Speeding up a dial-up connection...

bigben2k · 08-23-2003, 12:52 AM

Well, since I moved here, as most of you know, I've been stuck on dial-up (no DSL, no Cable).

So I've been trying to tweak things out to get the fastest transfer rate. I thought I'd share my experience.

First, this box is an Intel Pentium 166 MMX, w/ 32 MB 168 pin SDRAM (unbuffered, 3.3v, PM me if you've got an extra stick
!), running Windows 95.

The modem, as it turns out, was an old 28.8 USRobotics Voice internal one that I put in a long time ago. The best connection speed I was getting was 26'400 bps.

I had a spare USR 56K, so I put that in. Lucky for me, I had the CD for it. The connection speed didn't improve one bit! So I remembered that when 56K modems came out, there were actually 2 standards: X2 by USR and V.90 . So I had to find the USR website for a download/patch/firmware upgrade. The links on the CD were out-of-date, and invalid, but a quick search through the 3COM (they bought USR) website got me where I needed.

I downloaded a "Modem Manager", and a "Modem Identifier", but found out that I already had V.90 on this model.

So I checked the ISP's website, and they do support V.90, so obviously the problem is with the lousy phone line.

When we moved in, the house had phone putlets all over, and some were dual outlets. As it turns out, the house was used as a sales office, and they quickly wired up something for themselves, by running CAT3 cabling on the outside, which I'll have to re-run inside, by crawling under this pre-fab/modular house, and drilling at where I hopefully will be the right spots. Thanks to the fellow that just installed the Satelitte TV this week, I've got a few reference points.

So... when they left the house, and quit using it as a sales office (prior to us seeing the house), they ripped out their phone systems, leaving a bunch of cables. So I re-used what was there, so that each outlet would be on its own pair of wires.

There are two cable runs: one around the front, and one around back. Each outlet is wired in the same color pair (i.e. blue and blue-white). I made it that way because my brother-in-law is also living with us, and we might need another phone line, maybe even a third for my stepdaughter (now 16, and a big phone chatter!).

I picked up a project box and some european style busbars from Radio-Scrap, and got everything hooked up to one single line, for now. If we ever decide to add any line, I can simply re-patch the outlet to the other line, no matter what outlet it is. I can even have two phone lines going to the kitchen (dual outlet).

Now the good part...

While going over the ISP setup details, I found out that they have their own Web accelerator, that they call "WebJet". It's designed to run under any Windows OS, but with Win95, it also needed the following:
-Microsoft Windows 95 Year 2000 Update
-Dial-up Networking 1.3 Performance & Security Upgrade
-DUN 1.3 and Winsock2 Year 2000 Update from Microsoft

So I go over the Microsoft website, and find the first and third pretty much right away. The second one required a bit more searching.

Throughout all this, I receive the setup CD from the ISP, which, as I found out shortly after, has that second file.

So I start running these patches, and boom: the CD-ROM drive goes up! It won't read the ISP's CD anymore, nor the Microsoft Y2K CD that I had handy, but never tried.

So I re-load the CD-ROM driver. No go. Then I remembered that I had just recently moved my HDD right over the CD (instead of the PSU, because the HDD was starting to act funny), and that the cable was sitting kinda funny, so I crack open the beast, set the CD Drive one slot lower, and re-attach the cables neatly, including that really fussy sound cable.

No go.

So I try my trusty Win95 CD (original) and it works.

Turns out that the ISP CD has a tiny invisible scratch that prevents it from being detected (I have to clean it every time I use it), but it works. The MS Y2K CD is unrecognizable.

So I go through the rest of the patches, and everything goes well, but WebJet still won't run: "Missing WS2_32.DLL". A little surfing, and I find it, download it, and dump it in the system folder. Re-install WebJet, then it asks for WS2_HLP.DLL... which I go back and find, and dump in "System".

But it still won't run.

At this point, if you haven't guessed how many times I've rebooted, you can just quit reading.

So I find the WinSock2 patch for Win95 on the MS website, download it, install it, but WebJet is now telling me that it's having a problem launching a socket, and aborts the install (as usual).

So I re-run the three patches, but still no go.

At this pojnt I want to check up on you guys, so I get on the net, but nothing comes up: DNSError, server unavailable page. IE 5.5 doesn't even bother to dial to the ISP.

So I dump DUN (Dial-Up networking) and re-load it. No go.

I run the MSDUN13.exe, which is on the ISP's CD, which is the latest Dial-up adapter, but still no go.

At this point, I've got no hope of getting WebJet to work, so I drop that idea, and concentrate on getting IE working again. The wife is on my back...

I had to dump an old cable connection, to get rid of the bad TCP/IP driver, along with the NIC drivers. The WS2_32.DLL file was still showing "In Use", so I had to reboot in Safe Mode to delete it. Of course I also deleted Winsock32.dll, which turned out to be a mistake, because no matter what I did, even when I force the dial-up to connect to the ISP, IE still showed the same old "Unavailable" screen.

So I went through the Win95 CD's CAB files, one by one (there's 27), which WINZIP will gladly list out for me, but crash after about ten. I find the missing file.

Re-install DUN, run the ISP's installation CD, and I'm back in business.

So what now?

I've got the Win98 CD, but I can't seem to find my Win98 upgrade CD right now (which box was it in?). I'll try upgrading this OS, then I might try WebJet again.

Somewhere in there, I swapped out a jumper on my mobo, to overclock the CPU to 200. A massively bad idea, but it worked.

Ok, that was my last two days, how about you?

iggiebee · 08-23-2003, 01:53 AM

FYI: not sure if your ISP is using same dialup speed-up service, but there is out a new compression algorithm that puts 56K dialup at speeds fairly close to those of DSL, NetZero among others have it, and all ISPs are scrambling to get licenses of the software in order to offer this service.

pHaestus · 08-23-2003, 02:21 AM

Dial up Networking...it's been ages and ages since I have considered that or tweaking a modem connection.

Sorry to hear that you're back on dial up Ben. As for all the hardware troubles why not just buy that computer in your sig now? Seems like all the parts you've been lusting for are pretty much available

bigben2k · 08-26-2003, 11:35 PM

Well, it's a good thing that I can't get faster than 26.4 kbps! We had a large electrical storm today at 6 pm, and it blew the relay on the 56k modem I just put in!

Actually, it looks like it blew a diode (anyone want a pic?). The modem works fine, but the relay won't engage to get on the line: the phone connected to it still has a dial tone.

I ought to fix it, at least temporarily, but then I know someone's going to ask me about "that switch".

The diode is labeled "D3", and there's a couple more of them around. They're marked "D86". Can anyone identify that? It might not be the same part though...

In the mean time, I've got to add some kind of protection on the phone line. I was kinda hoping to protect all the phones in the house, since I have all the lines running to one box. Does anyone have any ideas how I'd do that?

If I'm stuck, I'll just pick up a surge protector with a phone line protector.

nicozeg · 08-27-2003, 11:00 AM

Modem signals are very tricky and sensitive to wiring problems. In my house There are six phone jacks in different rooms, all on the same line. Most of the time I can connect at 44k max, but if unplug the phone on one specific room, I can connect at 52k. It's not the phone itself, just when any phone is plugged in that room. Unfortunately is one place where it has a lot of use, and can't be permanently unplugged.

bigben2k · 08-27-2003, 11:51 AM

I hear you nicozeg. I thought about switching to coax wiring, for all the phone lines, but I think it'd be overkill...

Good tip though, I might try disconnecting everything to see if I can get more than 26.4 k.

Any ideas on protecting a modem from lightning strikes?

Blackeagle · 08-30-2003, 07:24 PM

With just a bit more juice and the tower would have fried. Then the insurance people would have paid for a new tower.

:shrug:

Sorry to hear about your bad luck Ben. Any more storms in the forcast?

bigben2k · 08-31-2003, 10:05 AM

The weather is a little more unpredictable here in Texas: all I know for sure is that we're in "storm season", whatever that's suppose to mean!:shrug:

Last week, the modem managed to negotiate a 28.8 connection, but I guess it was running too many errors, because nothing loaded.:shrug: Otherwise, I get 26k4 pretty much anytime.

crane · 08-31-2003, 09:07 PM

I've been messing with my laptop modem for the last month or so...I think I have it narrowed down to the hotel switchboards and the intercom system at work. They must put extra voltage in the lines to run so many phones and extensions and I think thats what kills my speed.
I can dial up an ISP from my home phone and it connects @ 45-48k. Try it from work or hotel and its 19-28k.
Glad I have cable at home....

Ben, you may try different drivers... find out your modems chipset and try alternative commands.

bigben2k · 09-01-2003, 12:07 AM

That's my next step: thanks for the tip!

I really think that the problem is with the phone line. What I'd need to do, is to dial into another PC's buddy, here in the neighborhood, but I don't have one yet.

Phant0m51 · 09-03-2003, 11:38 PM

To protect your computer, get yourself a Surge protector power strip with a phoneline jack in it. I have 2 here at my house. They're only $20 or so.

iroc409 · 09-04-2003, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by iggiebee
FYI: not sure if your ISP is using same dialup speed-up service, but there is out a new compression algorithm that puts 56K dialup at speeds fairly close to those of DSL, NetZero among others have it, and all ISPs are scrambling to get licenses of the software in order to offer this service.

isn't this similar to what they are starting to provide on cell phones with internet access now?

ben, this might be something to consider. if you use your mobile a lot, you could get on a pretty sweet plan, and use the internet access that way.

actually, now that i think about it, i think there are mobile plans that don't charge you minutes for the usage. i know sprint's WAP service doesn't charge you minutes for internet access now, not sure if that's the case with their isp service tho. you might check it out, since some of those companies can go pretty fast now. :shrug:

08-23-2003, 12:52 AM	#1
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	Speeding up a dial-up connection... Well, since I moved here, as most of you know, I've been stuck on dial-up (no DSL, no Cable). So I've been trying to tweak things out to get the fastest transfer rate. I thought I'd share my experience. First, this box is an Intel Pentium 166 MMX, w/ 32 MB 168 pin SDRAM (unbuffered, 3.3v, PM me if you've got an extra stick !), running Windows 95. The modem, as it turns out, was an old 28.8 USRobotics Voice internal one that I put in a long time ago. The best connection speed I was getting was 26'400 bps. I had a spare USR 56K, so I put that in. Lucky for me, I had the CD for it. The connection speed didn't improve one bit! So I remembered that when 56K modems came out, there were actually 2 standards: X2 by USR and V.90 . So I had to find the USR website for a download/patch/firmware upgrade. The links on the CD were out-of-date, and invalid, but a quick search through the 3COM (they bought USR) website got me where I needed. I downloaded a "Modem Manager", and a "Modem Identifier", but found out that I already had V.90 on this model. So I checked the ISP's website, and they do support V.90, so obviously the problem is with the lousy phone line. When we moved in, the house had phone putlets all over, and some were dual outlets. As it turns out, the house was used as a sales office, and they quickly wired up something for themselves, by running CAT3 cabling on the outside, which I'll have to re-run inside, by crawling under this pre-fab/modular house, and drilling at where I hopefully will be the right spots. Thanks to the fellow that just installed the Satelitte TV this week, I've got a few reference points. So... when they left the house, and quit using it as a sales office (prior to us seeing the house), they ripped out their phone systems, leaving a bunch of cables. So I re-used what was there, so that each outlet would be on its own pair of wires. There are two cable runs: one around the front, and one around back. Each outlet is wired in the same color pair (i.e. blue and blue-white). I made it that way because my brother-in-law is also living with us, and we might need another phone line, maybe even a third for my stepdaughter (now 16, and a big phone chatter!). I picked up a project box and some european style busbars from Radio-Scrap, and got everything hooked up to one single line, for now. If we ever decide to add any line, I can simply re-patch the outlet to the other line, no matter what outlet it is. I can even have two phone lines going to the kitchen (dual outlet). Now the good part... While going over the ISP setup details, I found out that they have their own Web accelerator, that they call "WebJet". It's designed to run under any Windows OS, but with Win95, it also needed the following: -Microsoft Windows 95 Year 2000 Update -Dial-up Networking 1.3 Performance & Security Upgrade -DUN 1.3 and Winsock2 Year 2000 Update from Microsoft So I go over the Microsoft website, and find the first and third pretty much right away. The second one required a bit more searching. Throughout all this, I receive the setup CD from the ISP, which, as I found out shortly after, has that second file. So I start running these patches, and boom: the CD-ROM drive goes up! It won't read the ISP's CD anymore, nor the Microsoft Y2K CD that I had handy, but never tried. So I re-load the CD-ROM driver. No go. Then I remembered that I had just recently moved my HDD right over the CD (instead of the PSU, because the HDD was starting to act funny), and that the cable was sitting kinda funny, so I crack open the beast, set the CD Drive one slot lower, and re-attach the cables neatly, including that really fussy sound cable. No go. So I try my trusty Win95 CD (original) and it works. Turns out that the ISP CD has a tiny invisible scratch that prevents it from being detected (I have to clean it every time I use it), but it works. The MS Y2K CD is unrecognizable. So I go through the rest of the patches, and everything goes well, but WebJet still won't run: "Missing WS2_32.DLL". A little surfing, and I find it, download it, and dump it in the system folder. Re-install WebJet, then it asks for WS2_HLP.DLL... which I go back and find, and dump in "System". But it still won't run. At this point, if you haven't guessed how many times I've rebooted, you can just quit reading. So I find the WinSock2 patch for Win95 on the MS website, download it, install it, but WebJet is now telling me that it's having a problem launching a socket, and aborts the install (as usual). So I re-run the three patches, but still no go. At this pojnt I want to check up on you guys, so I get on the net, but nothing comes up: DNSError, server unavailable page. IE 5.5 doesn't even bother to dial to the ISP. So I dump DUN (Dial-Up networking) and re-load it. No go. I run the MSDUN13.exe, which is on the ISP's CD, which is the latest Dial-up adapter, but still no go. At this point, I've got no hope of getting WebJet to work, so I drop that idea, and concentrate on getting IE working again. The wife is on my back... I had to dump an old cable connection, to get rid of the bad TCP/IP driver, along with the NIC drivers. The WS2_32.DLL file was still showing "In Use", so I had to reboot in Safe Mode to delete it. Of course I also deleted Winsock32.dll, which turned out to be a mistake, because no matter what I did, even when I force the dial-up to connect to the ISP, IE still showed the same old "Unavailable" screen. So I went through the Win95 CD's CAB files, one by one (there's 27), which WINZIP will gladly list out for me, but crash after about ten. I find the missing file. Re-install DUN, run the ISP's installation CD, and I'm back in business. So what now? I've got the Win98 CD, but I can't seem to find my Win98 upgrade CD right now (which box was it in?). I'll try upgrading this OS, then I might try WebJet again. Somewhere in there, I swapped out a jumper on my mobo, to overclock the CPU to 200. A massively bad idea, but it worked. Ok, that was my last two days, how about you? __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

08-23-2003, 01:53 AM	#2
iggiebee Cooling Savant Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Miami, Florida US Posts: 117	FYI: not sure if your ISP is using same dialup speed-up service, but there is out a new compression algorithm that puts 56K dialup at speeds fairly close to those of DSL, NetZero among others have it, and all ISPs are scrambling to get licenses of the software in order to offer this service. __________________ I stop for 1 C. "Those that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin (1773)

08-26-2003, 11:35 PM	#4
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	Well, it's a good thing that I can't get faster than 26.4 kbps! We had a large electrical storm today at 6 pm, and it blew the relay on the 56k modem I just put in! Actually, it looks like it blew a diode (anyone want a pic?). The modem works fine, but the relay won't engage to get on the line: the phone connected to it still has a dial tone. I ought to fix it, at least temporarily, but then I know someone's going to ask me about "that switch". The diode is labeled "D3", and there's a couple more of them around. They're marked "D86". Can anyone identify that? It might not be the same part though... In the mean time, I've got to add some kind of protection on the phone line. I was kinda hoping to protect all the phones in the house, since I have all the lines running to one box. Does anyone have any ideas how I'd do that? If I'm stuck, I'll just pick up a surge protector with a phone line protector. __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

08-27-2003, 11:51 AM	#6
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	I hear you nicozeg. I thought about switching to coax wiring, for all the phone lines, but I think it'd be overkill... Good tip though, I might try disconnecting everything to see if I can get more than 26.4 k. Any ideas on protecting a modem from lightning strikes? __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

08-31-2003, 10:05 AM	#8
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	The weather is a little more unpredictable here in Texas: all I know for sure is that we're in "storm season", whatever that's suppose to mean!:shrug: Last week, the modem managed to negotiate a 28.8 connection, but I guess it was running too many errors, because nothing loaded.:shrug: Otherwise, I get 26k4 pretty much anytime. __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

08-23-2003, 02:21 AM	#3
pHaestus Big Player Making Big Money Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: irc.lostgeek.com #procooling.com Posts: 4,782	Dial up Networking...it's been ages and ages since I have considered that or tweaking a modem connection. Sorry to hear that you're back on dial up Ben. As for all the hardware troubles why not just buy that computer in your sig now? Seems like all the parts you've been lusting for are pretty much available

08-27-2003, 11:00 AM	#5
nicozeg Cooling Savant Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Santiago, Chile Posts: 403	Modem signals are very tricky and sensitive to wiring problems. In my house There are six phone jacks in different rooms, all on the same line. Most of the time I can connect at 44k max, but if unplug the phone on one specific room, I can connect at 52k. It's not the phone itself, just when any phone is plugged in that room. Unfortunately is one place where it has a lot of use, and can't be permanently unplugged.

08-30-2003, 07:24 PM	#7
Blackeagle Thermophile Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: U.S.A = Michigan Posts: 1,243	With just a bit more juice and the tower would have fried. Then the insurance people would have paid for a new tower. :shrug: Sorry to hear about your bad luck Ben. Any more storms in the forcast?

08-31-2003, 09:07 PM	#9
crane Cooling Neophyte Join Date: May 2002 Location: so cal Posts: 82	I've been messing with my laptop modem for the last month or so...I think I have it narrowed down to the hotel switchboards and the intercom system at work. They must put extra voltage in the lines to run so many phones and extensions and I think thats what kills my speed. I can dial up an ISP from my home phone and it connects @ 45-48k. Try it from work or hotel and its 19-28k. Glad I have cable at home.... Ben, you may try different drivers... find out your modems chipset and try alternative commands. __________________ dirt rules

09-01-2003, 12:07 AM	#10
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	That's my next step: thanks for the tip! I really think that the problem is with the phone line. What I'd need to do, is to dial into another PC's buddy, here in the neighborhood, but I don't have one yet. __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

09-03-2003, 11:38 PM	#11
Phant0m51 Cooling Savant Join Date: May 2003 Location: Utah Posts: 160	To protect your computer, get yourself a Surge protector power strip with a phoneline jack in it. I have 2 here at my house. They're only $20 or so.

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