How to determine if I'm connected to the internet via my cable modem

[skeedle]

My father is having intermittant problems with his cable modem, and
when it's out, AOL automatically dials up.

I then get repeated phone calls from him saying his phone doesn't work
when he's online, his computer is slow, etc... He doesn't get the
difference between a dial up and cable connection.

Does anyone know of a program that's available that can easily let him
know if there's a cable connection to the internet (preferrably with a
graphic on the desktop - maybe like a traffic light - Green light
cable, Yellow light modem, Red light no connection), or if there's
anything in XP that can do that.

I've already tried to get him to open IE and go to google to see if it
loads, but he gets confused by the fact the google can load "in AOL"
(he's dialed up).

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Guest]

I would remove the AOL dial up connection. It is probably causing problems
with the cable modem connection.

Once you remove that, then he will either be connected to the internet or he
won't and there will be no confusion with dial-up vs high-speed.

If you need to leave the AOL dial up on the computer, then disable automatic
connections in Internet Explorer.

Also, I would pull the phone plug out of the computer.

 

[DanS]

My father is having intermittant problems with his cable modem, and
when it's out, AOL automatically dials up.

I then get repeated phone calls from him saying his phone doesn't work
when he's online, his computer is slow, etc... He doesn't get the
difference between a dial up and cable connection.

Does anyone know of a program that's available that can easily let him
know if there's a cable connection to the internet (preferrably with a
graphic on the desktop - maybe like a traffic light - Green light
cable, Yellow light modem, Red light no connection), or if there's
anything in XP that can do that.

I've already tried to get him to open IE and go to google to see if it
loads, but he gets confused by the fact the google can load "in AOL"
(he's dialed up).

Any help would be appreciated.

I'd take the other's advise and dump the god-forsaken AOL software.

If that's not possible, just turn on the speaker on the modem so he can
hear it dialing out.

 

[robbie_d]

I might be completely on the wrong track here, but if you tick the
right boxes in Internet Options, when you're 'ON LINE' there will be a
pair of small television type images, near the clock - bottom right of
the screen... They may flash from time to time...

When you're 'not on line' - there should be a red ' X ' across both
small screens - which will be dormant...

Robbie D....

 

[Guest]

There is already one. There should be a network status icon on the taskbar.
If not
go to My Network Places, click view all connections on the left pane, right
click Local Area Connection, select properties. Put a check in the box that
says "show icon in notification area when connected". On an additional
note.....your parents will never understand computer terminology so dont even
try. HA

 

[DanS]

=?Utf-8?B?VHVyZCBGdXJnZXNvbg==?=

On
an additional note.....your parents will never understand computer
terminology so dont even try. HA

Agreed, but not to be able to know the difference between a slow AOL dial-
up connection, and an always-on cable connection that is 30-50 times faster
??????????

 

[norm]

My father is having intermittant problems with his cable modem, and
when it's out, AOL automatically dials up.

I then get repeated phone calls from him saying his phone doesn't work
when he's online, his computer is slow, etc... He doesn't get the
difference between a dial up and cable connection.

Does anyone know of a program that's available that can easily let him
know if there's a cable connection to the internet (preferrably with a
graphic on the desktop - maybe like a traffic light - Green light
cable, Yellow light modem, Red light no connection), or if there's
anything in XP that can do that.

I've already tried to get him to open IE and go to google to see if it
loads, but he gets confused by the fact the google can load "in AOL"
(he's dialed up).

Any help would be appreciated.

You can tell aol to use an existing connection such as cable or dsl and
also tell it to not dial when a connection is not present. I don't have
an aol connection here, so I can't reference exactly to tell you
where/what to look for, but it is under the connection preferences
selection that appears when the dialer connection screen first opens. A
bit of hunting should provide a solution.