Dial Up on OS X sucks

krisneph · December 13, 2003 7:58PM

OK so I have 10.1.5 on y 800Mhz iMac with Netzero as my ISP. My sister uses my computer to go online and check her e-mail.

Every time she tries to go online she has problems. The connection is always dropped. Her husband just came back from Irag with his PC laptop, and he's using the same account I am and his not having any problems. My sister browses on the PC laptop and seems to be having less problems then when she's on my Mac. That sucks cause I always tell her how good OS X is and it's not doing I very good job at just holding the connection.

Now I don't know who's fault this is. Netzero's, OS X's or all the junk I have on my Mac(probably Netzero's). But is there anything I can do to hold a decent connection? It's really strange that my brother in-law isn't having any problems on XP.

If someone had any suggestions on how to solve this problem plese let me know

And yes 10.1.5 is old but it should still do okay at such a basic thing

mr. me · December 13, 2003 8:14PM

Quote:

Originally posted by krisneph

OK so I have 10.1.5 on y 800Mhz iMac with Netzero as my ISP. My sister uses my computer to go online and check her e-mail.

Every time she tries to go online she has problems. The connection is always dropped. Her husband just came back from Irag with his PC laptop, and he's using the same account I am and his not having any problems. My sister browses on the PC laptop and seems to be having less problems then when she's on my Mac. That sucks cause I always tell her how good OS X is and it's not doing I very good job at just holding the connection.

Now I don't know who's fault this is. Netzero's, OS X's or all the junk I have on my Mac(probably Netzero's). But is there anything I can do to hold a decent connection? It's really strange that my brother in-law isn't having any problems on XP.

If someone had any suggestions on how to solve this problem plese let me know

And yes 10.1.5 is old but it should still do okay at such a basic thing

Dial-up connections work fine for me. There are any number of reasons why you are having problems. If you are getting connected only to have your connection dropped, your problem could very well be your phone line. Comparisons with your sister's experience is valid only if you are using the same lines. Phone line quality can vary dramatically across a service area.

stunned · December 13, 2003 9:47PM

Try connecting at a lower speed. This may help.

moogs · December 13, 2003 10:00PM

If you're going dialup there is only one provider worth a crap IMO and that's Earthlink. Lots of local numbers, good support, good features.

krisneph · December 13, 2003 10:18PM

Quote:

Dial-up connections work fine for me. There are any number of reasons why you are having problems. If you are getting connected only to have your connection dropped, your problem could very well be your phone line. Comparisons with your sister's experience is valid only if you are using the same lines. Phone line quality can vary dramatically across a service area.

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If by the same line you mean the same cable then no. We are however using the same outlet we disconnect the phone and plug in our cables from the modem to the outlet. I do use an extension type box that lets me use two cables since I don't have a really long one. Could that be it ?

bunge · December 13, 2003 10:39PM

Quote:

Originally posted by krisneph

I do use an extension type box that lets me use two cables since I don't have a really long one. Could that be it ?

I don't want to get your hopes up, but that could be it. I've had problems before with less complicated setups. Sometimes the plugs are just a little loose and that screws everything up. The two wires you're using might be 100% OK, but the extension box might just flub it up. Try once from close by and if it works go purchase a loooong phone line.

rogue27 · December 13, 2003 11:24PM

Dial up on Mac OS X does seem to be more flakey than on Windows, but no as bad as you are making it sound.

It seems to have gotten better in Jaguar and forward, but I think the modem connection scripts still need some work.

At the place I worked, one girl could never stay dialed in for more than a few minutes, and one of the full-time people modified the modem connection script and she was able to dial in after that.

However, your problem may just be the cables if you are lucky.

vandewaals · December 14, 2003 12:39AM

I used EarthLink dial-up regularly for a while as my ISP. I now have DSL through them, but I still use their dial-up when on the road. It has always been dead solid reliable for me. I always connect at LEAST at 44K....if not higher. NetZero I know used to be one of those "free" services....maybe they don't have as good an infrastructure.

scott · December 14, 2003 11:58AM

Play around with the compression setting. When I first got OS X I had to turn if off to get a reliable connection. Then it ran really slow. Have fun.

ast3r3x · December 14, 2003 1:52PM

Out of everyone...well seeing my friends use different services. I'm convinced the best ISP is PennTeleData. They were awesome for dialup...almost NEVER dropped connection and instant on. For about 3-4 years now we have had a cable line from them and couldn't be happier.

craiger77 · December 14, 2003 9:42PM

A few things you could try. Go to Network preferences and select the modem tab. There you can try selecting another modem script. There are 3 for the built in modem on recent Macs: Apple Internal 56k Modem (v.92), Apple Internal 56k Modem (v.90), and Apple Internal 56k Modem (v.34). I think v.92 is the default so try v.90 first. The only benefit of v.92 is that it is supposed to notify you if someone is calling while you are online, but this has never worked for me. v.34 forces a slower connection, but if you have noisy phone lines than this often makes for a more reliable connection. Different modems are more or less sensitive to line noise so that could be why the PC modem is more reliable. the PC may also be connecting at a slower speed by default, but I don't know where to check your connection speed on a PC. Try also a different jack somewhere else in the house, or better yet plug in directly to the phone companies box on the outside of your house...they usually include a test plug there. This can show you if line noise is from inside your house or outside. If inside it is your responsibility to track down unless you want to pay the phone company lots of bucks. If outside than you can call and complain, but they will probably have some excuse that there is nothing they can do about. I had terrible noise problems for a long time and it took 3 trips by the repair guys to find out it was the incoming line that had its insulation rubbed off by a tree limb.

I am at my sisters house for the last few months and for a long time the fastest connection speed here was 28k with the phone company saying it was because we are out in the boonies. Then one day I couldn't connect for more than a few minutes at a time for about 24 hours, but after that I now connect at 41k. Seems the phone company finally changed out some switches or something and improved our lot.

I think on Apples discussion boards there are some long threads dealing with modem problems so you might check there for solutions too.

costique · December 15, 2003 9:04AM

As craiger said. As a matter of fact, dial-up in Panther is way better. It really used to drive me crazy in Jaguar (the modem every now and then didn't care to notice that the connection was dropped and my phone on the same line was ringing). I break into cold sweat when I remember it.

dfiler · December 16, 2003 10:38AM

It could be worse... In the 10.0 days, using a modem on a dual processor box produced a kernel panic 100% of the time.

Sorry, the only suggestion I have is to try a lower speed.

webmail · December 16, 2003 4:23PM

I'm 100% sure it has to do with dialup initialize strings. You maybe using the correct one for the modem, but tweaking them will often help. You probably need to get to a tier3 tech at netzero for them to be able to tell you what modem strings to add. Or if your techy you can play around with some of them yourself.

krisneph · December 16, 2003 5:04PM

Well thanks every one for your replies. It's been I little better since I changed the cable to a really long one, instead of using the little adapter to link to small cables together. I was dowloading and I was on for like 3 hours straight. Thats great, still can't wait to see the improvement in Panther.

Dial Up on OS X sucks

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