Reasons for Disconnects

There are many possible causes of unwanted disconnects. This paper covers some of the more common causes and explains what you can do about them. Note that WCOIL will not normally disconnect you unless your connection is completely idle, with NO data being transferred, for a period of 20 minutes.

Noisy Phone Lines

Noisy phone lines are one of the biggest contributors to disconnects. Although modems are designed to operate in an environment that contains noise, an unwanted pop or crackle on the wire can disconnect your Internet session. If your modem sessions vary widely in connect speed, or you have slow connections like 19.2K or 21.6Kbaud, modem noise could be a factor.

To test your line for noise, pick up your telephone and dial 1 to get rid of the dial tone. If for some reason dialing 1 doesn't get rid of the dial tone, dial another number. Listen carefully on the line. Do you hear any static, pops, crackling, other people's phone conversations, or radio stations? Don't laugh, we once had a customer ask us why they weren't getting 56K connections, and when we called them back we heard the local weather report!

If you hear any of these disturbances, you can check with your telephone company to find out what you can do to obtain a line that is more clear.

Since call switching patterns can vary throughout the day, you should repeat this test whenever you get a disconnect to see if the conditions are changing. A phone line that is clear most times can become noisy when the phone company switches their call routing to deal with higher traffic patterns in the afternoon, etc.

It's possible that the wiring in your house is part of the problem. Old houses are obviously more susceptible to this.

Another contributing factor may be the modem. For some reason, Rockwell HCF modems seem to be more susceptible to line quality problems than other modems. These modems are very common in less-expensive computers sold today by Acer and Compaq, among others.

Often there are other noisy devices that are connected to your modem phone line that cause the trouble. Recent tests have shown that many cordless phones, when connected to the same phone wiring in your house as the modem, cause higher rates of disconnects! You might consider disconnecting other devices that are on your modem line in the course of troubleshooting to see if this helps the situation. Line splitters, long cables, and other devices conencted to your phone line have a very high incidence of causing disconnect problems.

One person with a Conexant 56K modem usually connected at 45.3K. When they connected a 900MHz cordless phone to the modem line, the connect speed they achieved dropped to 21.6K! Unplugging the phone restored the connections to normal.

Electrical Interference

Other electrical devices can also affect  modem performance. Here are some suggestions of things to try to eliminate the possibility of interference for other devices.

• Try a different phone cable to connect your modem to the wall.

• Try to keep the cable as short as possible.

• Move other electronic devices away from the modem, lamps, desk clocks, cellular phones, etc can all cause interference with modems and phone lines.

• For external modems, turn off other devices that are connected to the same electrical circuit or outlet. Sometimes electrical devices can 'conduct' interference over the power cords to other electronic devices.

• Disconnect unnecessary devices (or all devices!) from the phone line so that only the modem is on it.

Each time you disconnect a piece of suspicious equipment, measure your connect speed a few times to see if you can tell whether your speeds are better or not.

Updating Old Modem Firmware

Modems have firmware (software that runs in the modem that controls the modem) and your operating system also requires a driver. This section discusses the firmware. Note that not all modems have firmware that you can update, some older modem require you to send the modem back to the factory for updating.

Note that many 56K modems require constant updating now due to the rate of change in the industry.  It would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the updating process for your modem firmware, and check for new firmware frequently. You will usually need new firmware before you have troubles connecting, so it pays to keep the latest firmware safely downloaded on your computer, ready for use.

To view the firmware revision for your modem, click on the Start menu, click on Settings, click on Control Panels, and double-click on the Modems Control Panel to open it.

Then, click on your modem in the list shown, click on the Diagnostics page, click on the COM port next to your modem, then click on the More Info... button.

Read the value for ATI3 in the window at the bottom of the screen and let us know what you see there. Note that if it says something less than 1.000 and you have a 56K modem, you are running with old firmware.

To update your firmware, go here and click on Firmware Updaters in the upper left corner of the window, and find the firmware updater for your modem. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for applying the updated software to your modem. If you have questions about this process of updating the firmware, you should contact the manufacturer of your modem.

If you don't have a 56K modem, you can still sometimes find updaters for the firmware in your modem on the modem manufacturer's web pages.

Sometimes you can breath a little life into older modems by putting 2 or 3 commas after the phone number in your connection window.  This makes for a slight pause after dialing, which can allow older modems to become less confused by today's modern equipment.

Windows 95/98 Settings and Drivers

Visit the web site for the manufacturer of your modem and see if they have any later drivers for your modem. In Windows 95/98 and Windows NT, a file called an INF file is needed to get the best performance from your modem. If you open the Modems Control Panel and it says you have a 'Standard Modem' then you don't have the ideal INF file for your modem. You have a default INF file that is not optimized for your modem.

If you have a MacOS computer, you will need a CCL file from the vendor of your modem. All the CCL files on your computer are in the System:Extensions:Modem Scripts folder on your hard disk.

If you are running Windows 95 or 98, you should check and make sure that your computer is not set to disconnect after a certain period of time. Some users have erroneously set this, so that after 20 minutes their computer disconnects them! Open the Internet Control Panel (Start/Settings/Control Panels/Internet) and click on the Connection page to check this setting.

Finally, you can try changing some of the connect parameters. To do this, click on the Start menu, click on Settings, click on Control Panels, and double-click on the Modems Control Panel to open it. Then click on your modem in the list, and then click the Properties button. Set the Maximum speed to 57600. Then click on the Connection tab and click the Port Settings button. Try lowering the 2 slider settings (move them to the left).

Optimal Connect Strings

The manufacturer of your modem may have some good suggestions for new initialization strings to try for your modem. To try a new string on Windows 98, here is what you do. Contact support@wcoil.com if you have a different operating system than Windows 98 if you can't figure out how to change the modem string.

To change the init string for your modem under Windows 95 or 98, click on the Start menu, click on Settings, click on Control Panels, and double-click on the Modems Control Panel to open it.

Then, click on your modem in the list shown, click on the Properties button, click on the Connection page, click on Advanced... and then enter the new modem string in the Extra Settings text field, EXACTLY as given to you. Note that capital letters are used to avoid confusion. Note also that there is a big difference between capital o (O) and zero (0).

Disable Call Waiting

Call Waiting is a phone service option that allows you to be interrupted by an incoming call while you are using the phone line. If you are using the phone line for data or fax, the 'beep' that signals the incoming call can cause an abrupt disconnection, which will kill your Internet connection.

To temporarily disable Call Waiting for a single outgoing call, there is often a special code that can be dialed before the phone number. With tone dialing service, this special code is usually '*70' (e.g., instead of dialing say '555-1212', you would dial '*70,555-1212', with the comma being used to signal your modem to insert a brief pause between the special code and the phone number); with pulse dialing service, this special code may be '1170'. Check with your local phone company to be sure.

To disable call waiting, click on the Start menu, then click Settings and Control Panels. Then double-click the Modems Control Panel. Then click the Dialing Properties button and make sure that This location has call waiting is checked, and that the correct code to disable it (usually *70) is in the To disable it, dial field.

On the other hand, you may actually want Call Waiting to interrupt a data or fax call, so that you do not miss an important incoming call. However, V.34 modems are designed to overcome 'line noise' like Call Waiting, and they may not be disconnected by the 'beep.' Other than getting another phone line, there may be no possible work-around.

56K Modems and Disconnects

If you have a 56K modem and are experiencing disconnects, it could be that your phone line will not support the highest speed your modem connects at. Contact support@wcoil.com for specific suggestions, and make sure to tell us the exact brand and model of modem you have and the output of the ATI3 command, as well as your firmware revision.

Some modems, like the Rockwell HCF modem, have some hardware entanglements with other parts of your system. According to some Compaq resellers, if you go to Start/Settings/Control Panels/System/Performance/Graphics and turn down Hardware Acceleration you may be able to reduce the number of disconnects you get. If you have another brand of computer that has a Rockwell HCF modem you might give this a try also.

Modem Compatibility Problems

Sometimes 33.6 or slower modems don't want to connect reliably to the Internet. This is often due to the fact that the modem is older, or has some firmware problems. You can sometimes band-aid the problem by adding 2 or 3 commas after the phone number. This adds a pause after dialing that sometimes helps modems negotiate a better connection by not hearing some of the new tones that come out of the latest 56K equipment.

As a last resort, it's possible that your modem is just too old or your phone line bad enough that you can't achieve a satisfactory experience with it. Contact support@wcoil.com  for some other suggestions.

Please contact support if you have questions: support@wcoil.com