DUN speed

[Mike Wahler]

Greetings:

I'm using a (56k) dial-up connection for internet,
and my phone lines are often quite 'noisy',
causing DUN to often connect at a rather slow
speed (e.g. 14.4, 28.8). If I hang up and redial
I can usually eventually get a 'decent' speed
(48k+). Sometimes it takes several tries.

Is there a way to configure DUN to automatically
disconnect and redial until it connects at a
minimum specified speed?

(Platform: WinXP/SP2)

-Mike

 

[OhioBeeFarmer]

Sometimes you can setup your modem to only connect above a certain speed.
This is done to the modem setting itself. I don't know of one that will
drop a connection while already connected but check your modem setup and
there is a setting something like S109 or S37 any how's it would be the
carrier detect speed that would either allow to connect or not at any speeds
above whatever you choose maybe 2048 or 28800 for the S setting.

 

[Chuck]

Sounds like you need to start complaining about "noisy" connections to the
phone company. You can set most modems to disconnect if the carrier is lost
for a period of time, and also to only connect at or above a certain speed.

 

[Rodney]

Greetings:

I'm using a (56k) dial-up connection for internet, and my phone lines are
often quite 'noisy', causing DUN to often connect at a rather slow speed
(e.g. 14.4, 28.8). If I hang up and redial I can usually eventually get a
'decent' speed (48k+). Sometimes it takes several tries.

Is there a way to configure DUN to automatically disconnect and redial
until it connects at a minimum specified speed?

(Platform: WinXP/SP2)

-Mike

Keep in mind that the "speed" displayed is initial connect speed and that
may change in the course of the transmission. Many high quality modems are
good at "falling foward", increasing speed when the quality of the
connection warrants it and "falling back", decreasing during periods of a
poor connection. Sometimes in rural areas and/or noisy lines it can
actually increase "throughput"(similar to average speed) to limit initial
connect speed so that the fall forward and fall back features don't waste
too much bandwith on their negotiations. One can set limits by adding the
appropriate "AT" commands to the modem initialization string in DUN.
Certainly one can set it so that the modem will retry if the connection
is not of at least a certain floor speed. The manual for your modem will
explain the AT command set it can use.

Hope this helps.
Rodney

 

[Mike Wahler]

Thanks Rodney, Chuck, and "Ohio".

Keep in mind that the "speed" displayed is initial connect speed

I was not aware of that. Thanks for pointing it out.

and that
may change in the course of the transmission.

Would such a change be reflected by the 'status' dialog box?

Many high quality modems are
good at "falling foward", increasing speed when the quality of the
connection warrants it and "falling back", decreasing during periods of a
poor connection.

Yes, I'd think a modern modem could do that.

Sometimes in rural areas and/or noisy lines it can

Yes, I'm in a rural area. BTW perhaps there's no relationship,
but the slow connect speeds seem to mostly occur during
periods of very wet weather.

actually increase "throughput"(similar to average speed) to limit initial
connect speed so that the fall forward and fall back features don't waste
too much bandwith on their negotiations. One can set limits by adding the
appropriate "AT" commands to the modem initialization string in DUN.
Certainly one can set it so that the modem will retry if the connection
is not of at least a certain floor speed. The manual for your modem will
explain the AT command set it can use.

OK, I'm somewhat familiar with modem configs, but it just hadn't
occurred to me to try that.

Hope this helps.

It certainly does. Thanks again.

-Mike

 

[Rodney]

Keep in mind that the "speed" displayed is initial connect speed

I was not aware of that. Thanks for pointing it out.


Would such a change be reflected by the 'status' dialog box?

I think it only displays the initial speed, have you ever seen it change
during a continued download on the same connection? You can "see" how fast
the bits are coming in as the counter updates but I think the displayed
connect speed remains the same. I know Win98 is like that, YMMV,
especially if you use a third party dialup monitor rather than the native
one in Windows.

Yes, I'm in a rural area. BTW perhaps there's no relationship, but the
slow connect speeds seem to mostly occur during periods of very wet
weather.

Makes perfect sense, possible leaky splice in the cable somewhere, could
drive a telephone technician crazy trying to find the problem. Note: The
phone company does not have to chase "data" troubles on your voice grade
line, the tariff only guarantees usability in the voice range, if you hear
noise on conversations they will eventually fix it, if you report the
trouble. I'm on a small island far away from the switch and I have my
modem set to not connect below 28.8 and not above 44.6. My actual
throughput generally runs around 30-33 but I know there is at least
one A/D-D/A conversion between me and the central office which would have
a limiting effect on bandwidth. Through lots of testing of throughput of
downloaded files at various times of day, that setting works best for my
situation. Several different computers and both internal and external
USR/3Com hardware modems. What works best on your lines could easily be
different. From your description, it sounds like some of the circuits in
your area are noisy, so your hang up and redial sound like a reasonable
way to get a decent connection because you're not likely to get the same
circuit the next time. If it's only during wet, then it could be the
actual copper lines from your house to the central office and they could
try changing you to a different wire pair if there are any spares
available.

OK, I'm somewhat familiar with modem configs, but it just hadn't occurred
to me to try that.

Probably something like the &N; &U; AT commands, to set the floor and
ceiling connect speed.

It certainly does. Thanks again.

Great, it's nice to be able to share what I have learned.