Can't Go Online With New Modems, Can With Old

[larrytucaz]

I have two modems I bought right here at the AnAndTech Buy/Sell forum, and neither is particularly good about going online. (This is not a complaint towards the sellers, by the way.)

One is a Sterling V.92 Data/Fax Modem, and it came with the CD; I installed it exactly as it asked me to (installed the drivers BEFORE putting the modem in physically).

The other modem is a US Robotics 56K (not sure if it's V.90 or V.92 or neither) and it didn't come with a CD, I just let Windows XP Professional install it in its own way.

Meanwhile, I have an older AzTech Data/Fax Modem, Model #MDP-3858-U. I don't know about its specifications, I simply pulled it from a Dell 433MHz machine I bought at a yard sale for 10 bucks about a month ago. Like the US Robotics, I just let XP Pro install it in its own way.

The funny thing is, the old AzTech is by far the most "stable," almost always gets me online without a problem. On the other hand, the US Robotics is touch & go, sometimes it will other times it won't. The Sterling so far has been 100% a failure, I cannot get online with it at all.

With all of these, any settings in Windows Control Panel Phone/Modem Options are at their defaults, I have tweaked nothing (and wouldn't know what to tweak and why, frankly.)

I should point out that there has apparently been some degration to the phone line in someway. Before, the US Robotics got online with no problem, and connected at speeds around 45.2Kbps. (I didn't have the Sterling modem at that time, just received it yesterday.) Lately, for about the past 2 weeks or so, it's all I can do to get online at 19.2, sometimes it has even dropped as far as 12.6 (!). (Right now as I'm typing this it is reading 16.8.) It also isn't uncommon for connections to get dropped, sometimes just 10 minutes or so after they are made, and to have to reconnect. (Other times they remain on until I disconnect myself.)

I know you are probably going to tell me to contact the phone company about the quality of the line. No problem, I will. That said, is there someway to make these other modems go online the way the AzTech is managing to?

 

[bruceb]

First compare all your modem settings on the GOOD Modem
with the settings on the Modems that do not work right

Second, for US Robotics, you should use their Software

You can run Everest Home Edition to find out which version
of US Robotics Modem you have

You can get it here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

Start here: http://www.usr.com/support/s-main-menu.asp
to locate the correct modem driver

Third, as you said, you probably have telephone line trouble
Does the phone have Noise or Static on the Line ? ?
If so, call the phone company to fix it

 

[ChonChon]

regarding that last post (which should be EXTREMELY helpful to you) simply check the phone filters that they have you use to make sure they are correctly functioning.

 

[bruceb]

He should not have any Phone Filters on an old style Analog POTS Line
He is not using DSL

 

[jackschmittusa]

It has been my experience (from long ago, admittedly) that sometimes the better the quality of the modem, the more likely it is to suffer from poor phone lines.