Number 214 - March 2001

What Happened To My Modem?
by Ron Ingraham, Sept 2000 Space Coast PC Journal
Somewhere around early June I began to notice reduced connection speeds as I logged onto my Internet Service Provider. Since I had been informed over the years that I shouldn't be too concerned about this, I tended to ignore it. The connection speed displayed in the System Tray simply represents the result of the handshaking that takes place between your modem and the one you are calling. They exchange test packets of information at varying speeds until they find a speed where there are no errors in transmission or reception. They then agree on this speed and that is the figure you see displayed.     The true test of the speed of your connection can be determined during an actual download of a file. Using a program such as WS-FTP, download and upload a file, preferably a zipped file since it is already compressed as much as possible. Note the time involved for the transfer and the transfer rate. For example, if you transfer a 1 meg file, WS-FTP would display something like 120 seconds at a rate of 4.9 KB/Sec. Figures in this range are approaching the best possible under current standards and indicate a connection speed of 49000. Because I was skeptical of the 19200 -21,600 speeds I was seeing on connection, I ran these tests several times on both my desktop machine and my notebook. I also ran them on our personal line and our business line. Much to my chagrin, in every instance the transfer rates were in the range of 2 KB/sec. This of course proved that the initial indicated rate was realistic. (I should note that I didn't get around to running these tests until we had put up with the slower connections for over a month! Duh!!)     Now the problem was to determine the cause of the problem. First check was to go to the interface box outside the house where the phone lines enter. By disconnecting the standard phone connector there	(which connects the internal house wiring to the phone company lines) and connecting my modem laptop there, I was able to eliminate faulty internal wiring as the cause. When connected directly to the phone company's lines, I got identical connection speeds. To further check the problem location, I imposed on my neighbors on either side to allow me to run the tests from their phone lines. Same result. Time to make a trouble call! ! I was somewhat skeptical of the reception to expect from the phone company. There had been a lot of scuttlebutt circulating in the modem-using community that the phone company had little sympathy for modem problems as long as your voice telephone service was adequate. To my pleasant surprise, when I called 611 and explained the situation, I was told that they would restore normal service by 4:00 PM that afternoon. I had noticed some noise on the line during normal voice calls and knew from past experience that this can cause slow modem connections. Naturally, while I talked with the service office, there was no noise or static on the line. That didn't deter them from sending the repairman. I had scarcely hung up when his truck pulled into my driveway.     After running his diagnostic equipment on both my internal wiring and their lines, he discovered a balance problem on one line, so severe that he was amazed that we were even able to get a dialtone.     He left to isolate the problem. He was back in less than an hour, having found the problem between a device he called a crossover (I believe) and the Central Office. He came into the house while I checked the modem connection, which was now back to its normal 42,666-44,000 speed. Hip-Hip-Hurrah!! The moral of this story is don't suffer with a faulty phone line as I did. BellSouth couldn't have been more helpful and prompt in their response to my complaint.
Number 214 - March 2001