OT: slow dial-up verification

56k modem ? They spend some time negotiating the reliable fastest possible data rate over your connection. A possible sign of a growing line fault ? Have you noticed any audible degradation on the line ? Another tip - dial one number to kill the dial tone and listen for noise. Could even be your telecom supplier working on lines and re-routing your connection.

Can you not get broadband ?

Graham

It depends on the modem type. Is yours the celluloid or later bakelite or case model?

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Use a 300 baud or (possibly a 1200 baud) modem. The time spent negotiating a connection speed and format using faster modems could be better spent sending the short message using modems that don't negotiate speeds or formats. For short messages, it's actually quicker to use a slower modem.

If you're using Hayes command set compatible modems, look for the AT Command or S-Register that control the connection speed. Probably an S-register. Been a long time since I messed with dial-up modems.

Most likely acoustic coupler to wet string.

Regards, Martin Brown

For 56K, some time is spent analyzing the line and negotiating supported features. Assuming you want to keep 56K, make then connection, ask your modem for a dump of active features, and then force that feature set in the initialization string. That will bypass the sometimes lengthy process where different brands of modems keep getting in race and retry conditions during negotiation. You'll need to associate that initialization string with the phone number because it may not work in general.

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I won't see Google Groups replies because I must filter them as spam

56k modem ? They spend some time negotiating the reliable fastest possible data rate over your connection. A possible sign of a growing line fault ? Have you noticed any audible degradation on the line ? Another tip - dial one number to kill the dial tone and listen for noise. Could even be your telecom supplier working on lines and re-routing your connection.

Can you not get broadband ?

Graham

I can get broadband, but cannot afford the extra $40 or so (undisclosed taxes and fees almost double advertised baitxxxxrates. Line is OK; for ducks, i installed an OS on a wiped drive, then Seamonkey to try: negotiates well under a second.

US Robotics external voice/FAX modem.

To my chagrin, i found that the US Robotics modem bastardized some of the Hayes command set. Did a lot of fiddling to no avail.

No,no, no...dry string between juice cans for prisoners to talk = their personal cell phone...

Huh? "Associate with phone number"??

The init string can be bound to the phone number of your ISP in the dialup connectoid. You may find that certain blocks of their modems on one number work better than others. The advice is good.

If as seems likely for a penny pinching cheapskate with a prehistoric modem you are on a DACS'd phone line with lousy bandwidth then your best bet is to force a V34+ connection at the start of negotiations.

Or force a maximum 56k data rate that is low enough that negotiation for highest rate takes a much shorter time. 56k has never been instant but is under 10s on a good day. The protocol tries hard to get a solution but it is a lost cause if something inbetween you and the exchange is redigitising the signal en route.

Generally V34 and earlier will do better on lousy cheap voice only phone lines. It is not for nothing that bank machines use old modem protocols with quick negotiation to send short pulses of data.

Since you are stuck with dialup you would be a lot better off with an internal modem with a much deeper FIFO.

Regards, Martin Brown

That became obsolete after the introduction of hollow tube with whistle on one end. (Titanic Mark I, data & voice, very advanced)

I don't know if I would jump to this conclusion just yet.... Let's get him the right connect string, or the manual S-register setting first and let him try that.

I'll try to dig out my old S-register cheat sheet (if I can find it). The US Robotics brand was very popular, and I'm sure it uses standard Hayes-compatible commands.

He is forever whining here in s.e.d about bad connections. If he asked in comp.modems he might actually get some advice from people who still use them. Most serious users are on broadband these days.

And to free up real copper circuits for ASDL users they are putting the remaining cheapskates onto voice only grade virtual circuits. They only lay new cable copper or fibre as an absolute last resort.

I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. I have a feeling USR "customised" some of the S registers to be completely non-standard in some models.

Regards, Martin Brown

Free up copper? US phone companies are complaining about so many people dropping their landlines. It wasn't that long ago that they were busy installing more copper for multiple phone lines per home, and now most of it has been abandoned.

[snip]

Yep. I'm seriously considering dropping the land lines and going to a cellphone docking system... saving about $125/month. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |

                   Spice is like a sports car... 
     Performance only as good as the person behind the wheel.

On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:34:01 -0700, Jim Thompson wrote: [snip]

We are going on 6 years without a land line. When we bought the house it did not even have a NID. It has the inside wiring to the jacks but nothing to the street. So we went cell phone only and I have a VOIP line.

I have not sent/received a fax in probably 10 years and dont even own a fax machine now (except I think the multifunction printer/scanner will work as a fax). That was another nail in the coffin for the land line. Thought about the cell phone dock to make it easier to have the wife and I both on the line at the same time. But why, I just 3-way call to her phone if it's that important for both of us to be on at the same time.

Kill the land line and spend the money on good wine and food.

--
Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, Tx.

I've been using MyFax for about a year now. Anyone that needs to "fax" can, and it arrives here as a PDF attachment to an E-mail.

My wife is busy with Girl Scout management, and I have my consulting business, so we need two lines; and I like the comfort of a desk phone.

Anyone have experience with cellphone docking systems?

That's the plan :-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |

                   Spice is like a sports car... 
     Performance only as good as the person behind the wheel.