[reemas]

i still use a modem at home. i signed up for the free earthlink trial service. but whats KILLING me is that 90% of the time i connect at 19.2 or 14.4 kbps when i dial into earthink. i've tried several numbers. then occasionally it will connect at 40.9 or almost 56 kbps like it should. but this is rare!

the slow speed is really annoying / painful. any ideas why it won't conisistenyl connect to earthlink at speeds near 56 kbps?

ill appreciate any help. thanks.

[ewdafa]

Do you have any other modem to compare it against? It could very well be the telephone line otherwise.

[Martiny]

Originally posted by reemas:
The slow speed is really annoying / painful. any ideas why it won't conisistenyl connect to earthlink at speeds near 56 kbps?

Sound like you might have some noise on the line that prevents the modem from negotiating a higher speed with your ISP.

Try the following troubleshooting:

1. If you use an extender cable (especially a long one) this might cause bad line quality and thus result in unreliable connections. Try to connect the modem directly to the socket in the wall, if you have different sockets in your house; try all of them to see if the problem is isolated to one or more sockets. Also try to replace the modem cable that you plug into the PB, the cables Apple supply are sadly not always top quality.

2. Disconnect any other devices (phones, fax machines etc.) hooked up to the same line, and then try to connect. Some equipment (especially modern phones) draw to much power from the line and/or create noise thus making modems behave unreliably.

3. If everything else fails, contact your local phone company and ask them to measure the noise level on your line. If it is exceeding a certain threshold they should send a technician to try to fix it.

Best of luck with solving your problem !