Please Help - Bad Dial-Up Modem?

[Mad Jack]

Okay guys, I recently wrote about installing a second modem on my Windows XP desktop...

So now I have a question about my presently-installed PCI modem (Agere software modem).

I am curious if my Internet problems have not been due to the modem itself as opposed to line noise as my ISP had insinuated.

Here are some of my ongoing symptoms:

1. Intermittent disconnects.

2. Pages start timing out. Pings time out. Traceroutes time out. Only when I get a fresh connection does this stop.

3. Slow connection speeds. I had been getting consistent 33.2 Kbps connections for years and then suddenly (about a month ago) started getting 24.0 Kbps connections. This is AFTER the handshake doesn't complete and instead cycles through a second handshake before it successfully connects.

4. After being disconnected last week, I tried dialing back in and the handshake 'hung' up when the modem on the other end picked up - just a single-pitched squeal that 'hung' and never progressed. So I canceled and tried again. It 'hung' again. So I rebooted the computer and the handshake completed normally.

5. Then today I dialed in and heard no dial tone through the speakers, just static. So I canceled and tried again, only to get a dial tone the second time and got successfully connected at my usual 33.2 Kbps speed.


Does anyone think that this could be the modem causing these problems? I would normally have gone with the 'line noise' excuse had it not been for the absence of a dial tone today and then the hanging up on the handshake which cured itself after rebooting. Help please. Thanks so much!

[johnwill]

I'd suspect the phone line quality first, but it's certainly possible that you have a bad modem. 90% of the time, this is phone line issues.