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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Florida, United States
Posts: 34
OS: XP Home, SP2
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QUOTE=JamesO]The reason behind the ping test was to determine network latency, which can cause quite a few issues. Many of these ultra low cost ISP's oversubscribe their networks to save money, but in the long run the end users suffer greatly. Unfortunately, I did not try pinging PeoplePC before I posted my reply. PeoplePC does not respond to Pings! It is possible they even block Pings and Tracert through their network??
Try Pinging mail.peoplepc.com which does respond, also enter mail.peoplepc.com -t and watch how much the ping times vary. They should be consistent, but you might see wild time swings and time outs!
I guess you will need to Traceroute and then try to Ping the first hop in your network path. Maybe try Pinging www.techsupportforum.com and Tracert www.techsupportforum.com and see what happens. This server responds.
Pinged mailpeoplepc.com. Pinged at min. 125m ms, max 151 ms, avg 134 ms.
Pinged mailpeoplepc.com -t. times varied between 125-232 on 1st ping, and re-tested between 125-135.
Tracert on mail.peoplepc.com: Could not find host. Performed tracert again:
1st request timed out.
Then we're off to:
alerondial.net (108 ms)
aleron.net (103 ms)
cogentco.com (111 ms)
then 3 trips to:
earthlink.net (127/127/132 ms) until finally we're at
mailpeoplepc.com (126 ms)
Pinged www.techsupportforum.com. Pinged at min. 156 ms, max 170 ms, avg 161 ms.
Tracert on www.techsupportforum.com.
1st request timed out.
Then we're off to:
aleron.net (103 ms)
atlas.cogentco.com, 3 times (113 ms, 123 ms, 126 ms)
VirginiaEquinix.savvis.net (163 ms)
Washington.savvis.net (163 ms)
Chicago.savvis.net, 3 times (150, 149, 155 ms)
LiquidWeb, twice (164, 163 ms) then to site address:
209.59.143.56. (162 ms).
I've never performed these tests in my life, until today, don't know what latency is, and don't know how to interpret these results,  but since I can't cut-and-paste from Run, I've hand-copied the results here as painstakingly as possible, in the hope that you'll know how to interpret them for me.
PeoplePC uses POP3 and has web mail access. They do not require Outlook Express, they just list it as one mail interface??
The last time I ran the disc was over a month ago. I don't recall if Outlook Express is their default, or if you can choose which POP3 client to use.
Do you have problems with accessing your PeoplePC email? Does this work without issue?
I have no problems accessing my email once I'm online, even if I have no Homepage to access it from; I just open Outlook Express from my computer's Start List.
Here is my suggestion, dump PeoplePC for your E-mail (nothing to do on your part other than quit using PeoplePC for your mail). Get a FREE Gmail account, which supports POP3 at no charge so you can use Outlook Express, Outlook, or any other e-mail Client that supports POP3. Gmail also supports Web mail as well. Real easy to set up Outlook or Outlook Express, all you need to do is follow the directions. This way when you cancel PeoplePC all the good folks at TSF can still send you e-mails seamlessly!! You can even set Outlook Express up to pluck mail from multiple accounts at the same time and send from your choice of mail accounts. Then you do not even need to fool with PeoplePC home page and I would set Google up as your default browser home page.
Hhhhmmm. I have Yahoo (Ypop), but I don't like web-mail! It's just a back-up, should my other email crash and burn, for whatever reason.
PeoplePC has web-mail, but if I were to log into it right now, it would have little to no record at all of the mail I've sent and received in the last month, using Outlook Express. I find that very jarring, and try to avoid using it, for that reason alone!
I've heard G-mail's praises sung by many users, it's supposed to be top-notch, maybe I'll try that. I like the idea of setting Google as my Homepage, since I spend half my Internet time on Google, anyway, researching this, looking up that.
Interesting Google fact: If you type Trouble Accessing PeoplePC Homepage into Google's Searchbar, my thread on Tech Support Forum is the first result! Hopefully this is good for business, for you guys!
Next I would see if you could upgrade your Windows XP. I am unaware of any versions that are not upgradable, maybe I have missed something? MS will even send you a FREE SP2 upgrade disk in the mail so you do not need to worry about a large download over dial up.
I hope you don't mind my saying this here; my copy of XP is hijacked! Hope this answers your question about why I can't update my OS.
If you can live without the acceleration, I would also download and use Mozilla Firefox as a browser. I would assume there is some incompatibility with XP SP0 and some of the more current security measures? Maybe even your modem has some issue, as you did mention problems with other dial up services. Replacement dial up modems can be purchased for as low as $5 these days.
I could try Mozilla again. I've had it in the past, but as it was never my default browser with any of these ISP's, I never used it much, and finally uninstalled it to speed up the compter. I could download it again!
Thanks, James and johnwill, for all of your help! 
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