PLEASE HELP!! I have REALLY bad modem troubles!!

[Xenonic_Rob]

Hi there. Can someone PLEASE help me with a problem with my modem. It just keeps disconnecting all over the place!

* I have a Motorola SM56 ISA Voice Modem.
* I do not have Call Waiting so it's not that cutting in.
* It's not the phone cable - I've replaced that.
* It's not my phone company (BT).
* I've downloaded the current drivers, and it still doesn't work!!!

HEEEELLLLPPPPP!

[CyberSurfer]

What ISP are you on?

[Xenonic_Rob]

I've tried 5 different ISPS...
Also, I've tried not running applications while working, blah, blah, blah.

Please help if you can!

[Guv]

You seem to have tried a lot of reasonable ideas.

My son used to work at Panasonic Tech Support, and dealt primarily with FAX equipment, secondarily with computer modems.

He discovered that some phone lines are okay for voice, but flakey for digital data. Humans do a lot of clever processing at subconscious level and can cope with bad phone lines. Digital equipment is much less tolerant of flakey data, especially if an error looks like a control code. He also said that the phone company is reluctant to admit to such problems because they are expensive to fix.

When he suspected that a phone line was not good enough for digital data, he suggested taking the equipment to another location and trying it. This is not difficult with a small FAX machine, but is a pain with a computer.

If all else fails, try taking your tower or desk top case to a friend who has a computer. You could temporarily use his monitor, keyboard, & mouse with your system. If it works there, you will know that it is not the line. However, if it does not work there, you can describe what you did to the phone company and insist they fix your line. They will not be able to claim that it is okay, which they tend to do if they can get away with it.

[Zaphod64831]

Maybe you could get a new modem?

[Xenonic_Rob]

Hey - thanks Guv, much appreciated.

Oh - and Zaphod64831 - I'm a student - I can't just buy another modem.... anyhows, I want the personal achievement of fixing it, and getting it to work.

Does anyone know of any extra settings (AT Commands) that I could use, or perhaps it's the software/drivers itself that's causing the problem.

Anyway, thanks again for the suggestions Guv.