What Gives???

[Bud Cline]

JC,

I have the bottom of the line (I guess) "dial up" ISP connection. Some days it fairly speedy, most days it sucks really bad.

WHY?

Some times I get really frustrated and simply hangup and redial and this proves to be an improvement. Sometimes!

What are the other options and why do they cost so darned much.

Is there anything I can do to give this slow momma a kick in the butt?

[Sponsored Links]

[Cami A]

Please, oh confuser grand pooba, have an answer to this question. No digital cable available, and sat. connections are big $, and they can't seem to stay in business....

Will an upgrade from my 56K external do me any good? How about banishing all the kiddies that clog up my ISP after they get home from school? ;)

Although, I must admit, this board is THE fastest loading one. I use it to check if I've been kicked off or frozen, or if the site I'm attempting to reach is just running slow.

Please have an answer for us! (hey, there's no whining smilie...)

[John Bridge]

Cami, Send me a whiner and I'll load him up. Or tell me where I can steal the whiner and I'll load him up. :)

I'm still on an ISP too, because the a-hole cable company around here (Time-Warner) hasn't gotten in the fiber.

So I check out AT&T broadband. They don't have a repeater tower close enough to me.

My choices are down to one: Ma Bell -DSL. I'm thinking about it. I think I can amortize the deal by ridding myself of the dedicated line I use for this "confuser."

[Cami A]

Here's what a quick Google came up with- I like the beer toast. And the hammer over the head. And...we could clog this board up in no time... Heheheh

I could send ya a real whiner...there's a couple of employees doin' nothing and complaining about it... :rolleyes:

http://www.anne3.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/002268.html

[cx]

John:

I think we need to keep this girl. :D

That list got pelnty smilies, eh? How does one capture one of them thingees? I like the hammer one too. I could use it when Bud is pickin' on me.

I also find that your site loads much faster than most, which thing I think is a major plus. Specially for us slow guys. Due to poor telephone lines (rural co-op phone company), I have to dumb my modem down for it to dial up and stay on-line consistantly. Max out at about 28K on a good day.

Cami:

Changing modems may well help. I have found that they are all created equal, but some are a LOT more equal than others. Also, killing as many of those kids as possible before they reach school age will surely help long term. The aligators have that child raising figured out - eat as many as possible before they get big enough to get away! ;)

Bud:

How fast does your modem usually run? Or say it's running? JC can tell you where to find the sites that will actually time your real on-line speed, which I have found was always lower than the machine indicated. Forget how to do it though.

I, too, use a small Mom-and-Pop kinda ISP. But if I take even my laptop in town and connect to the same phone system as the ISP uses, it will run above 54K consistantly. At home, same machine never gets above 26K. Lot of phone line/connection/switching office/ect. considerations in all that, apparently. Re-dialing from your location may be getting you a better physical connection, or some such. Rain raises hell with that around here, too. Lines gather a little moisture and little electrons get all confused and don't all go to the right places, methinks. Is why they call these thingees confusers, no?

[Rob Z]

Cami

How do we drag one of those things over here to put in our posts? I like the ones you mentioned, as well as the rolling head thingy.

Rob

[Cami A]

http://www.plauder-smilies.com/sad/nixweiss.gif
Who knows when I'll figure this out....

[Bud Cline]

I think John should remove the JBS at the top and replace it with http://www.avonlea.f2s.com/emoticons/cheers.gif

[Bud Cline]

Hey Cami,

We could have a smilies war and drive these guys nuts.
http://www.unknown553.f2s.com/YaBBImages/smilies/2guns.gif

[Cami A]

http://images.bravenet.com/brpics/forumpics/wink2.gif

hee hee hee. I like that one! OK, OK...

[ img] goes before the address. [ /img] goes after. No spaces anywhere, but otherwise it won't post.

To get the address, right click for properties. Then right click again and select all. Then right click AGAIN and hit copy. Then type your [ img], click edit, click paste, type [/img], and you're done... Took me ten times as long to type it out as it actually did to do it....

And then you can finally have a whiner http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys/e.gif

[cx]

Drive? Drive? Hell, Bud, that ain't but a short putt for some of them!

Just remember, both of you, "Paybacks Are Hell".

[Cami A]

This will be what John does to us if we make this a 13 page post...

http://www.avonlea.f2s.com/emoticons/bash.gif

There's probably an easier way than what I posted- perhaps Bud will let us in on any secrets?

[Edited by Cami A on 10-16-2001 at 12:36 AM]

[cx]

Hey, Bud, take this! http://www.avonlea.f2s.com/emoticons/smash.gif

hehehehehehe!

[Bud Cline]

Cami you little http://www.unknown553.f2s.com/YaBBImages/smilies/firedevil.gif you. You gave away the secret.

[Cami A]

In case there was any doubt that this is going downhill in a BAAAADDDDD way: http://www.theunholytrinity.org/cracks_smileys/contrib/xerx/smileybreasts.gif

http://www.mysmilies.com

[Cami A]

Bud, I never said I was an http://www.theunholytrinity.org/cracks_smileys/contrib/ruinkai/biggrinangelA.gif

Sure like that website- a lot less clicking and NO typing!

OK- I'm off to http://www.freakygamers.com/smilies/s/contrib/lilly/asleep1bluepink.gif

[Edited by Cami A on 10-16-2001 at 12:55 AM]

[Cami A]

http://www.freakygamers.com/smilies/s/contrib/dvv/cwmddd.gifUmmmm, so today's lesson is what smilies look like when where they're stored goes away into cyberdust. On the bright side, this thread is back to loading quickly.... until Bud gets back.....

[Bud Cline]

It's not loading quickly for me again. The problem comes and goes seems like. Where's JC???

[JC]

Sorry, For some unkown reason My PC died yesterday and I have to Format and re-load the system.

Don't know what happened the Hard-drive just started making
loud crunching noises then went into Dos and said abort,retry,ignore error. (Microsoft errors are so retarted sometimes).

Anyway I am back and faster than ever. Crisp and clean and no cache.

Bud, it is because your ISP is over-loadind and perhaps needs to update there equipment.
If you get busy signals when dialing in I would really consider dropping them and getting someone else.
Speed-test sites are interesting but since they are also prob=ne to many network disturbances and every one of them is in differant locales(thus show differant speeds) they might not be of any real use to you.
What does your computer list as your connect speed?
With a 56k you should have 40k and up.

If anyone here has a dial-up and CAN get cable I suggest you do so. It's cheap,FAST,and easy and your always online..no need to dial anything. Just turn on your browser.

Also if you have cable or dsl make sure to TWEAK your connection, It can(depending on your set-up) make a really big differance.
one time I tossed in a couple of Registry entries and went from 120k to an avarage 470k!! Like night and day.

Let me know if you guys need any links or more info on these.

[Cami A]

Glad to see that all the little pics are back! This thread was even harder to follow without 'em.

So if I clean out temp internet files, cookies, downloads, and do a defrag on a regular basis, what else could I do to speed this puppy up BESIDES cable? There's gotta be something else I'm forgetting. :(

[Bud Cline]

JC,

How do I check that?

If I check "status" which I've done often and really don't know what it means, I am always running at 26 to 28,000bps never more on a 56k.

Busy signals were a problem several months ago especially just after school was out. I guess a lot of customers bitched so they added additional dial-up lines and busy's haven't been a problem for a while. These guys (ISP) regularly send me emails telling me what a fine job they are doing for me and what a pleasure it is to serve my ass.

And that's what I say: "MY ASS"!

I don't have the cheapest service either. There is little competition if any here for wireline service. I can't get cable in the boonies. Wireless is available at three times the cost of my present service and DSL is worse than that.

Trouble is I don't understand any of it. Is there sattelite service?

I was playing on the system at the Sheriff's Department the other day and theirs reacts instantly to everything you do. Of course, cost is no object when it comes to tax dollars.

And another thing DAMMITTTTTTTTT!
I get dropped after 8 minutes of inactivity. If I read or type or go to the bathroom for more than eight minutes the damned thing drops me. The next dial-up line may not have the quality as the one before.

Now I know there is a way to stay on-line from dial-up to hang-up, but no one will tell me how to do it. The ISP tells me they discourage that sort of thing which also tells me it's possible, and maybe they can't block it.

So what's the scoop?

[Edited by Bud Cline on 10-16-2001 at 08:59 PM]

[cx]

Bud:

Can you get to Dial Up Networking in your Control Panel?

Right click on your Connection icon, hit Properties. Under General tab hit Configure. Under Connection tab, hit Advanced. Tell JC if there is anything entered in the box labeled Extra Settings.

That's where my ISP has had me make entries to dumb down my speed to enable consistant dial-up. Maybe they had you do that when you did your initial connection with them.

Or maybe I don't know Jack about this either. http://www.theunholytrinity.org/cracks_smileys/otn/confused/shrug03.gif

[JC]

Yup Bud that is your connect 24k? not very good.
The first thing to do is wire a NEW freask wire directly to your computer from the basement or where ever the phone junction box is. Many time this is the problem...too many splices in the wire.

Your local PD has Broadband (cable,DSL,Satelire..same thing).

For the disconnect thing the TRICK is to send a small bit of data every so often to simulate activity.

The easiest way to do this is with 'e-mail checkers'.
Netscape has a tiny program that comes with it that works, but since you are were hopelessly forced to use IE. I am not aware if they have one so I will just send you a link to a thrid party one. hold on I'll be right back........

[JC]

ok im back, here ya go pick one.

http://www.tucows.com/checkers95.html


Any info you need like 'mail server info' will be in the mail preferances of IE. just type that data into these checkers so they will know where to look for mail and set the time to be less than the shutoff your ISP uses.

Now some ISP's will still shut you off after so long even though you are transmitting data. This is because they know people use these programs.
However these shutoffs are VERY long..like 16 hours or even 24 hours etc..And many ISP's don't use them.

[flatfloor]

Check your speed,
http://radio.about.com/tvradio/radio/c/ht/00/10/How_Check_Bandwidth_Speed0971441094.htm

What the HELL have you people been up to? I haven't looked in here for a few days and look at it!

[cx]

JC:

If he's using Outlook Express and sets that to check mail every five minutes or so, won't that satisfy the activity requirement?

Jim:

They've gone crazy! The whole damn bunch of'em, looks like. :D

[Bud Cline]

Well I've been to "Dial Up Networking" in the past but it's not in my Control Panel. What else would it be called?

[JC]

Bud open My Computer on your desktop it is in there.

Yes cx if Outlook has that it should do the trick. Try that Bud.

Sorry I am not very familiar with Microsft programs.
I pride myself on how much Microsoft I can remove from my system and still have it run..Bastards just won't let you delete some things..Maybe Bill Gates just does'nt realize this is MY computer and not his.. If I don't like something I should be allowed to remove it..
I swear next time I format I am done with windows. I can't find my Linux disks or I would have done it yesterday.

[cx]

Bud:
I'm running Windows ME on this machine, and they moved some stuff around from 98, but it should still be called Dial Up Networking. Holler if you still can't find it and I'll fire up the laptop (needs excercised anyway) and see where it was in 98.

JC:
It's my understanding that none of us would use Windows if we knew better. Truth is, we don't. And ol' Bill was countin' on there being more of us than there are of you. And it looks like he was right. I sure understand your frustration, though.

[JC]

If the guy would just spend half his energy making betterprograms instead of trying to control the world I would be much more happeir ..then again he would be alot less richer....ah nevermind

[Bud Cline]

Dial Up Networking is there I've been there, I know I have, but I'll be damned if I can find it now. Every time this thing drops a nut for some reason I have to call my ISP to walk me thru a re-birth. Seems like that's where they take me for some reason (Dial Up). Or is it Internet Options, or whatever?

I made the other change from "Desktop Computer" to whatever Jim said, I don't see any improvement.

[JC]

I just did it to my system since I had to reset/reload everything and it made a big differance but I've done it before with no apparant differance on this and other systems..Dunno why it MS thing I guess.

[Bud Cline]

Been on here about thirty minutes and everything is fine, most clicks result in instant success. Going out at 26,400bps right now.

Go figure.