I've been having connection problems for months now with my isp,
dial-up, and the "help" desk along with a couple other things, to
remove the hyphens from the phone numbers I'm using. Is there any
reason that could help, or are they just into witchcraft?

I call 3 different phone numbers they have in Baltimore, and one seems
to work a little better. But a number I picked from their numbers in
Virginia usually gives a good connection on the first try. What does
that indicate and how can I get them to apply their Virginia system to
Baltimore.

Thanks a lotm

Meirman

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or not you are posting the same letter.

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"meirman" <meirman@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:4uo4uvo22q4kver62urmogqu32rsn92cqi@4ax.com...
Wouldn't have anything to do with it. The hyphens aren't dialed...


It's the telco routing, apparently. The Virginia number is on an entirely
different route than the Baltimore numbers. If the Virginia number is not an
LD call, use that. Otherwise, there isn't a lot you can do about this
beyond finding another ISP. It's probably a telco problem but may not be
directly related to your current ISP's POP access.


--

Hooda Gest
"The only thing I do immediately is procrastinate."

In comp.dcom.modems on Fri, 19 Dec 2003 05:28:27 GMT "Hooda Gest"
<Be@One_With.Calm> posted:

Thanks. I wish they wouldn't give me these cockamamie stories. It's
incredible. I squawked when he said to remove the hyphens but he
insisted.

It is long distance. Calling Virginia was also his idea and I don't
think it helped that first day, but it's helped three days since.
Maybe this will give them a clue how to fix the Baltimore lines.

It answers every time and I get connections from 18,000 to 52,000.

Interestingly, the 52,000 always works, but even a speed as high as
49,600 might not let any data go back or forth, except 600 one way and
500 the other iirc. Lower speeds are even more likely to be
no-data-flow.

But not all the time. I can get connections reported at 33,000, etc.
or even 18,000 where the email goes as fast it seems to at 52000, and
the newsgroups go just as fast it seems, and the web works fine but
slow.

Maybe they report 18,000 and speed up later?? Is that possible?

Or maybe text files are so short, it's the speed of my computer that
sets the speed.

Meirman

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or not you are posting the same letter.

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"meirman" <meirman@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:1ghauvcoggbjocm3678jb6ts232h0hen6e@4ax.com...
They have these "cheat sheets" which are full of nonsensical things to
suggest along with legitimate common sense suggestions. Who knows where they
get these suggestions from?
I suppose some of them are the result of miscommunications about what
cleared up problem, some are hoaxes, and some are real work-arounds. A smart
technical support staff would examine these suggestions and get rid of the
obviously bogus ones.

I doubt it. If the problem is between the telco and the ISP's POP in
Baltimore then the ISP could have some leverage in getting it fixed. What
that would require is an effort on the part of the ISP to track these
problems/complaints from customers served by that POP and bring the issue to
the telco which provides the lines to the POP. The problem is that some of
these POPs are shared. That is, the POP is leased by by multiple ISPs and is
independent of any of them. A clue to this is in your login name used; if it
includes the ISP name (ex: jsmith@elcheapo.net ) in the login then the odds
are that the POP is a multi-use one. The ISP name is needed for routing the
user to the right ISP. If your login process only requires your user name
(ex: jsmith) then the odds are very good that the POP is not shared. With a
shared POP, the ISP might refer these problems to the POP provider but has
no control over what happens after that (well, beyond threatening to take
their business elsewhere, that is).

18,000??? Never heard of that connect speed.

16800, 19200... but never 18000


That would be strange. Have you tried disabling everything above V.34?

Yes and no. I still don't understand an 18000bps connection. I'd like to see
a copy of the modem's CONNECT report from one of these 18000bps conenctions.

Well, a shorter file would usually get through easier and seemingly faster
than a long one (less chance for error during the brief transmission). You
need to compare download speeds using compressed data files of a significant
length. You cannot really judge that by calling up web pages or using small
and/or highly compressible files.


--
Hooda Gest
"In a New York minute, everything can change..."

In comp.dcom.modems on Sun, 21 Dec 2003 15:40:57 GMT "Hooda Gest"
<Be@One_With.Calm> posted:
They have local newsgroups where people could complain**, and I'm the
only one who has been complaining about this. Of course they have
never publicised these local newsgroups, and I'm sure 80 or 90% of
subscribers don't know about them.

**They don't have anyone reading the newsgroups officially, but
sometimes employees read and reply.

Sorry. Roughly 18000. I can't remember all the various speeds I've
connected at. Maybe it was 19200.

Now I'm at 21600 and the email and news are working fine, and the web
might be a little slower.

I'm confused. Wouldn't that ensure that connections were always at
lower speeds. I like the higher speeds when I can get them. Would it
help me identify the problem to the ISP so they could fix it?

Would you still feel that way if it was 19200?

OK.


Thanks.

Meirman

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or not you are posting the same letter.

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"meirman" <meirman@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jfmbuvg8hpnkog4vvbtqtgna34nrr2if41@4ax.com...
Yes, most complaints are made directly to the dial up tech support if they
are made at all. Many people simply don't know anything about how good or
bad their connections are unless they are terrible.

But, if you are the only one complaining about the Baltimore POP number(s)
then there's a good chance the problems are in how your call gets routed to
that POP via the local telco network. This makes it even more difficult to
get a problem resolved.

Let me relate a problem of several years ago in which I got involved. Before
the internet became public and popular, there were BBSes. These were simply
computers running a host system where people could dial in and
download/upload files and participate in mail system like FIDO and a couple
of others. There are still some BBSes running even today. In the city I was
in, problems began for people trying to dial from the east side of town to
the west and vice versa. Poor and unstable connections were the norm. And
this was in the days when 14400bps (V.32bis) was the highest speed
available. It went on for months. Complaints were made to the telco but
nothing seemed to be found. I had a friend who was a telco engineer at the
time and he couldn't find the problem either. Then, seemingly out of the
blue, the problem stopped. Someone had discovered that a main "pipe" (large
trunking system for phone calls) which was just a large digital carrier
system had been incorrectly optioned when installed. The system had not been
configured for external timing but, instead, used its own internal clock for
timing purposes. That allowed it to not synch with the smaller carrier
systems it fed and the result was horrible data quality while voice quality
sounded fine. From what I gathered, the problem was located by accident and
it was only after it was fixed that anyone realized that it was causing the
problems (it was a "slap forehead" and yell "duh!" moment, I assume). Now,
this is less likely to be a problem today since the digital network is the
norm and people are up to snuff on these issuesbut it is indicative of the
problems in locating and correcting problems within a telco network. Your
problem could be anywhere between your local telco switch and the POP. To
find it may take some heavy detective work. Add to that the conenction
speeds you are getting are better than what the telco is obligated to
provide and you can see that you are in a bind.

Now, if you can document fax problems to/from the same area of the Baltimore
POP then you may have something to take to the telco


But, first, I would clear all possible problem sources from your own line
within your house (or office). Remove any and all other devices from the
line the modem uses. If no improvement, try connecting the modem directly to
the test jack in the telco interface box, if possible. If no improvement
there then the problem is definitely on the telco side of the equation.

It would simply let you know that the problems are involved with V.90
negotiation and connections if the throughput was decent and the connection
speeds were adequate and fairly stable for a V.34 connection. That can be
useful information.

No. The only other thing that bothers me is the wide disparity between
connection speeds to the same number. That shouldn't happen. Locking the
modem down to V.34 speeds should tell us something about why this is
happening.


--
Hooda Gest
"In a New York minute, everything can change..."

I had posted about not being able to connect most of the time; or
getting no data transfer after connecting, some of the time; and being
booted off at 2 or 10 or 20 minutes, most of the rest of the time.
And how this has been going on since September, I think it was.

Thanks a lot for your earlier answers.

In comp.dcom.modems on Sun, 21 Dec 2003 20:05:17 GMT "Hooda Gest"
<Be@One_With.Calm> posted:

[good story of accidentally solved problem of bad pipe to a bbs,
snipped]

I tried that yesterday morning, but I'm not sure I did it the right
way. I put, in the extra settings:
+MS=v34

The modem comes with Lucent Technologies ModemOnHold software, making
me think it has a Lucent chip, and uses the Lucent command set.

The modem didn't come with a list of AT commands, or I just can't find
them, so I dl'd a pdf file of all the AT commands for LT up to v.90,
and +MS or MS wasn't mentioned in it, nor in the V92 supplement.

Yet, when I started QuickLinkIII terminal, " at+MS=? " gave me about a
dozen possible values, including v34, v90, and v92.
and " at+MS? " said that I
currently was using v92,1,0,312000,0,56000

So I guess +MS is an acceptable variable for the modem, but I'm still
not sure if I changed the right variable.

Maybe I should have said s38=0 and -v90=0 ?????

Or is +MS=v34 OK??

---

I also did ATI11 and among other things learned the the external noise
level for the previous call was 683 . That seems like a lot, maybe
enough to get disconnected by the ISP???

Unfortunately I don't know what my noise level was 3 months ago when
my bad connection problem started, and although I called the phone
company, they have not replaced the phone pole yet. I think the noise
leve may be worse in the last 3 weeks since the phone pole fell down
and the cable lies on the ground for 15 or 20 feet, in the part of a
stream bed where it is under water when it rains enough.

OTOH, I still get a good connection calling a Virginia number of my
ISP. Could it be that the Virgina number is set up to be less
sensitive to noise?? If not, then the problem is somewhere other than
the cable lying on the ground, because that is the only way for wired
phone signals to get out of my n'hood.


So temporarily I would get speeds about 33K, right?? That would be
ok. For news and email, it would be just fine.


If I had followed +MS=v34 with ",1" that would have insisted on the
same speed every time iiuc. Should I do that?

Thanks a lot.


Meirman

If emailing, please let me know whether
or not you are posting the same letter.

Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.

meirman wrote:

you added that? Post the modem log so we can see what is taking place.
As Hooda said, your calls take different routes to reach their
destination. If you get good speeds on one route, that would indicate
that your modem and local phone line all the way to your serving Central
Office is good, but there is some problem beyond the CO that is causing
your poor speeds to some ISP's. Local calls may be switched through
several CO's with Voice Grade facilities before reaching the distant
end. As long as those facilities are Voice Grade, that's all the Telco
is required to provide. Lucent/Agere AT Commands are below. Good luck.

http://www.agere.com/client/docs/v90atcom.pdf
http://www.modemsite.com/56k/v92c.asp

--
Art Jackson W4TOY Owensboro, KY USA
Life is God's open book test. In order to pass,
you must open His book to find the answers.