I use a dialup to connect to the internet, other options are cost prohibitive to me at the moment. I often lose my connection during a session. Does anyone have any advice on ways that I might be able to maintain or improve my internet connection? I currently use CiDial to help maintain connection, it helps.
If you’re getting dropped that often, I’d switch ISPs or try a new local access number.
It shouldn’t really be happening at all.
I would check the quality of your phone line before you switch ISPs. What speed do you usually connect at?
If you have a lot of noise/interference in your phone line, you will connect at a lower speed. Most dial-up software will display “Connected at XX,XXX bps” when it successfully connects.
use the “ping” command hlanelee. The mighty ping comes built with all win pcs.
u can keep pinging some site with a tiny bit of data so that ur dial-up doesnt hang-up(wont go into the ‘dormant mode’.
try it out…
The cable between computer and wall socket is often the weakest link. I have a friend who once complained about her terribly unreliably ISP…when I visited, and saw her unravel five one-metre extension cords in a line to plug the laptop into the wall, I realised the problem was far simpler!
I too was being disconnected frequently from my dial-up ISP. After I changed out my hard drive, I couldn’t connect at all. I called my providor who advised me to go to Control panel|Modems|Advanced|Port settings and lower the Receive buffer and Transmit buffer. The former is now on the second mark from the left, and the latter is now on the second mark from the right. My connection has been much more reliable since I made the change.
This is probably an obvious one, but if you have call-waiting, be sure to disable it (I think you dial *70) when dialing out.
Does your ISP set any limits on how long you can be connected? One I used to have disconnected at 5 hours whether you were doing something or not. Also, on my Mac at least, there’s an option to disconnect if you’re inactive for x minutes. That’s probably not the problem but I thought I’d mention it just in case.