Dial-up internet connection troubles

[bignickel]

My brother recently changed apartments, and he's having a horrible time trying to connect back up with the internet. He's using Netscape internet dialup service.

Anyhoo, the modem on the other end picks up, and they start hand-shaking... for 45 sec! Then the dialer hangs up, tries a differant number, which picks up, and another 45 seconds of hand-shaking commences.

Occasionally, it'll actually connect, but at around 20K, not 50K like he used to get.

Any ideas?

(I've plugged a phone into the jack and dialed out: no static that I could hear. Also tried the phone jack in the other room; same result. I've tried working with Netscape tech support over the phone to help him (they had me pretty much reinstall everything during our 4 phone calls), but no luck. I asked if I should try re-installing winsock, and he said: sure, give that a try. SBC was a joke: I asked them to test the line. Some guy called my brother back, and said: 'have you tried plugging a phone into the jack?' Yes. 'Well, that's all I would do anyway, so there's no point in me coming out.' Idiot. This after I had gone thru great trouble telling the SBC gal that I wanted the line tested for STATIC, and that I had already tried a phone in that jack.)

[LordoftheLeftHand]

Is it a win/dumb modem or a "real" modem? What OS is he using? Was it working fine (with the same POP numbers) before the move?

Without knowing anymore I would guess (in the following order):

Using dumb modem and running out of system resources.
TCP/IP Stack is corrupted.
Modem driver is corrupted.

Good Luck!

LLH

[bignickel]

Intel 536EP, I think. Not sure what that is.

It was working fine before the move.

I don't think reinstalling winsock will fix it. I'm gonna try dialing down the connection speed, and hope that that might work. I'll also have my laptop dial out (dont know why I didn't do this before), and see if it experiances the same problem. If it does... then that explains it. Then to yell at ma bell.

[Whydoe]

I would try, if you could, taking the computer to someones house and testing it there. At least you will be able to rule out the phone lines themselves - it may not be something simple like static.

[chasing23]

I have ran into this problem once or twice over the years. I am willing to bet that it is the phonelines. It really dosn't have to be a very audible static for it to cause problems. I would suggest having the phone company come out and check the line. He is lucky that he dosn't live in my house. Man my lines are terrorbile.

[a_unique_person]

It sounds like a bad quality line. Does he hear crackling noises when he uses it for normal phone calls?

[teddygrahams]

That 50k speed is limited to a certain distance from the central exchange. Also "loads" on the line will limit the speed. "Loads" means compensating devices used by the phone company.

[bignickel]

I've been so busy painting and repairing my house this week, haven't had time to check with him. Better look this weekend.

I did plug a regular phone on that jack; didn't notice any obvious static. Will try dialing down the speed.

[bignickel]

Dialing down speed no help.

Brought my laptop over (don't know why I didn't do this before); my built-in modem couldn't hack it either. So I plugged my laptop into the kitchen phone line: instant success. So -> every outlet in the apartment, except for the kitchen, can't connect properly.

At this point, it's up to my Dad and brother to figure out the next step: 30' phone cable from kitchen to bedroom, moving computer and table next to kitchen, or arguing with apartment manager to get him to do something about the phone lines.