A bad case of the "drop-carriers"......

[poltr1]

It's been one of those days, folks.

While trying to download my email today, I received the dreaded "Connection to [ISP] terminated. Would you like to reconnect?" pop-up window. I had 5 drops the first time I checked today, between noon and 1 pm. I had 2 drops between 4 and 5 pm. Add I've had 2 more drops so far between 11pm and midnight. That's a total of 9 today -- a new record.

When I do log in again, the POP server has a 10-minute inactivity timeout, so I have to wait for 10 minutes while the terminated session expires.


What can the ISP do? Probably nothing; their equipment will check out OK. And tell me "It's not our problem."

What can the phone company do? Probably nothing; they only certify residential lines up to 9600 bps. And say "It's not our problem."

What can I do? Check the ISP's website for their recommended solutions, and follow them. I know that my phone line doesn't "lock in" to the modem and there's nothing I could do about that, other than disfigure the back of the case with a pair of metal snips, which I don't want to do. I've already replaced the phone line. And I've already enabled software flow control.


Is it the cheap allegedly-category-1 phone line in the wall, which I suspect? Is it my phone cord? Is it my modem? And if I got DSL or broadband, would I still get these damned conenction drops?

As my late friend and fraternity brother Rob Sweeney used to say, "Line noise can kill!"

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Even if I switched ISPs, it probably wouldn't take care of the line noise problem.

Si. Correcto. Unless, as I mentioned, you were moving to DSL and had the line checked and fixed at or prior to installation. I've heard that most telephone company service sucks -- certainly Verizon's is about as bad as any -- so DSL may present that obstacle.

"Broadband", by the way, includes DSL AND cable (AND some satellite connectivity). That said, you might see if you can get Earthlink Broadbank (a brand name); it might be delivered via the Time Warner cable line, but the service itself -- at least ours -- is pretty good. (Actually , TW's customer service is first line of defense, and they, who are atrocious for the cable TV arm, have been pretty good with the internet stuff.) Yes, they're greedy so-and-so's -- so is any corporation, especially the monopolies, these days.

While you may not do that much downloading, you'll have an INFINITELY better experience online on broadband. As I said, doublecheck the phone bill; if your local calls are above the monthly cost for broadband based on your internet connectivity alone, then you can afford to switch.

[poltr1]

I've heard that most telephone company service sucks -- certainly Verizon's is about as bad as any -- so DSL may present that obstacle.

Verizon (nee Bell Atlantic, nee NYNEX) has been on my boycott list for a while, after they closed a call center in Buffalo and laid off one of my friends who worked there.

Although it would be amusing to see a TV commercial where the Sprint PCS guy give the Verizon "Can you hear me now?" guy a Sprint PCS phone.

As I said, doublecheck the phone bill; if your local calls are above the monthly cost for broadband based on your internet connectivity alone, then you can afford to switch.

Since I'm on flat-rate billing for local calls, and it's a local call to my ISP, I think this point would be moot.

I've noticed that both DSL and broadband (cable) providers are touting their introductory price while conveniently forgetting to mention what the price is after the introductry period.

One of my colleages in the DECUS LUG cut his connection with SBC completely; he recently got a broadband VOIP service called Lingo. He was really happy with it when I last talked with him, about 3 months ago.