[DuoList] Re:Bad dialup

[Art Rice]

Jim Allen <jimallen at bright.net> wrote:
I'm not knowledgeable enough to give you a technical
explanation, but here's
some anecdotal help. I once had a similar (almost
identical) problem and it
was infrastructure related. After a couple of years of
verbally abusing my
ISP (who was always nice despite it), they finally
convinced me it was
infrastructure related. When I started calling the
phone company (the ISP
and phone service were different entities, but both
local), I got every
excuse in the book, ending with the, "we don't
guarantee anything but a dial
tone and a voice connection," that kinda ends all the
conversation.

I used to have trouble with the phone lines at work,
which was a trailer set up as an office. The most
common problem was cracked insulation or nicked
insulation which would allow moisture to cause leakage
between the two telephone wires. Some of the wires
under the trailer were lying on the ground, and also
nicked. Animals can chew on them also. Try to inspect
the wiring if you can. One indication of leakage is
hum on the line. Pick up the phone, push one number to
get rid of the dial tone, then listen for hum. If it
hums, there is leakage somewhere. Another thing I've
been told can be a problem is having a lot of
extensions on the same line. You could try plugging
the modem into the phone jack closest to the place
where the phone line comes into the house.
Disconnecting unused extension wires at the junction
box would be a good idea. For example, if there is a
wire going to a room farthest away from the junction
box, but that outlet is unused, disconnect it at the
junction box.
There could be a problem in the cables between your
house and the central office.
If you want to have the phone company troubleshoot the
wiring: A trick to use with the phone company is don't
tell them you're having trouble with your computer.
Tell them your phone line is noisy. They will check
the wiring between the central office and the junction
box at your house for free. If the problem is inside
the house (or under the house) they will tell you and
probably offer to fix it for some high price.
Alternately, you can hire folks that specialize in
inside telephone wiring problems. They would be
cheaper than the phone company.

Art in Silicon Valley

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