This guide is designed to assist you if your connection seems unstable, you are experiencing "dropouts" or if the performance seems to be below what you normally receive. By working through the information below you will be able to make sure your connection is as finely-tuned as possible.
General Modem Hints
- If you are having persistent problems with your connection, eliminate ALL double adapters from the phone line, and plug your modem directly into the PRIMARY Telstra socket. This will eliminate your additional communication devices as causes of interference. It may be possible to add back devices one at a time to ascertain which one is causing the problem. Some Telstra touchphone models have design features that make them a MAJOR contributing factor in disconnects and poor performance.
- If you have a mobile phone, ensure it is WELL AWAY from your modem.
If you have ever had it close to your radio when a call has come in you
will understand why. The burst of static that accompanies a Mobile Phone's
network scan WILL carry into the modem circuits and interrupt the flow of data.
- Programs which run in the background cause problems with internet connections.
Every program that is running takes CPU (processor) time, and net connections
often "freeze" or "drop-out" if a program takes 100% of the processor to complete
a task. On some computers, virus scanners and the FINDFAST program from Microsoft
Office have given almost 100% disconnects when they activate during net connects.
On others they slow down the net so much it is unusable.
- Ensure that ALL Telstra EasyCall services are disabled on the phone
line you are using for the internet. The signals put out by these services
will terminate calls very abruptly. Most important of all is to ensure that
CALL WAITING is disabled :
To DISABLE : # 4 3 # on your phone handset
To ENABLE : * 4 3 # on your phone handset
- Plug a phone handset into your phone socket, press "1" on the keypad and
listen. If you hear crackling, echoing, buzzing or voices, it may well be a
fault on your line, and Telstra Faults Service should be called to check on
the problem.
- You should also consider the quality of the modem itself. Many users spend a lot of money making sure their computer is as good as possible,
then will buy the cheapest modem they can get, and
expect it to perform to the same standards. We have seen too many people
have problems recently because they saved $10 by buying "the cheapest" modem.
High quality Australian-made modems can now be purchased for around the same
price as all the cheapest imported modems. By choosing a quality brand,
insisting on a Rockwell chipset, and favouring modems built for Australian
conditions, you should suffer minimal problems, and have a satisfying
net experience.
- Most PC Communication ports don't run well at high speeds - because up
until recently most modems were 28.8kbps or lower, the hardware was never
under the kind of strain it is now placed under with data being pounded down the line.
Dropping your port speed will often stabilise your connection AND speed things up,
as there are less "lost packets" and "timeouts" being caused when the buffers on the
communications port overflow.
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