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Thread ID: 49959	2004-10-05 22:51:00	FAQ #68 - How come my 56k modem won't connect at 56kbps?	-FAQ- (807)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
278535	2004-10-05 22:51:00	FAQ #68 - How come my 56k modem won't connect at 56kbps? Originally written by Sam H Contents 1 . Possible Causes of a lower connection speed 2 . How to increase download speed 3 . Links 1 . Possible causes of a lower connection speed There are quite a few different reasons why your modem won't connect at 56kbps . Lower connection speeds on a 56k modem maybe caused by one or more of the following: A . Your ISP may be congested with users (this mainly happens around peak times such as lunch time and around 4pm - 9pm) . This results in a decrease in speed as there are too many people connected than the ISP can deal with all at the same time . B . Your phone line cables may be too old or may be suffering from general wear and tear thus resulting in a low connection speed . C . You could be far away from the telephone exchange - this results in lower speeds as the information from your modem has to travel further before it's request can be processed . D . If you live out in the country then electric fences might be interfering with the phone lines . E . Your modem drivers could be too old . F . There may be more than one device connected to the jack point you are using, such as fax machines, phones, call waiting, answering machines etc . G . Line noise . 2 . How to increase download speed A . Typically there is no long term solution to this . You could try joining another ISP but eventually that one would become congested with users as well . The only thing that could help you here is to connect at an off peak time when not so many people are on the internet . B . Try replacing the modem cable that connects your modem to the jack point, if your case is extreme you could try re-wiring the jack point or even rewiring all the phone cables in the house . C . Move . No, just kidding . Again there is no practical solution here you will just have to try some other ways suggested in this FAQ . D . If you live in the country you can get modems especially designed for rural users, eg Dynalink external rural modem . These modems overcome problems such as electric fences because they are not as sensitive to line noise as other modems . Note that a rural modem doesn't fix the effects of electric fences but it does help to make the connection stay, ie you don't get kicked off so much due to noise . The only way to fix electric fence is to find out whose it is (good luck!) and get them to fix the fence or reroute it (need even more good luck!) or lastly a late night vist with a pair of well insulated wire cutters . :^O (Contributed by tweak'e) E . Update your modem drivers with the latest ones you can find . This will often give you an increase in speed . F . Disconnect any other devices that are connected to the same jack point as your modem . G . Give Telecom support a ring and ask them to check your line for noise . They will check it and possible fix any line noise for you . This is normally free as it comes under the line rental/maintenance fee of your bill . Note that if it is noisy or faulty or whatever, they will fix it free of charge but if it's in perfect order they will charge you a fee . Also check out this link: Line Noise ( . modemhelp . net/linenoise/noise . shtml" target="_blank">www . modemhelp . net) . H: If you have slow phone lines 'stringing' a modem to run at the speed of the lines will improve download speed . Stringing a modem to use a slower protocol helps, eg use V34 instead of V90 . V34 responds quicker hence less time is lost each time an error happens . Also some newer modems try to run V92 protocol when the ISP only supports V90 so you will need to string it to run at V90 . See the Modem Help page at the link listed below for modem strings . (Contributed by tweak'e) 3 . Links Modem Help (http://www . modemhelp . net/) About Modems ( . modems . com/general/mcglossary . html" target="_blank">www . modems . com) Modem Forum ( . vee90 . net/vblite/index . php3" target="_blank">www . vee90 . net) Original FAQ available here ( 1 . pcworld . co . nz/thread . jsp?forum=1&thread=22188&message=61758&q=56kbps#61758" target="_blank">pressf 1 . pcworld . co . nz) . 4 . A few words about connection speed Question: My internet connection always shows a connection speed of 115200 but my download box reports a speed of only 3 . 5 kbps? Why is that? Answer: Wrong modem driver is installed . It is reporting the speed between the PC bus and the modem, not the connect speed . Very common when incorrect driver is used . --Godfather Note that your internet connection speed does not mean much . Actual download speed of a COMPRESSED file is what counts . Just because your logon speed is 48 doesn't mean you are connected at 48, your download speed could be higher or lower . Download speed is what counts . --tweak'e Question: When I download the KB/sec keeps decreasing, for example 20 minutes ago it was on 10kb/sec and now it's around 4kb/sec and it's still going down . How can i keep this high and stop it from going down? I'm using a 56k modem . Answers: On 56k you should expect a download speed of around 4KB/s . Somewhere in the range of 3 . 5 - 5 . 5KB/s is acceptable . --Mike Note also that the line speed is constantly changing . The line speed that you are reportedly connected at is the line speed at the time the connection was established . It can go higher or lower while online - and you will not be told . --Growly Question: We got a 56k modem and we never reach 56k, we are 14 times slower than 56k . Why? Answers: 1 . 56kbps means 56 kilobits per second . 5KBps download speed means 5 kilobytes per second . 8 bits per byte, therefore at 5KBps you'll be getting around 40kilobits per second . 56k is a maximum connection/download speed . You're probably only connecting at between 42k and 49k and on top of that there's error correction that takes a little bit of the speed out of it . So at 5 . 5KB/s you'd be getting just about all she'll give at a constant speed . --Mike 2 . Read the bits and Bytes with care . You are NOT comparing the same thing 56 kilobits per second is your modem speed . NOTE: kiloBITS Your download is about 5 kiloBytes per second . NOTE kiloBYTES There are 8 bits to a Byte . So, ignoring the small overhead of error correction which slows things down a bit more, and ignoring the ability of any downlod to be compressed which speeds it up, and your theoretical maximum speed is 56,000 / 8 = 7000 . Or 7 kBytes per second . Add the overhead for error correction and you achieve about 5 kiloBytes per second, with anything higher being the ability for the file to be compressed when sent . --Godfather Question: Is 4 . 1kb/s a good download speed on a 56k modem? How is download speed related to the modem speed, arithmetically I mean? Answer: The modem speed is kilobits per second (56 kb/s) (little b) The download speed is kiloBytes per second (4 . 1 kB/s) (big B) There are 8 bits to a Byte so in theory a 56kb/s modem will run at a maximum of 7kB/s In addition, there are extra bits needed for error correction Some files are able to be compressed which theoretically gives a slightly higher throughput . In short, 4 . 1 kB/s is quite acceptable and normal . Some get slightly higher, many get lower . You seldom get connections right up to 56k, and even if you do the modem probably trains lower when handling the data . The arithmetic is divide by 8, but then you need to adjust that for error correction etc, more like divide by 10+ Compression can offset this a bit . Jetstream Starter (128kb/s) gives me a consistent 16 kB/s download, exactly one eighth . --Godfather	-FAQ- (807)
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