modem problem?

[Myrna]

My dial-up internet connection speed fluctuates from a high of 52.0 kbps to
a low of 4.7 or anywhere in between. When this starts I keep getting
disconnected. I have had the telephone company out to check the lines. The
computer settings are fine. They say it is my computer. Some days it is so
bad that I can't use the internet. Other times it works fine. This started
about 3 months ago. I have a 3 year old Dell Pentium 4. Could it be the
modem going bad?

 

[Roberto]

My dial-up internet connection speed fluctuates from a high of 52.0 kbps
to a low of 4.7 or anywhere in between. When this starts I keep getting
disconnected. I have had the telephone company out to check the lines. The
computer settings are fine. They say it is my computer. Some days it is so
bad that I can't use the internet. Other times it works fine. This started
about 3 months ago. I have a 3 year old Dell Pentium 4. Could it be the
modem going bad?

Clean out all TIF &/tmp files, make sure you are 100% virus/malware free

rgds
Roberto

 

[paulmd]

My dial-up internet connection speed fluctuates from a high of 52.0 kbps to
a low of 4.7 or anywhere in between. When this starts I keep getting
disconnected. I have had the telephone company out to check the lines. The
computer settings are fine. They say it is my computer. Some days it is so
bad that I can't use the internet. Other times it works fine. This started
about 3 months ago. I have a 3 year old Dell Pentium 4. Could it be the
modem going bad?

Possible, but 3 years is a bit early for a modem to die. You may want
to see that you have the correct, and most recent modem dirver from
Dell. Sometimes better dirvers help deal with line quality issues.

More likely however, is intermittant issues with the phone line. Or
possibly the cable from your modem to wherever it's plugged in to.

A better idea is to see if broadband is available in your area.