Recent Dial-up speeds

lucernarian

Over the past 3 days I've been experiencing strange things on the internet. Im having big problems getting connected in the first place. The modem dials 1893252525 as usual. Sometimes the ppp server responds quickly as normal. Sometimes it takes up to 20 seconds to get a reply. Sometimes there is simply no response. When I hear the noises on certain attempts I can hear repeats, slowing down connection time. Even more strangely, when it reaches the "verifying username and password" sometimes it takes the usual time, sometimes it takes 10 seconds and sometimes i get the response "invalid username or password". I thought this could never occurr as the password is previously saved. When I try again without changing anything, it works fine.

While im connected, it sometimes takes 10 seconds for the modem simply to respond to a typed in website address or a link. Even to use boards at the moment, sometimes im simply directed to a search engine called "incredifind". I don't have the slightest clue what's going on. I never had any problems using the internet before.

One last thing, I usually connect at 45.2k or 46.6k over the past few months. When I connected to go online 40 minutes ago, i got 49.2K! The fastest its been since October 2002. Could someone shed any light on this mystery?
Thanks,
MJT

P.S These problems could occurr in any combination.

jayok

TBC,

With regard to the connection speeds, this could be a number of factors for the change in speed.Most are typically beyond your immediate control (eircom call routing, line interference, etc) so if you're going up in speed don't argue!

As for the irregular behaviour of you system and connection, this could be congestion at the ISP or local networking issue, line quality. The possibility are enormous.

One thing I can nail, is that the search engine popping up when you try to get to boards.ie. This has nothing to do with boards.ie but sounds like you've some malware or trojans on your PC. Get a copy of LavaSoft's AdWare and clean your system.

JayoK

lucernarian

Thanks for all the help! I have some sort of idea about the problems now but I cannot understand what causes the password errors.

Also, I notice that when I plug out the DECT phone, there is a slight speed increase. I am aware that DECT phones can interfere with DSL signals but Im suprised that it could even affect 56K modems.

jayok

The way the ISP processes your username / password is normally off a RADIUS server. Your client may not get a response off the server as expected or the client may not issue the request correctly. This can be due to line interference but I too used to have this and put it down to congestion at the ISP end. If fact a number of other people experienced it with this ISP - won't mention name but it and anagram of On-Line Ireland.

With regard to the DECT phone and disconnect, I wouldn't think the wireless signal of the phone is causing the slow down, I would more likely think that the load of the phone on the cable is causing this. In the UK each telephony device is allocated a REN (or Ringer Equivalent Number). Most phones are REN 1 and the maximum permitted on any one line is 4. Adding devices to a line places a load on the line and while you won't notice this with voice traffic, the higher modems speeds can be affected.

To really optimise your phone connection you would have to remove all other phones off the connection and disconnect all other points in the house and then run the shortest cable between the modem and the PC. Incidentally having an external modem with -very slightly- improve connection speeds as it won't suffer from interference from the PC. But we are talking very small amounts here and it wouldn't be worth the hassle.

JayoK

spongebob

jayok wrote:

If fact a number of other people experienced it with this ISP - won't mention name but it and anagram of On-Line Ireland.

To really optimise your phone connection you would have to remove all other phones off the connection and disconnect all other points in the house and then run the shortest cable between the modem and the PC.

JayoK

Never had a problem with them lads . Except

I would usually connect at 48k and if i connected at 49.2 it was worse. I throttled the modem to 48k max.

Another issue I had was a windowsupdate of the modem which caused grief , I rolled it back in the device manager and have stuck with the superior older driver since, it is a Lucent BTW

....and do what Jayok said.

M

lucernarian

Certainly, a 2.4 Ghz signal wouldn't interfere with the phone line but I'm referring to another affect of DECT phones, mabye the REN, mabye not. Btw I'm now surfing the net at 33.6 kbps as one phase of the noise kept repeating so the modem gave up after the 3rd repeat and settled for v90.

One other thing, the modem is built into a laptop. Im nearly certain it isn't a winmodem.

I tried disconnecting all wires and then physically wiring a spare extension cable direct from the modem to the indoor grey-brown telecom éireann box a while ago. It didn't work.

spongebob

If its any help I find that Drizzle is worse than Downpours. The drizzle gets suspended in a sorta fog which enables it to get at the wires from below. A downpour pelts down from above, of course.

While my line can survive downpours the drizzle comes in somewhere and reduces my speeds to 33k or so .

If the problem goes away in a dry period try to note the 'type' of rain if it comes back

M

lucernarian

From the recent weather in my area it actually seems that heavy, persistent rain is the problem. I never remember having any problems with drizzle. Could it be floods seeping into the underground junction boxes/cables?

Btw when I tried to connect a few minutes ago there were no problems - it hasn't rained in the last 24 hrs.

vibe666

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=1857220 - more info here.