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Determine Your
Connection Speed
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When you are logged on to the net in
Windows 95 or 98, there is a small connection icon in the lower right
corner of the screen, next to the system clock. Simply double-click the
icon and read it. This tells you your initial connect speed.
To see your real-life connection
speed, click on the link in the left menu above. It will connect you to
MSN and run a very quick test on your connection speed. This speed is
probably more accurate because it performs a live test.
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The Reasons So Slow
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Okay, your ISP supports your modems
56k protocol, but it only connects at 26,400 kbps. What's the problem?
Most likely, one of the below: You are a great distance from the phone
companies "switching station". When phone (modem) signals
leave your house, they are in a form called "analog". This
analog signal travels along the wires until it reaches a switching
station. At that point, the signals are converted to "digital"
form for travel to the phone company. As analog signals travel, they
lose intensity and pick up noise, thus the signal becomes weak. If the
signal is weak, data transmission quality drops and the modem must
compensate by slowing down. This is the only way for the system to
maintain a connection.
What can you do? Move closer to a
switch, that's it. The phone company has installed an additional A/D
(analog to digital) converter on the pole outside your house. Why did
'Ma Bell' do this? To increase line capacity. By adding a converter at
the pole, the number of available lines can increase, thus more revenue
for Ma. The bad news is this process greatly diminishes signal quality.
This is the case at BT's residence. I have two phone lines. The line I
use for my computer connects at 48k. The other line, which I tested
back-to-back, connects at 26.4k to 28.8k. I repeated this test several
times because I just couldn't believe it. Both lines go to the same pole
! What to do? Call Ma Bell and plead for them to move your line off of
this converter. Unfortunately, this can result in having to change your
phone number. However, if you use the net a lot, then the speed increase
is probably worth the effort. Just make sure you're around when the
phone guy arrives. That way you can talk to him and tell him exactly
what the situation is.
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Other Possibilities
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Check what protocols your ISP supports. If you're using a
KFlex modem and it's not supported, your modem will "fall back" to a MUCH slower
non-56k protocol. This will immediately kill your fast connection. Make sure your modem's
protocol matches those supported by your ISP.
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A "bad"
modem at the Telco connection point. It's possible that you have
connected to slow or poorly performing modem. Disconnect and
try again, you may get a better speed on the second try.
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Replace your
"Winmodem" with one that is hardware based. Most PCI
modems use your CPU to operate and the algorithms it uses can result
in a slow connection. I have found ISA modems and hardware-based PCI
modems to be superior.
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Updating Your Modems
Protocol
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You must know what kind of
modem you have. If you're lucky, you can find this out in Windows. Use the
following sequence: Start>Settings>Control
Panel>Modems>Diagnostics Tab Select the COM port where the modem is
listed and then click "More Info". This tests the modem and
produces a report. Hopefully, the modem type and protocol being used will be
listed. Once you know what kind of modem you have, you need to either go to
the manufacturers web site or contact them directly to see if your modem is upgradeable
to the V.90 protocol. If it is upgradeable, simply download the
"flash" program and follow their directions.
Note: These upgrades perform
an operation known as a "flash". This means a program is changing
the permanent memory (a.k.a. EPROM, Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory)
contained in the modem. Like a hard drive, there is only so much space in
EPROM. Unfortunately, many early 56k modems have an EPROM that is too small
to hold the V.90 code, the X2 and KFlex protocols are smaller than V.90.
These modems cannot be flashed.
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Summary
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There are essentially three
things that will keep you from getting a good connection speed: distance
to switching station, additional "at pole" A/D conversion, and
incorrect protocol use. You can do little about the first, but use BT's
advice on the later. If you are using a Winmodem, you may also want
to try replacing it with a "hardware-based modem".
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