Hi Pail,
Also never rule out a dodgy phone line - just because Telstra says
it checks
out OK doesn't mean it is OK!!
At my last house I had ongoing grief for 2 or three years -
sometimes things
would be OK, sometimes they would be really bad - several phone
calls to
Telstra but they just wanted me to change all my settings (which I
did -
several times!) they "checked" the line & said it looked OK. I
also tried
changing modem scripts (with a lot of assistance from Bob
Howells). The
trouble is when things alternate between very bad and just about
acceptable
anyway it can be very hard to know if your latest change has
improved or
made things worse or is unrelated to the change.
Things finally changed when it suddenly got bad enough to show up
in the
Telstra checks - then we got a guy out who changed out some cable
& bingo!
Hugely improved and reliable performance.
After a chat with the (really helpful) tech we had a look at the
cable
removed and found a spot where water had obviously got in the
cable - loads
of corrosion & barely a connection. We came to the conclusion
that the
performance was probably tied in with said corrosion drying out
and getting
wet - but that this took time so it was not immediately obvious as
rain-related.
If the problem had been diagnosed earlier, I would have been saved
at least
two years of intermittent grief! The other thing to know is that a
bad line
will effect your internet long before you notice any degradation
in phone
call quality.
One way to rule out the line factor IF one of the neighbours has good
dial-up (and is kind & friendly!) would be to take the whole
shooting match
(modem, computer, cables) round and compare the connection
experience. I
realise, however, that this may not be feasible/convenient.
Hope that helps!
Cheers
Neil
--
Neil R. Houghton
Albany, Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 9841 6063
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
on 12/3/08 2:57 PM, Ronda Brown at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On 10/03/2008, at 3:06 PM, Paul Doyle wrote:
Latching on to this thread. I have my Mother and Father in their
70s
who live in Mandurah which is a long way from Melbourne where I now
live. I'd love to get a quote from someone who could pop in and
work
out what is wrong with their dial up internet. They inherited my
old
2004 eMac and are dialing into iinet. Dad says they keep getting
knocked off and iinet have provided as much support and suggestions
as they can from their end but the problem persists. I have also
done what I can over the phone and I suspect that the problem is
either with the modem or the phone line. I can't really be sure
though.
Hi Paul,
What Operating System are your Parents using on the eMac?
Dialup is a somewhat precarious mix of computer, modem, phone
wiring,
cabling in the street and phone exchange - all of which have to
be in
good order.
So there are numerous reasons why they could be getting
disconnected.
1. Does iiNet disconnect Dialup Accounts after a certain time, or if
idle for a length of time?
2. They don't have Disconnect if idle for ? minutes enabled?
They may have set the computer to automatically disconnect from the
Internet after a period of inactivity. Check their PPP Options:
A). Open System Preferences.
B). Click Network.
C). From the Show menu, choose Internal Modem.
D). Click the PPP tab, then click PPP Options.
3. If their connection drops out just as someone is trying to call,
they may be having problems with call waiting on their phone line.
The call waiting beeps (the ones you hear on a call to let you
know
there's another call waiting for you to answer) interfere with the
dialup signalling, causing it to disconnect.
4. If the telephone line is being shared with multiple devices (for
example, fax, alarm system, call number display etc) unplug the
other
devices so the modem has sole use of the line. Similarly, if anyone
has lifted a connected telephone receiver (tried to make a call
on the
same telephone line), this may cause the modem to disconnect.
This website might be of assistance for them:
http://www.iapselfhelp.com/
The Internet Assistance Program website part of a Commonwealth
Government initiative to ensure Australians have access to a minimum
of 19.2 kbps (or better!) dialup Internet.
Cheers,
Ronni
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