eircomnet dial-up internet access

eigrod

I use an internet dial-up account from home using eircomnet.

I've got a 5 year old PC [ Compaq presario - 64Mb RAM running Win98, built-in modem ]. I use a standard telephone cable running from the PC to the telephone socket.

I am experiencing MAJOR difficulties with the connection recently. Last night, for example, I must have connected about 12 times and kept getting disconnected after about 2 minutes - this was between 7.45pm & 8.45pm.

I've been connecting to the internet this way for about 4 years, and while I have experienced this problem on and off during that time, it seems to be particularly bad of late.

I have rang Eircom, but unsurprisingly, they are not very helpful. Seems that if you don't wish to sign up to their broadband offerings, they don't want to know. They just told me to try a different cable, which I did but with no success.

Any hints, tips or other experiences would be most welcome.

Thanks.

towbar

Do you have call waiting on the line?

eigrod

I have the call-waiting facility, but I am not aware that there were any calls coming through at that time [ no msgs left ].

Anyone have other ISP Dial Up numbers that I could try ? I may establish that way if the problem is at my side (i.e. PC, modem, cabling etc ).

vibe666

check out the iol and utv sites for free settings.

but, if you're getting connected and then disconnected after random amounts of time, unless there's a hardware fault your end then it's tenuation on the line. basically the line is bad, either inside your house of between it and the exchange.

best thing to test is to get the shortest cable you can and move your PC to the main phone socket in the house (just to test) and with no splitters or extensions or anything just try it. cable should be no longer than 6 feet.

if it's still bad then go into the modem settings and bring the port speed down to 57600 (if it already is then leave it there for now). now what sort of modem do you have?

would be good to know what version of windows you have too, to allow me and the other geeky people here to give you precise instructions on how to fix things.

one of the things that could be causing the problem is if you have a cheap v92 modem. i don't know if it's changed recently, but eircom don't support v92, only its predecessor v90. now 90% of the time 90% of v92 modems will automatically renegotiate to v90 if the ISP doesn't support it, but when it doesn't you need to manually tell the modem to use the v90 standard with an extra setting which you manually (the first time) add into extra settings in the modem's properties.

if you want to have a bash yourself then go to www.modemhelp.net and do a search for your modem from the main page.

the chances are though that you've got a conextant modem which will be evident in the modem's name or model number by the letters HCF, HSF & ASF.

if you do have one of these modems then in extra settings if you put the following, it should help keep your connection stable: AT&F&C1&D2+MS=v90,0

if it still doesn't work then bring the port speed down to 38400 and put in this instead in extra settings: AT&F&C1&D2&K3+MS=v34

the last one will force the modem to use the previous standard to v90 which was v34 (as you can see), which although slower than the other settings should give you a reasonably stable connection on even the worst lines.

if this fails then ring 1901 and tell them you have a really bad line and can they test it for you to see if its something fixable (don't mention the modem, just say you get lots of crackling on the line, you've tried a different phone already and tried plugging it out etc.). if she says it seems ok then mention the internet is very bad 'as well' and could there be something they could do to improve things (tell them your isp has done everything they can).

OK, that should keep you busy for a while, so let us know how you get on.

eigrod

Thanks vibe666 for the time you have taken to put together this comprehensive reply.

I did use a shorter cable last night [ directly to main phone socket in house ] and it did improve the service, however after about an hour, i got kicked off and then that happened about 3 times.

I stated above I use Win98 ( do I need to provide further O/S details ? ).

It is a built-in modem that was shipped with the PC, so I'm short on details. I will attempt to look at the modem settings tonight and will post details if/when I locate them.

Thanks again.

Dempsey

Originally posted by vibe666
if you do have one of these modems then in extra settings if you put the following, it should help keep your connection stable: AT&F&C1&D2+MS=v90,0

That setting forces v.90, does it do anything else?

Frank Grimes

Try reinstalling the modem drivers, it's sorted out that exact same problem for me in the past (until I got a hardware modem that is )

GoneShootin

Shell out for broadband. Its cheaper in the long run if your on the net alot, or at least attempting to get on the net. Dont forget that for each time you connect, even if your online for just a second, you still billed a minumum of 6c.

Privelege of using their high quality service I guess....

Personally I'm being bled through the nose paying for ISDN, but I'd never go back to 56k dialup ever again....

eigrod

Many thanks to all for your help.

I now have a much improved dial-up service. I did a lot of searching around the net for information and help.

Among the things I have done to improve the service are :

1) Dialling into Oceanfree now
2) Using a shorter [ and new ] cable to the telephone socket
3) Carried out virus checks [ turns out I had 2 viruses present ] and also some adaware problems
4) Upgraded my firewall to the latest version of Zonealarm
5) Upgraded my anti-virus (www.grisoft.com)
6) Got the latest security updates from Microsoft
7) Carried out one or two other file cleanups & registry setting changes I found

It is obvious to me now that i was quite lax about my security over the past few months, but I intend not to be from now on. It's been one big learning experience for me.

I am not sure if it was any one of the above or a combination of many, but my problems do seem to have eased considerably.

thanks again.