[wektech]

Ok here is an odd one I have not run across before. I installed a macsystems ma5060ci pci modem in a refurb system. I tested with the customers ISP and was happily surprised to see the connection rate was consistantly above 30kbps which was an improvement over the 24 and 26 usually seen with this horrible (but a monopoly) ISP. This was a bit of a surprise as I was forced to make a long distance call to access the ISP from my shop. I sent it home with the customer and they reported it did not work. I shop tested it again (after fixing all the settings the customer messed up trying to get it to work) and found it worked fine. This time I delivered it to the customer and checked it out. It refused to connect. I finally figured out that the customers lousy phone lines (provided by the same company that is the ISP) would not support a reasonable connection rate above 28.8kbps and that the modem absolutely refused to connect at such a slow rate. I had to downgrade to an older modem in order to support the lousy lines and ISP service at such a slow rate. Ain't life in the sticks fun!

[Howard]

Wow, that just sucks mate.

I think the customer needs to be contacting their ISP pronto, or better still, change ISP if at all possible..

Regards Howard

[wektech]

Customer is in a rural area, No ISP except the local telco has a local access number. Similarly, they charge so much for long distance that dialling outside the calling area is not an option. So they are reduced to the single dial up ISP, microwave at $40 a month for 128Kbps (which is seldom achieved), or satellite with the high monthly, equipment, and startup costs. Cellular solutions in the area crawl at about 35kbps. Although fairly close to me (less than 5 miles from town), they are across the state line in California, so are unable to use our local access numbers.

[Albert Lionheart]

I have a similar problem with modern modems - I have had to remove the drivers and set up the modem as a default 56k modem using the windows driver set as otherwise the software won't address it properly.