I’m 11 miles from the central office. My phone line is statically, sometimes people assume I’m using a cellphone - I might have a split pair. Before I knew about the distance, I asked about DSL, the Verizon rep looked it up and giggled a bit and told me maybe in 10 yrs (and the distance).
OK I realize that 56k (or speeds over 28.8) uses a digital signal upstream to the CO, so I understand that it will be a cold day in heck before I connect over 28.8 wth the current distances. But what I don’t understand is why I get 28.8 at all. With all that static, how is it possible? Also faxes go out at 14.4.
You may not be ‘getting’ 28.8 (in terms of the actual data transfer rate), all that has happened is that your modem and your ISP’s connection have contrived to negotiate a connection at that theoretical speed - what happens in terms of actual data transfer after establishing the connection is altogether another kettle of worms (As I understand it).
I think Mangetot might be right… if you want to find out for sure, you can run a bandwidth test (like this one http://webservices.cnet.com/Bandwidth/ ) or try downloading a file. Theoretically, if you’re really connected at 28.8kbps, you should be able to download files at around 3.6 kilobytes/sec.
Also, I think 14.4 is the standard fax machine transfer rate. Even if you have a 56k modem, it’ll still transfer faxes at 14.4.
Not quite on topic, but I’ve been getting a lot of static on my phoneline recently. It seemed to be weather/humidity related, so today I ripped all the wiring off the connecting box outside the house, removed and cleaned all the copper contacts with brasso, cut the old corroded copper off the ends of the lines, and rewired. Static’s gone, connection speed is up. This might also work for you.
It may not be only a static problem if you are in a rural area. Where I live, we have “load coils” on all lines to improve the voice quality. But load coils degrade digital data quality at the same time (so I am told). Since 14.4K is the max Ameritech/SBC will guarantee, they say anything faster is gravy, be grateful. :rolleyes: I can get 24-27K, but nothing faster. Telco says the line is clean, and I have it checked often.
It also may be the brand/model of the distribution equipment, the last junction until your house. I had troubles with 4 factory-checked HP fax units, tried on multiple phone lines direct to the phone co residential interface, and was unable to get a dial tone reliably. A friend telephone installer & I took one fax to the distribution box and plugged it in directly; still only 50% of the time could we get a dial tone.
He said this equipment was a “SLC 96.” Up the road, we tried it on a feed coming from a “Lightspeed” distrubution unit, and not only did the fax work 100% of the time, but the computer dialup speeds are 56K in that neighborhood. Not distance from the box, just brands and models.
BTW, if you are sure you will never get a fast connection, you can reduce the time it takes to connect by telling your modem to not try the fast speeds first. This can save 30 secs of connect time. Put this string in your modem setup and try it:
I did what Squink did a couple of times. Im near the sea so the salty air effects lines. I also sometimes put in a new jack. best way to test the connection is simply to directly wire your modem to the outside phone box.
Musicat - SLC96 (Subscriber Line Carrier/96 channels per circuit) is actually a cross-connect box fed with T1 circuits. When a circuit begins taking errors they “patch it out” in the Central Office until it can be repaired. Sounds like you’ve too many circuits “patched out” if you only get dial tone 50% of the time. Lightspeed (Fibre Optics) on the other hand carries from a few hundred channels per circuit on up and when one circuit goes down it normally takes the whole system down depending on the “translators” on each end. The difference in speed is the speed of electrical current versus the speed of light.
Static on a line is an absolute killer on modem speeds. Ask for a Db (decibel) loss test on your line. Acceptable limits vary from state to state but the very maximum should be no more than 35.
I’m in California & I asked the phone guy a few years ago to test my lines & he said it was only required to test them up to 1200 baud & he did & it was fine, but who does the net at 1200 baud? I hear you can get data quality lines from the pole to your house for some more bucks which are higher speed rated.
