'll be legally obligated to remove it.

There's no splitter to my knowledge. They just replaced the old 2
conductor cable with a multiple pair cable but only connected 1 of the
new pairs. It is my understanding that the other pairs are just
sitting there for possible future expansion.

The new pair is smaller diameter, but solid copper rather than the old
large diameter copper covered steel. The drop is about 80 yards long.
I wouldn't expect this to be significant.

Would the presence of the unused conductors in close proximity have
any bad effect?


-

 

[John Adams]

There's no splitter to my knowledge. They just replaced the old 2
conductor cable with a multiple pair cable but only connected 1 of the
new pairs. It is my understanding that the other pairs are just
sitting there for possible future expansion.

But at what point does the mutiple pair cable begin? It is likely
being divided (split) all the way from the telco's drop wire, since
splitting after the drop wouldn't allow for any expansion. This
means the signal strength on your phone line is much lower than
it was prior to the multi-pair cable being installed. You wouldn't
be able to hear a difference, i.e. the phone line might still sound ok.

The new pair is smaller diameter, but solid copper rather than the old
large diameter copper covered steel. The drop is about 80 yards long.
I wouldn't expect this to be significant.

Would the presence of the unused conductors in close proximity have
any bad effect?

No. But again, the likely problem is signal strength, not interference
from unused pairs. A call to your telco will (or at least should) get
you answers to these questions.

 

[Jim Adney]

But at what point does the mutiple pair cable begin? It is likely
being divided (split) all the way from the telco's drop wire, since
splitting after the drop wouldn't allow for any expansion. This
means the signal strength on your phone line is much lower than
it was prior to the multi-pair cable being installed. You wouldn't
be able to hear a difference, i.e. the phone line might still sound ok.

The multiple pair cable IS the drop from the pole to the house. It is
my understanding that the unused pairs have been left disconnected at
both ends. I am only able to personally verify that the ends at my
hose are not connected to anything.

Now that you mention it, I guess I could verify that the free
conductors at my end do not seem to be connected to anything else by
just checking them for voltage and resistance.

-

 

[Charlie]

I have no such trouble when I dial into the same ISP from work.
Granted this is usually at a different time of day, but I often dial
in from home at odd times, and the result is always the same: ie poor
from home, good from work.

I'll ask my neighbor if I can try it from there. That strikes me as a
possibly useful test.

Does your phone wire line provider also provide DSL service & is it
available in your area? If so, you need to play their game at their
level. Tell them you want their DSL service but only if they will
guarantee satisfaction with money back warranty. when they get DSL
working, your dialup will be fine. What you do after that is implied in
the requirement for that money back guarantee.

Charlie
veteran in dealing with 'the phone company'