Dialup Connection stops working. Tech Support is useless.

Factual Questions
1

Okay, here’s the situation. On my home computer (a rather old computer I got from a friend for free about 4 years ago when he bought a new computer), I use a dialup connection to connect to the Internet. I have been using the same ISP (Bellsouth.net) and this same dial up connection and the same computer and everything for the last few years. So far, no problems.

Then, a couple of days ago, I suddenly could not connect anymore. What’s going on, I wonder.

I had left my computer on while connected to the Internet (since I’m paying for unlimited connection time) while I went over to a friend’s house. When I came back, the computer was no longer connected to the Internet (because after a while, the connection times out or something), which is normal. So, then I tried reconnecting to the Internet… and I just couldn’t.

I get messages like, “The computer you are calling is not responding” or something about being disconnected from the computer I’m calling.

So, I try fiddling with various options. Nothing works. I even try finding other phone numbers of other Bellsouth.net computers that aren’t too far away that I could try to connect to instead. Still no luck.

So, then I try calling Tech Support. Yeah, I’ve heard that Tech Support people are generally useless, but I thought I’d give it a try. So, I call, and talk to a woman who is obviously Indian (from India). She treats me like the standard moron who can’t figure out how to do anything. She walks me through (in painful baby steps) the steps of deleting and recreating an icon for connecting to Bellsouth. Yeah, like that’s the problem. But, hell, I figure I’ll give her a chance. Maybe there’s something I don’t know.

And she even offers to call me back in 5 minutes to see if this worked (since I’d have to use the same phone line to try connecting). Well, of course, I spend more than five minutes trying to see if this worked. (It didn’t, of course.) So, if she did call, well, the line was busy.

So, I try one more time. I call Tech Support again, and talk to a different Indian woman. This one has a stronger accent but sounds like she might have slightly more of a clue. She guides me through the steps of checking or unchecking all sorts of different options. I grow more suspicious, though, since I didn’t have these options chosen when I had successfully connected to the Internet every day for the last few years. And then she tells me to try unplugging the phone connection to the computer. Click. Hello?

Yeah, I had a feeling that would disconnect us, but again I assumed that maybe she knew something I didn’t, since she would guide me with baby-steps through things that I would tell her I already knew how to do. I mean, for example, why force people to click on Start, pause, then click on Programs, pause, then click on Accessories, pause, etc, to get to Control Panel, which it is much easier to click on My Computer to get to Control Panel (especially when I’ve just mentioned that I’ve just done that!). Grrrr…

So, after all that effort and all the pain of being patronized by people who don’t know what they’re talking about… I still can’t connect. But I used to be able to connect!

So, either I assume that either there’s something wrong with the Bellsouth servers (unlikely, since I tried more than one) or there’s something wrong with my computer (more likely). The modem hasn’t disintegrated or blown up or anything since I still hear the sounds of it trying to connect (though after the second lady had me change some options, the sound is quite different). However, I suspect that the modem may not be functioning properly.

If that’s the case, I may just buy a new computer rather than try to get this modem fixed.

But, here’s my question, for anyone who can answer it…

Is there anything else I can try?

2

You have rebooted the computer, right?

3

The computer is plugged in, right?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
1st thing I’d do is listen in on another extension when it tries to connect, to make sure it’s actually dialling. I had a problem once where the modem stopped breaking dial tone, and it the initial call was never actually made.

4

It could also be that the server/routing computer at your local access number is down, malfunctional, or overburdened. If you have an alternate local number, try that.

5

Revtim, that’s what my computer’s been doing lately. I hear the dial tone, but no dialing and no handshake. If I listen on the extention, I still hear the dial tone, but the compuer only plays it for about a second. After a few minutes, it gives me a message like the one the OP gets, blaming it on the receiving modem. I even reinstalled the modem driver, but no luck. It started sometime after I started using DSL as my primary connection, but I’m not sure there’s a causal relationshio there.

How did you solve your problem?

6

I recently had the same problem, but I was lucky and had Tech Help that actually helped me (if anyone’s interested in this remarkable phenomenon of Tech Help actually helping, I’m in the UK and my dial-up connection is provided by Demon net. They ain’t perfect, but they’re not bad.)

Anyway, it is worth investigating the actual phone number that your modem is trying to dial when you go clicky-clicky and try to go online. (In my own case, for some reason these numbers, stored inside my computer, had become corrupted).

First of all, check that you have up-to-date numbers for your service provider, for both IDSN and non-IDSN connections. You should be able to find these out even if the Tech Support people are useless. Then check which number or numbers your modem is actually dialling. If the IDSN number doesn’t work, try the other one.

If you have checked this, and you are sure your modem is dialling the right numbers, the next thing to check is whether your anti-virus software is interfering with the connection in any way. Try temporarily disabling or stopping your av s’ware from running, even in background or in TSR mode. (A reboot to achieve a computer with no anti-virus s’ware present may help.)

If you have a firewall, this too may be interrupting a happy hook up. Try disabling it or removing from the process to see if this makes a difference.

If you discover it’s an issue with anti-virus or firewall, then obviously you need to work WITH your service provider to resolve the incompatibility problem and that’s not going to be easy if the Tech support is useless, but at least you know what the problem is.

If it ain’t the numbers, the av or the firewall, and if you know your modem is working A-OK, then I’m all out of ideas and suggestions. Starting over with a new ISP, and one with better Tech Support, may be worthwhile.

7

New modem. In my case, it was easy to diagnose, because I had done a big no-no: I plugged the modem in while the motherboard was under power. I knew that was not to be done, but I had been up all night and was very tired and frustrated trying to resolve IRQ conflicts with a new “multimedia kit”, a CD ROM drive and sound card. This was while ago, when most PCs didn’t come with that stuff and we had to dick around with IRQs.