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The Internet and your Telephone Service
by M.P. Williams
I often tell people that the Internet is not about the Internet, it is about telephone companies. The reason for that is that if the telephone company provides good service with almost perfect lines, then your Internet experience will be fast and
pleasurable. Here in the Sabine County area we have a lot less than perfect telephone service. This is because
Valor must provide telephone lines to a wide, rural area with homes scattered around a long distance from the Central Office.
We have observed several problems that make the Internet less than fun, and we have found that with persistent troubleshooting these problems can be solved. The solution to these problems varies from member to member, because every member's situation is different. Occasionally the problem is system-wide, which is our problem - we will find it and get it fixed. Usually, however, these problems are isolated to a particular phone line. Here is a list of the most common problems that we have seen and a general description of the fix that seems to work for most people.
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DISCONNECTS: Being disconnected from the Internet is frustrating, especially if you were doing something important. There are several things that we have found here that apply to disconnects.
1. Microsoft's Outlook Express mail package - Most of our members use Outlook Express, so this one has cropped up more than once. In Outlook Express there is a setting that says "Hang up after sending and receiving mail". If this gets checked, as soon as you enter Outlook Express and get your mail, it hangs up the modem!!! This is easy to fix - bring up Outlook Express, click on Tools, click on Options, click on Connections. Be sure that the box "Hang up after sending and receiving" is NOT checked.
2. Call Waiting - If you have Call Waiting on the same line that you use for the Internet, all kinds of problems arise. Usually, if someone calls you, you are immediately knocked off the Internet. There is a code to "Cancel Call Waiting" during your session on the Internet. In this area, the code is
"*70," (don't enter the "). Just enter this code in front of the dial-up phone number. There is one GOTCHA for members living in
Valor's service area. You must purchase "Cancel Call Waiting" from
Valor for 90cents/month or the *70, will not work!!!!! If you live in a SWB service area, you don't have to purchase anything - *70, will work.
3. Modem drivers - In a Windows system, every device has "device driver software" that communicates between the device and Windows. This driver allows a device, such as a modem, to function properly in the Windows environment. Modem manufacturers write new driver software for modems in order to fix bugs in the old drivers, update the modem's functionality, or to improve the error correcting and handling ability of the modem(very important if you have a noisy or poor quality phone line). If you are having problems with connecting properly or being disconnected randomly, you should check the web page for the manufacturer of your modem to see if new driver software is available for your particular model. Often, by downloading the new drivers and installing them, these types of problems can be eliminated.
4. "No activity" - We have a 20min "No Activity" timer on the Internet server. This stops members from "camping out" tying up a phone line while they go out shopping. Here, "activity" means actually sending and/or receiving something across the Internet. Some members have been "timed out" because they got their email and then spent a lot of time reading it without sending/receiving anything. Remember that the Internet is a shared service. We all have to share the resources!
5. Physical causes - If none of the above seem to be the problem, then there is something physical causing the disconnects. The two prime suspects are some type of modem problem or a phone line problem. We have found that modems cause only a very small percent of the problems - maybe 5-10%. In most cases, the problem is a phone line difficulty of some type. The trouble is that we have little control over the phone lines.
CLICK HERE to read about a simple phone line test. |
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CAN'T CONNECT: Sometimes you can call the Internet and the computer sits there a long time making modem noises and finally fails to connect. There are several error messages that can
occur. One says the Internet is "not answering", another says "a connection cannot be made". This is usually a very bad phone line, but it can be a bad modem.
CLICK HERE to read about a simple phone line test.
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WEB PAGE FREEZE-UP: Sometimes you get connected properly and then try to bring up someone's web page when the computer seems to freeze. Nothing seems to be happening. This is usually a web site that is overloaded and just can't respond to all the requests. However, it can be a poor phone connection. We suggest that you get completely off the internet and then dial up again. If the problem persists, it is probably a problem with the particular
site (try some other sites). You can check the given site late at night or early in the morning. If it works OK then, probably it was just overloaded.
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SIMPLE PHONE LINE TEST: A rough test that you can make is to connect an ordinary phone set to the line that you use for the Internet. Dial a single number to get rid of the dial tone - then listen. Modems depend on a continuous good quality phone line to maintain their connections. If you hear anything - snapping, hissing,
popping, crackling, crosstalk, static, whatever - then modems using that line will be
severely affected. What happens is that when things get too bad, the modems just give up and hang up. You can and should call the telephone company and tell them what you are hearing. Tell them that you are being disconnected and request that they "test and clean up" your line. The trouble here is that phone companies seem to operate from the idea that "if you can talk on it, then that's all you are going to get". Since we can't control the phone lines very well, we have found that it is best to attack the problem at the modem end. We have found a 56k v.90 modem by AOpen that we are very happy with. Our standing offer to all members - let us try one of these modems in your machine. We will test here on the bench to be sure everything is working OK. When at your home, if this fixes your problem, then everyone is happy - if not, return the modem and we will refund every penny of your money. The new 56k v.90 modems have superior error detection and correction circuitry which can handle all but the most awful telephone lines. In almost every case, this has done the trick.
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