Speeding up a dial up modem

JjEjFjF

n00b
Joined
May 7, 2005
Messages
10
Does anyone know how to make a dial up modem faster?
I had to buy a new modem.
My original modem connected at about 48k.
I cant get the new modem to connect at much more than 37k.
Drivers are up to date.
I know these speeds are unacceptable to most but i live in rural Pennsylvania with no cable or dsl available (directpc is way to expensive) so im dealing with it the best i can.
Thanks in advance for any help.
 
If you are sure it's the modem that's causing the trouble, then look into a hardware based modem. Lots of "winmodems" are software based and not as nice to your cpu usage or to the performance. That's pretty much all you can do.
 
Does your ISP support V.92? If not, you may want to try and disable the V.92 on your modem to make it connect with V.90 instead.

Also, is your modem a hardware modem or winmodem?
If it is a winmodem, that may be part of the problem. Also something you may want to check is to see if there is any noise on your phone line. If there is, a winmodem will have more problems seeing through the "noise" than a hardware modem will.
 
l337zax said:
Does your ISP support V.92? If not, you may want to try and disable the V.92 on your modem to make it connect with V.90 instead.

Also, is your modem a hardware modem or winmodem?
If it is a winmodem, that may be part of the problem. Also something you may want to check is to see if there is any noise on your phone line. If there is, a winmodem will have more problems seeing through the "noise" than a hardware modem will.

Thanks 1337,
My ISP does not support V.92.
Im not to sure how to disable the V.92.
As far as i know its a hardware modem.
There shouldnt be any more noise on the line then there was with the other modem.
The other modem was a win lucent.
Im sorry if i sound lame , i just dont know alot about modems.
thanks
I would also like to add that this modem is on COM4 where the old one was on COM3
 
More than likley its not a hardware modem. The only hardware modem I know thats still being sold come from the USRobotics line of "Hardware and Performance modems."

The USR is the worlds finest modem. As if that means squat these days.
 
JjEjFjF said:
Thanks 1337,
My ISP does not support V.92.
Im not to sure how to disable the V.92

One thing you can try is put in an init string for your modem to tell it to connect with V.90 instead of V.92 before it dials out.

I'll assume you're using WinXP.

1. Go to your control panel
2. Phone & Modem Options
3. Go to Modems Tab
4. Go into the properties of your modem
5. Go to Advanced Tab
6. Under "Extra initialization commands:" enter this string: +MS=V90,0
7. Click ok to save changes, then ok on the previous window.

Then give it a try, you may even want to try rebooting your PC to make sure the change goes into affect. Keep in mind that this modem init string doesn't work on all modems, and in fact may cause it not to dial out or not dial in properly until that init string is removed. So you'll want to remember where you entered that init string in so if you can't dial up after entering the string, you can go back and remove it.
 
Talonz said:
If you are sure it's the modem that's causing the trouble, then look into a hardware based modem. Lots of "winmodems" are software based and not as nice to your cpu usage or to the performance. That's pretty much all you can do.

That theory went out the door a long time ago back when PC's broke the 800Mhz barrier. With today's systems a softare modem has no real impact on performance of the PC and the cheap softmodems that i've used perform as well and at times better then the hardware modems i've used.

Sir-Fragalot said:
More than likley its not a hardware modem. The only hardware modem I know thats still being sold come from the USRobotics line of "Hardware and Performance modems."

The USR is the worlds finest modem. As if that means squat these days.

There are a few other hardware based modems out there that can be had for fairly cheap. One of the few i've found is made by Encore and has an Intel chipset. You can find it at Newegg. I'm not so sure about the performance of it yet though because my previous winmodem connected at higher speeds and held the connection better.

http://www.encore-usa.com/product.php?id=32&lang=

I really wish broadband would start being made available for rural users like myself. I'm getting really sick of dial-up.
 
burningrave101 said:
I really wish broadband would start being made available for rural users like myself. I'm getting really sick of dial-up.

You and me both. :p
 
Wow, I hate dial-up.


What I found in my travails with dialing in is that some modems simply behave better with your computer than others do. I spent almost $100 on a "performance" modem and ended up with better speeds on an El-Cheapo ® modem that I picked up for free after a rebate. I've realized that some modems are simply more compatible with certain configurations and phone lines than others are. Find a place with a good return policy and a decent selection and buy four or five of them, then pick the best performer and return the rest.
 
I'm getting pretty pissed off at my dial-up modems because i'm having a hard time getting them installed in the last PCI slot in my new Lian-Li V series cases lol. I couldn't get ither one of them installed in a V1200 that i'm sending back and only one of them will fit in my V1000. The back part of the bracket it hitting something and doesn't want to go through the hole in the back of the case. I dont know what the deal is.
 
l337zax said:
One thing you can try is put in an init string for your modem to tell it to connect with V.90 instead of V.92 before it dials out.

I'll assume you're using WinXP.

1. Go to your control panel
2. Phone & Modem Options
3. Go to Modems Tab
4. Go into the properties of your modem
5. Go to Advanced Tab
6. Under "Extra initialization commands:" enter this string: +MS=V90,0
7. Click ok to save changes, then ok on the previous window.

Then give it a try, you may even want to try rebooting your PC to make sure the change goes into affect. Keep in mind that this modem init string doesn't work on all modems, and in fact may cause it not to dial out or not dial in properly until that init string is removed. So you'll want to remember where you entered that init string in so if you can't dial up after entering the string, you can go back and remove it.


Thanks again,
I am using WinXP.
I tried the +MS=V90,0 string and it made no differance.
Any other ideas would be greatly apprieciated.
Im starting to believe what Thrash says:

Thrash said:
What I found in my travails with dialing in is that some modems simply behave better with your computer than others do. I've realized that some modems are simply more compatible with certain configurations and phone lines than others are.


aggpirate said:
ever consider sat?
I would probably go with the sat.except for the fact(s) that they want $500 for the dish and modem , $70 a month for the service , you are limited on your downloads and i heard that they are horrible for playing online games.
 
JjEjFjF said:
I would probably go with the sat.except for the fact(s) that they want $500 for the dish and modem , $70 a month for the service , you are limited on your downloads and i heard that they are horrible for playing online games.

Yes... satellite is not an option for gaming other than online pogo games.. :p

Imagine rioughly a 2 second ping vs. 200ms ping of dialup. ICK

The ISP I work for is going to start offering a satellite service that has a $300 equipment charge and runs at $50/month. But I think I'll wait until we someday decide to start offering wireless as well which I have been begging them for since I started working there... lol
 
I tried a Conexant Winmodem against my trusty USR V.90. My USR would connect at 28.8, the Conexant at 34.6 and higher. But the USR gave me a much better ping in online gaming. The Conexant also dropped the connection much more frequently. So I went back to my USR 2977. If I were going to buy one now, I'd choose a V.92 model.
 
I04- http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=119
General guide for the best network and internet settings for Win9x/ME
Level of Difficulty: Medium (registry / sys file editing)

I05a- http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=157
very good guide giving the best network and internet settings for Win2k/XP
Level of Difficulty: Medium (registry / sys file editing)
^
I05b-- http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=158
extension of the above guide.
Level of Difficulty: Medium (registry / sys file editing)

I06- http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1130
"The tweak desribed below helps boost priority for DNS & hostname resolution in general. What this means is, it helps web pages load faster, and has negligible effect on downloads (not counting the couple of ms gain with the host resolution at connect-time). Applying this tweak assumes some proficiency in editing the Windows Registry using Regedit (Start > Run > type: regedit). As always, backup your Registry before making any changes so you can revert to the previous state if you don't like the results. Note: The below host name resolution tweak can also be used for changing name-resoluton order besides priority."
Level of Difficulty: Medium (Registry editing)

I07- http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=168
NOTE: this only works for Win9x (supposedly), AND it's not documented by Microsoft, so you'll have to play around with it to see if it'll help you. What it does is essentially reserve some memory for the modem itself, so performance gains may or may not apply to your system.
Level of Difficulty: Easy-ish (sys file editing)

I08- http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=156
hmm, This is a general guide dedicated to gettin the most out of your current internet connection (be it DSL/Cable/56-k)

next time, when people say "look at the stickie", it's for a reason. there's help to be had there, help yourself to it! ;)

 
Back
Top