Why does my dial-up keep disconnecting

[Maine Mary]

every few minutes? My ISP is gonna hear it tomorrow; unless it could be something wrong w/my puter? :shrug:

[SOteric]

1. Have you checked for a virus, -a worm, -etc...?

I remember Blaster made my PC disconnect every half heart-beat or so.

[cherryperry]

4. pssssst! over here, you; yeah just you, SOteric!

don't tell her about that w/o explaining you were NOT living in WA or OR or CA at the time that happened - get it? Okay, I don't think she heard us so no one else will see this ... ok?

:crazy:

[SOteric]

6. Acksherly,

I was, and still am living in WA.

Nice try, though. :hi:

[Maine Mary]

7. Huh?

:shrug:

[SOteric]

8. Have you run a virus scan?

:hi:

[Maine Mary]

9. Not lately

(since last week-anyway) But will do. Thanks :hi:

[cherryperry]

2. Well, I don't know, but

I do know my dial-up NEVER disconnects.

Guess you've got stuck on the wrong coast - man, I am so coastist!

:silly:

:pals:

[NicoleM]

3. one idea

Shut down your computer all the way. Unplug your phone line from the computer and plug it back in. Do the same thing on the wall end. Reboot and try again.

[Maine Mary]

5. Thanks. Will try

:-)

[MaineDem]

10. Mine does that

Maybe we're on the same phone line. :)

It happens more often if it's raining. :shrug:

The price we pay for living so close to....well, nothing really.

Good to see you around again.

[Maine Mary]

11. Thanks

:-)

[angee_is_mad]

12. me too!!!

As a matter of fact, I'm sending my puter off to repairland this week. I called my ISP and they said that it wasn't them. Go figure!

[gristy]

13. could just be noise on your phone line

caused by an intermittent short or open. I had that trouble out in the country this summer. I ran a new line through the house from the phone co's box.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. When that happened to me back in Portland

my ISP blamed the phone company, and the phone company blamed my ISP. Neither would take responsibility or do anything about it.

:grr:

Their idiocy was a major factor in my decision to go broadband.

[lpbk2713]

15. Do you have "Call Waiting"?

That would do it.

[Madrone]

16. I work for an ISP - and phone company

Actually, the ISP is part of the phone company (small, local operation) and here's what I have to say about disconnects -

There are a million reasons you could be getting disconnected - everything from ISP timeouts (if they do this, we do NOT), line noise, crappy modem (on your end - usually software modems), incompatibility with your modem and your ISP's, and yes, even the weather.

If you don't usually have this problem, it could be the weather. Moisture in the phone lines, etc.

There are a few things you can do to troubleshoot -

Pick up your phone and dial any number (except 0) to disengage the dial tone. Listen carefully and see if you can hear any static. Even a barely perceptible amount of static on the line can wreak havoc with your connection.

Unplug all other devices from the phone jacks in the house - phones, fax machines, satellite/digital cable boxes, ect - see if you are still getting disconnects. If not, plug in each item one by one until you find the offending piece of equipment.

Make sure your phone line isn't wrapped around or touching other cables in the back of the computer. The monitor cable in particular.

Call your phone company and have them do a line check from the CO to the box outside your house. This can be difficult as most phone companies could give a damn if your internet works or not. In my company's case we happily do so for our customers in our phone exchange - but for our customers in Qwest territory they are usually SOL.

Take a phone cord and plug it directly into the box on the outside of the house and run it straight through to the computer. If you can connect without getting disconnects the problem likely lies in your inside wiring.

Do you use Outlook Express for email? Are you usually getting disconnected after checking or sending email? If so the offender is likely OE. There is a little setting in Tools > Options > Connections (I think? can't remember off the top of my head) with a check box that says "Hang up after Send/Receive" - if checked, it does just that. Disconnects you after sending/receiving email.


Disconnect calls are some of my LEAST favorite support calls, because the reason behind the problem is not usually easily discerned. It helps when the customer is also one of our phone customers and we can check the lines - but like I said earlier our Quest customers are usually SOL. It is a tedious process, troubleshooting these issues. You just have to rule things out, one at a time.

I hope some of this helps!

[Don_G]

18. I'd Say Line Noise

If weather is a factor, then water is getting in the cable somewhere between the Central Office and the Standard Network Interface on the side of the house. Any local TelCo should be able to send a Repairman out to check the signal/noise ratio on a line.

In a rural area, it could be anything. Wasp nests in terminals on the same cable, bullet holes from careless hunters, carbon blocks not installed on a long run of drop wire from the terminal to the house....

I used to be a pre-Regan Installer/Repairman.

[Maine Mary]

20. Thanks

Lots of great advice! :-)

[REP]

19. You Left Out the Obvious!

Call-Waiting has not been disabled with *70 in from the dialing string.

[newyawker99]

21. Congrats PROUD DemocRAT!! 600 posts

:toast:

[davsand]

17. I've got that issue too.

I talked to a customer support guy a while back about it and he told me they have no idea why it is doing it but other people have complained about it.

A few days later I was back on the phone with them because not only did my connection vanish, but the server said I was still logged in there and wouldn't let me back online. While I was bitching about THAT problem I asked about the disconnect problem and had they even come close to figuring out why it was happening. THAT guy told me it was OUR phone lines and not a problem for them.

When I told him that it was too late--the other guy had admitted that others have the problem and they have no idea why, he got really snotty and told me the OTHER customer support guy was "just wrong..."

Makes me want to keep my business there, let me tell you...

Laura

[Aristus]

22. Does you computer have an integrated modem or a separate

unit? If it is separate, shut down and unplug it from your computer, as recommended above. There may be a reset button on the back of the modem. Press it, wait thirty seconds or so, then plug back in and boot up.

[FlaGranny]

23. I read through the posts quickly and I didn't see anyone

post this so, here goes. I apologize if someone already came up with this. I used to have the same problem with dialup. It depends on your ISP. Some of them cut you off after some minutes of inactivity, usually about 10 minutes. If you are reading a long thread it can easily take you 10 minutes. Some ISPs do this and some do not. I think Earthlink has a more liberal policy.

If you do not want to change your ISP, there is a program you can get that will send intermittent pings to keep you connected. I'm not sure what the program is called or where you can get it. Probably one of the computer gurus would know. I used to have a program that did this, but have long since forgotten what it was.

[davsand]

24. Our ISP will disconnect you after a period of time.

And I have had that happen reading some of the longer threads on here! :)

That part of it we fixed by setting our Eudora (e mail program) to check emails every five minutes while it is open.

Thing is, I've had our dialup boot me/disconnect even while I'm on AIM--in mid-chat! You can log on to our ISP and before you can get the Email program open it can disconnect! In fact, it did that trick just this morning.

I can't tell you how I wish we lived somewhere that would allow something other than dial up or a Sat dish. I am literally so pissed off at our ISP that I'm thinking about forking over the $500 for the modum and signing the three year contract just to go to a sat link!


Laura

[FlaGranny]

25. That's frustrating.

Maybe it IS a phone problem. Have you tried another ISP? I used to find that Earthlink was very stable - but that's been awhile.

[KayLaw]

26. Frog?

That happened to me and the phone company came out and found a frog that had died and was decaying in some box of wires. Ugh!