Need some computer help

[Monty]

My computer is about 7 yo, a 333 pentium 3. I con only get dial-up where I'm at. Most of the time it's connecting at 21.6 or 24 with no problems. The occassional times it connects at 29.2 or 33, it seems to take forever to load anything and I always get disconnected after about 5 minutes. My modem is not even a year old. Can any tell me why I have this problem at the highte connections?

 

[JimGo]

LOL...hmmmmm...Can I just quote the first three sentences? That pretty much summarizes the problem!


It sounds like you are usig your computer to surf the 'net, and that your complaints are wth it from that perspective. The latest versions of mny of the prograams that are out there for creating sophisticated web sites (such as Macromedia's Flash), are designed for computers with more computing horsepower, and probably more RAM, than you have. The dial-up connection is also going to slow these sites down, because many are graphics and sound intensive, which means that more data has to be transmitted over that slow connection to you.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

You can get a new computer system for about the price of a new VS mini.

 

[DCBluesman]

Mannie - most sites these days are optimized for 56kbps dial up. If you are typically running at less than half of that, it's a wonder that you bother trying to surf...due to the excruciating wait times you must experience. While new computers are not often "in the budget", I'd consider setting aside some pens for a "new computer fund". Let the proceeds buy the machine for you. You will see tremendous improvement. In terms of your phone service, I think you're in AT&T (formerly SBC) country. They should be able to at least get you to 56k. It may take some complaining and some escalations, but they ARE regulated and you CAN push them a bit.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Even though your computer is ancient by computer standards, the dial-up internet connection isn't much better than using string and tin cans. Most telephone companies, and other ISPs, offer DSL which works over telephone lines. Worth inquiring about.

 

[Monty]

I realize that the computer is the biggest part of the problem, but I guess what I'm asking is why do I ge better download times at 21.8 tahne at the time it does connect at 29.2 or 33?
And yes, a new computer is in the near future. LOML just went back to work after looking for about a year and we need to get a wedding paid for in 2 weeks.

 

[penhead]

My 2¢ guess is the phone lines and phone company. Sometimes you might get a 'nice' line (ie, connection) that will allow you a carrier capable of the higher rate, but it is probably on a very thin line between 'good' connection and 'capable' connection. So, you may have a 'good' connection but once you start transferring data, the line isn't capable of sustaining that rate....soooo, you basically get dropped data. The lower rate, however, is what the lines are really capable of handling on a sustained speed.

 

[penhead]

And just perhaps a note of interest for the record, I run Fedora on a x386, and it rocks [][8D]

http://www.redhat.com/fedora/

 

[dmadis]

You might try running the tests at www.pcpitstop.com
When you click on the results pages it gives a lot of info on speeding up connection, which programs are running unnecessarily, memory, etc.

 

[DCBluesman]

What you are describing, Mannie, is what use to be sold as line "conditioning." When copper lines are run, there are certain pairs (typically 2 pair) that are run to the Network Access Unit at the point where the wires enter your home. Sometimes the quality of those copper wires is not good. Additionally, the wiring in the house may not be of highest quality. Generally, if you are persistent, the phone company can test what the signal quality is up to the Network Access Unit. They will do that if you complain about "noise" on the line, which is most likely the cause of your dropped connections, as well as for the difference in your connect speeds. Rather than take up a lot of space here, if you'll drop me an email I will call and walk you through some thoughts. (I worked for AT&T for 14 years, although not in repair. Nonetheless, I do have some relevant experience.) [8D]

 

[Dario]

Defintely not an expert but do you know your current RAM size?

Most of the time this is the culprit.

Another problem is most software now (yep including the OS...MS the most notorious) are getting too "bulky" for their own good. The good news is, there are other options [].[]

 

[jeff]

Not to contradict Lou's thoughts about pushing the telco to give you a better line, but... The only non-voice service most tarrifs require is 14.4 fax service. You're likely not going to get them to give a hoot that you can't connect your modem above that data rate. They really have no incentive to get you better dialup service -- even if you can't get residential DSL, they'll be happy to sell you a loop for a fractional T1, SDSL, ISDN, etc.

On top of that, a lot of residential copper is multiplexed, meaning that you share a copper pair with a neighbor. This effectively halves the available bandwidth for your modem. Perfectly within their right to do so. As long as you can make and receive voice calls and get your 14.4 fax through, they can connect you with wet noodles if they want.

I dealt with the phone company for three years when I ran an ISP. Maintaining data circuits in the boonies is a real picnic. As Lou suggests, you might try getting them to check your line, but unless your service is completely out, pretty crappy service passes for acceptable.

Any wireless ISPs in your area? (That's what I ran...) If not, how about satellite? Expensive, but reasonable for most surfing. Failing that, you might be able to get a business class SDSL circuit, or if you are close to your telco switch, a cheap fractional T1. The latter two options will be over $100 a month, but if you're desperate...

 

[Monty]

So, if I understand everyone, I have two main problems.
Fisrt, I need a new computer (I already knew that, just need the funds). And two, my phone line is not capable of any speed faster than about 21 to 24. I know the phone comp. probably won't put in a new line as they just did that about a year ago when the fastest I couyld log in was 14.4 on a good day. I did, at the same time put in a direct line from my phone box to the computer room.
As to DSL or cable, I'm too far from the phone companies whatever to get DSL. The cable co that services my street doesn't offer a cable modem (if I lived about 500 feet down the street I could get TW Roadrunner) and I'm too cheep to get satellite at around $100/mth.
Now my next question. Is there any way to limit my connection to a max of about 24kbps so I will not be dropped?

 

[alamocdc]

Mannie, you can change the configuration of your modem for that. It's been awhile since I used a dial-up, but I remember using these settings to optimize my last modem. Access the modem via the Control Panel and set your Maximum Port Speed to the closest speed to what you want. You may be stuck with 38400 unless you want to back down to 19200.

 

[penhead]

It's been my experience that you contact the local network engineer for the phone company and smaooze him...ie, talk nice, explain what your problem is, ask for his help. And then treat the installer who comes to your house nice, offer him coffee on a cold day and a cold drink on a hot day.
Think he might need a nice pen to help him understand that you "must" be able to access/read the IAP forums []

As far as modem commands, you will need to use the terminal software that comes with your PC.
http://www.modem.com/general/extendat.html

 

[Randy_]

Monty: I don't think we probably have enough information to accurately diagnose your total situation. Having said that, let me add to the speculation since I had a very similar situation. Performance issues were the same as what you describe; but I was doing it with a computer even more "obsolete" than yours. Pentium II, 128 MEG ram and a 4(yup!!)GIG hard drive......Win 98. In my case, it was the dial-up service. I switched over the cheapest/slowest DSL service(750 kbps).....Yahoo special and all of my troubles went away. I really don't work my computer too hard: Internet, message boards, email, word processing and a little Autocad. People keep wanting to sell me a fancy new computer and I keep telling them I can't type fast enough to reach the limits of my current machine. If your needs are different, you may need a new computer; but the fact is that most folks have way more computing power than they will ever be able to fully utilize.....sort of like owning a Ferrari to drive the kids back and forth to school!!!

Until such time as you are able to achieve a better Inernet connection, I expect you will just have to live with what you have. We city folks are kind of spoiled and forget or never knew that many folks still don't have the Internet access that a lot of us take for granted!!

P.S. Even the slowest DSL is wonderful compared to dial-up. I might have a slightly different view if I downloaded a lot of humongous files like movies and music; but I don't so I am quite happy for $14.99 a month!!

 

[Daniel]

Monty,
I have a computer that is about 6 years old. it has a 10 gig hard drive and came with a 64 Mb Ram. not sure about that exact number there it has been a while since I had to play with it. I was on dial up for a long time and had the same problems you have. I increased the Ram by a factor of 4. this really helped stop the disconnects. I also added a program called Ram Idle which helped also.
I now have this computer hooked up via cable and it is the factest computer I have ever used including the hundreds they have at work.
Warning, the way I understand it there is a balance between the Rom and the Ram of your computer. if you ad to much memory you end up jsut recreating the same problem you had before or something like that. anyway more memory was a huge factor for me getting my computer to run better.

 

[Monty]

Thanks everyone for you help and suggestions.
Billy, I reconfigured my modem per your suggestion. We'll see if that helps. In the meantime, I'll just have to live with dialup.
BTW, I have 256 Ram which is the most I can put in it.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Just for kicks I dug out my old PII laptop. This system has Win2000 Pro installed, with a 4 gig harddrive and 96 meg of memory. I forget, but I think this system runs at 312k.

I installed the lastest version of Firefox. My DSL connect also has a dialup option, so I setup the dial up and was able to connect at 49k. I tried to download a 3meg file. I forgot how slow dialup can be but I was able to download the whole file without any problems.

My thinking is it may not be a hardware problem, but either a software problem or problems with phone wires runing into your house. I'll bet it is the latter.

Either way, defrag your harddrive, and clean up any spyware, and good luck.

Also it may be a good idea to install a firewall, even with a dial-up. I was reading today about a site called Kazzar (for music) where 60% of what you are downloading is spyware and other garbage