Dial-up Internet Connection

[monicat17]

I'm using an iMac G5, OS 10.4.11. I cannot always connect to my dial-up service. (I have no other choice but dial-up; I'm 18 miles from the phone company office, and too far away from any DSL station.)

Sometimes, I cannot connect at all, and get "no remote server detected." Other times, I connect at 4K or 9K or 14K, speeds of no use at all. Today, I happened to connect at 28800, a blazing speed for me.

It seems to be worse on humid or rainy or snowy days, and I have had the phone company out to my house 3 times; they swear it is not their problem. (I've been swearing about it, too.) They have checked all the lines coming to my house and in my house. They have connected using a notebook PC with no problem. The last time they were here, they hooked up their meter to my computer when it was attached to the phone line, and there was obvious noise on the line, which I often hear through my phone as well. When they disconnected the computer from the phone line, the static went away. They said that the noise from my computer was interfering with the connection.

However, I have taken my computer to an Apple store two times where the technician has connected it to a dial-up service both times at 44K with no hint of noise and no trouble connecting.

I purchased the Mac extended support, which ran out a few weeks ago, so I've tried to troubleshoot it with Apple support and with my phone company internet support as well, both to no avail.

I'm befuddled and frustrated. I don't want to buy a PC! Can anyone help?

Thank you,
Monica

[Hughvane]

Originally Posted by monicat17

I'm using an iMac G5, OS 10.4.11. I cannot always connect to my dial-up service. (I have no other choice but dial-up; I'm 18 miles from the phone company office, and too far away from any DSL station.)
Sometimes, I cannot connect at all, and get "no remote server detected." Other times, I connect at 4K or 9K or 14K, speeds of no use at all. Today, I happened to connect at 28800, a blazing speed for me.

It seems to be worse on humid or rainy or snowy days, and I have had the phone company out to my house 3 times; they swear it is not their problem. (I've been swearing about it, too.) They have checked all the lines coming to my house and in my house. They have connected using a notebook PC with no problem. The last time they were here, they hooked up their meter to my computer when it was attached to the phone line, and there was obvious noise on the line, which I often hear through my phone as well. When they disconnected the computer from the phone line, the static went away. They said that the noise from my computer was interfering with the connection.

However, I have taken my computer to an Apple store two times where the technician has connected it to a dial-up service both times at 44K with no hint of noise and no trouble connecting.

I purchased the Mac extended support, which ran out a few weeks ago, so I've tried to troubleshoot it with Apple support and with my phone company internet support as well, both to no avail.

Hi Monica - fellow feeling concerning your dialup problems. I've been experiencing similar conditions myself very recently. Phone line companies almost inevitably reject the notion that there's something wrong with the line.
However, my connection problems are more to do with the modem itself.

Phone lines over longer distances in rural areas are notorious for being unstable, but the companies will not spend the money on fixing or upgrading to optical cable because of the poor economics of the task.

There are several things to mention:
1. If there is line noise, that means your computer cannot be connected at the same time as your phone, unless you have two separate lines and numbers, because it's dialup - right? Therefore, line noise cannot be coming from your computer because its modem is not connected when you're on the phone!
2. You don't say if your modem is internal or external. I know that Apple motherboard modems are a pain in the derriere, something to do with the chipset used in them. I've been told that there is a firmware update from Apple for their internal modems, something I've not researched - yet.
3. Don't abandon your Mac - you'll probably regret it. Consider an external modem. What Mac do you use? If you have an older PPC Mac, Global Village may have a modem that will suit. Unfortunately I cannot use one because it uses the old style Mac modem connection, no longer part of the b/w G3. If you have a more modern Mac, there may be a USB modem to suit. Option three may be a PCI card modem, but I don't know of any particular type to suit a Mac (I'll be investigating that for my own dialup purposes).
4. You may need to investigate the connection sockets hardware within your house to see if they're the most up-to-date RJ 11 or RJ 45 type, or whatever is used in your country. A phone technician can help you there.
5. How far from the phone wall connection socket is your computer? Are you using an extension cord? Those factors are said to affect dialup performance.
6. What other appliances are on your house phone circuit? For example, fax machines, even when idle, are known to affect modem performance. A nuisance I know, but when you use your computer for dialup connection, unplug all other phone line appliances.