|
|
 Rank: Pawn Joined: 3/6/2010 Posts: 1
|
I've been a customer for less than a month. I thought that switching from netzero to copper might be a little faster. Boy , was I wrong. I can only get a connection speed of 24Kbps,occasionally @26.4 Kbps. My download speed is only 2.4Kbps,. Now I don't have to tell you I can write a book in the time it takes to DL windows updates, not to mention virus database., plus I get numerous errors when DL. This makes things very frustrating. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Rank: King Joined: 7/1/2008 Posts: 18,132
|
Try another connection number. If you are out in the boonies you might never get a better speed. I get 50 depending on what number I use but I am in the big city. Copper is much faster than Netzero. Perhaps you should get your lines checked if you are having the same problems with both companies. Do you have a 56k modem? If you have a 28k modem that would explain it also.
Also, a download manager is a good tool to have for downloading. They are free at cnet.com
|
|
|
Rank: King  Joined: 8/5/2009 Posts: 2,140 Location: The Great State of Ohio
|
ritewing9 wrote:I've been a customer for less than a month. I thought that switching from netzero to copper might be a little faster. Boy , was I wrong. I can only get a connection speed of 24Kbps,occasionally @26.4 Kbps. My download speed is only 2.4Kbps,. Now I don't have to tell you I can write a book in the time it takes to DL windows updates, not to mention virus database., plus I get numerous errors when DL. This makes things very frustrating. Your problem could be anywhere from the wiring in your home to the wiring outside your home and, if is outside your home, it could be anywhere between your home and the telco's switch(ing station) where your line connects to the telephone network. Copper does not own or operate the number(s ) which you dial into. They are owned by third party contractors which lease time on their services to one or more dial up services, ususally more than one. It could very well be that your current dial-up number is shared by AOL, NetZero, PeoplePC, etc. Don't worry. It will only get more crowded as time goes on. I recently read or heard that Pew Research says that only 10% of adult Americans on line use dial up anymore. As the number of people on dial-up gets smaller, more third party contractors will give up and the remaining will be offering service to more customers using fewer access numbers. Quote:...I can only get a connection speed of 24Kbps,occasionally @26.4 Kbps.
My download speed is only 2.4Kbps... Now don't get yourself confused. You are actually talking about two different things, here. The speed of your connection is between 24 kilo BITS per second and 26.4 kilo BITS per second. Yes, this is slow. Your download speed is 2.4 kilo BYTES per second (eight bits in a byte). This is slowish and it's enough to make one consider dropping off the grid entirely, but it is in the ballpark for a dial-up connection. Don't Tread On Me!
The price of freedom is constant vigilance.
|
|
|
 Rank: Queen  Joined: 8/9/2009 Posts: 514
|
lpast wrote:I recently read or heard that Pew Research says that only 10% of adult Americans on line use dial up anymore. That's an interesting statistic. I thought about it recently when I ran across an article that stated: Quote:Altogether, the 370-page plan outlines strategies in detail for updating U.S. communications infrastructure and ultimately delivering broadband connectivity to 100 million Americans over the next 10 years, as well as providing arguments in favor of the transition that include a move to clean and reduced energy usage, expanded access to jobs and training and greater government efficiencies.
(empahsis added) source: http://www.crn.com/security/223900285
I am not sure how those two figures square with each other. I believe the population of the U.S. is now aprox 300 million and will be somewhat higher than that in 10 years. So certainly 100 million would seem to be well above 10% of the population. Are there a large number of people in this country that now don't have any Internet that are anticipacted to get broadband by this plan? Is one of those figures (10% or 100 million) just way out of wack? Curiouser and curiouser ... Good summary of technological attacks on freedom: http://blog.ofset.org/ckhung/index.php?post/106a
|
|
|
Rank: Pawn Joined: 3/3/2010 Posts: 5
|
I have a follow-up reply to this. I have a Conexent D850 56k v.9x DFVc modem, but when Copper.net connects it only connects at 26,400 bps. The maximum port speed for the modem is set to 115200, so why is it connecting well below the capabilities of the modem? Do I need to tweak something, or do something else? I know dial-up is slow, but I don't remember it being this slow.
|
|
|
Rank: King Joined: 7/1/2008 Posts: 18,132
|
adiamond1978 wrote:I have a follow-up reply to this. I have a Conexent D850 56k v.9x DFVc modem, but when Copper.net connects it only connects at 26,400 bps. The maximum port speed for the modem is set to 115200, so why is it connecting well below the capabilities of the modem? Do I need to tweak something, or do something else? I know dial-up is slow, but I don't remember it being this slow. If your modem is 56k you're never going to get more than that. Try another number, 26 is very low unless you live in the boonies. Mine is usually 50k but lately I am getting 48k with a 56k modem. When it starts to go down I change dial up phone numbers. One of the techs should chime in shortly
|
|
|
Rank: Queen Joined: 8/9/2009 Posts: 514
|
imweezie wrote:adiamond1978 wrote:I have a Conexent D850 56k v.9x DFVc modem, but when Copper.net connects it only connects at 26,400 bps. Try another number, 26 is very low unless you live in the boonies. Mine is usually 50k but lately I am getting 48k with a 56k modem. It does depend on where you live and the condition of the phone lines and perhaps the condition of the telphone company's switching equipment. Like imweezie, my donwstream connection speed is usually around 48k, plus or minus a little. But I know a number of other people on these forums have reported significantly lower speeds. It does depend on where you live. I live in a city and IIRC, imweezie does also. Perhaps it depends on one's definition of "boonies", but if you are not in a significant sized city, lower speeds might not be unexpected. If you have any neighbors who use dial-up you might compare notes with them. (I won't name names, but I know of one person on these forums who is happy to get 26400 bps. This person sometimes experiences much worse. Now that's boonies -- or perhaps very poorly maintained telephone lines!) Good summary of technological attacks on freedom: http://blog.ofset.org/ckhung/index.php?post/106a
|
|
|
Rank: Queen  Joined: 9/30/2009 Posts: 759 Location: WV
|
I think I resemble jimmymac's remark. I have Verizon service and live about five miles from the seitching station. However, I live in another county. Verizon only has to lie in some optic lines from a switch box about a mile away. But! Verizon has apparently depreciated all of its lines to the extent that they will make about $3B if they sell. They are trying to sell to Frontier. Until there is a ruling on the sale, Verizon states they WILL not upgrade any equipment. It is so bad, that there is a problem with the ring tone on at least one twisted pair. To the caller, it sounds like the call has gone through and the phone rings and ringws until they hang up. What actually happens is the called phone is silent. This particular problem seems to pass around to various neighbors. I had it for a while and now another of my neighbors has it. Several others have had it over the past several months. It seems that a bad line pair is switched from phone to phone to show they have 'corrected' the problem. Now, for the dial-up connect speed. If I remember the number correctly, Verizon guarantees only 21.6Kbps not only in my geographic area, but within the verizon system. You can check this out by calling Verizon. Before I lived here, I lived in VA near Washington D.C. There, I never got above 21.6Kbps! Here in WV I usually get about 26.4Kbps with an occasional 28.8Kbps. As the weather warms and rains come, I occasionally get 12.0Kbps. When that happens, it is persistent. My only recourse to obtain high speed is to get HughesNet or some other competing satellite link as we have no cable TV here either. I can't afford HughesNet, so I struggle along with dial-up. I feel your pain in upgrading Windows as I have done the same TWICE within the last month or so. I recently, within the last week or so, upgraded an application that required 246MB of download. After getting it all downloaded, it decided not to install 120MB as the files were corrupted. So many hours of download have been wasted. End of my rant against Verizon..... When I works, I works hard. When I sits and thinks, I goes to sleep.
|
|
|
Rank: King Joined: 10/14/2009 Posts: 1,072
|
I had verison awhile ago and glad i dont now.
bad line to my house but they insisted it was ok.
also very old lines throught the town.
i know the lines in my house where all new as I installed them my self.
They would not send out repair tech untill you complained at least four times.
then they insited you be home and they would not show up.
have to start all over again calling again and again to get them to make another appointment and me be home. tech would come by and say everthing is ok and leave.
nothing changed, still noise in phone line.
after a year of doing this, one day my phone line some how got ripped from my house so now they had to put up new line as it broke off from the pole accross the street.
new line helped a lot.
noise that I say I could here was gone.
computer no longer was kicked off line.
speed increased also but i dont remember the numbers.
hopefully verison sells out so you get new company in.
|
|
|
Rank: Queen Joined: 9/30/2009 Posts: 759 Location: WV
|
@ritewing9 I hope you find that your dial-up speeds are pretty much the norm. We dial-uppers have pretty much the same complaints as you relative to speed. Those who have 40kbps and above don't know how lucky they are to be working in that rare atmosphere. I recently had to rinstall WinXP TWICE! due to hardware or just plain Windows screwups. The first time was a multi-boot configuration that crumped shortly after I had upgraded Win2K and WinXP. I then decided to scrap Win2K and install WinXP on a single bootable partition. then there was the 246MB download to upgrade Photoshop CS4. I lost 120MB when it decided for some reason not to upgrade Adobe Reader! Now Adobe Reader is pestering me no less than a dozen times on each WinXP start-up to re-download the 120MB. But, tonight I found a Reader preference that hopefully will shut the d**n thing up. Don When I works, I works hard. When I sits and thinks, I goes to sleep.
|
|
|
Rank: Pawn Joined: 3/3/2010 Posts: 5
|
@dmccollom I also have Verizon for local telephone, that might explain it then. Before you dive into HughesNet or WildBlue, check out SkyWay USA Satellite Internet. Skyway downloads just as fast as the other two, but uses your phone lines for uploading information, which is faster than the latency you'll experience with the two way satellite providers. $250.00 up front for equipment, and then only like $35.00 a month, not to shabby for satellite if you ask me. I'm actually going to probably switch to them in a month or two when our budget allows it, this Verizon crippled dial-up service is killing me! Takes me an hour just to download a 3.1 MB file! In that time, I could drive to my cousins house, less than a mile away (who gets cable internet, they won't come to my area - the jerks!), download it, have a couple cups of coffee, and drive back home!
|
|
|
Rank: Queen Joined: 9/30/2009 Posts: 759 Location: WV
|
@adiamond1978 Thanks for the idea. I'll check it out. Don When I works, I works hard. When I sits and thinks, I goes to sleep.
|
|
|
Rank: Pawn Joined: 11/18/2003 Posts: 8
|
Hello,
Thank you to everyone that replied with information on this post. Connection speed is something we get a lot of calls about. Many things contribute to the speed that you will experience when connecting to the internet over a dial up connection. Modem, Modem drivers, phone lines within the home, phone lines to the telephone switching station. The phone companies only have to guarantee a speed of around 19.5 kbps. This basically means if you are establishing a speed of faster than 20 kbps, the phone company does not have to do anything about it. Many times we have more than one number in your area that you can attempt to connect with. A few things to do at home to ensure that you are getting the best connection speed possible is updating your modem drivers, using the shortest phone cord necessary from the wall jack to the computer, do not use splitters. Someone posted something about their maximum port speed being set at 115200. It is a 56k modem, therefore regardless of what you have set as your maximum port speed, you can only connect at a maximum of 54.7. Sometimes you can establish a more stable connection if you set the maximum port speed to 57000. Also someone posted the idea of using a dowload manager. This is a great idea even if you are connecting at a fast speed. Firefox has an add on for a download manager. These are available at no charge from many sites. If you ever need any assistance in looking for different dial up numbers you can call us at 888-336-3318. Please remember though whenever switching dial up numbers, be sure that they are local to you by checking with your local phone company.
Thanks!
|
|
|
Rank: Pawn Joined: 5/11/2010 Posts: 2
|
adiamond1978 wrote:I have a follow-up reply to this. I have a Conexent D850 56k v.9x DFVc modem, but when Copper.net connects it only connects at 26,400 bps. The maximum port speed for the modem is set to 115200, so why is it connecting well below the capabilities of the modem? Do I need to tweak something, or do something else? I know dial-up is slow, but I don't remember it being this slow. I would think about geting another modem. I have never had good luck with this modem. It runs slow for some reason. When I got a new computer last year, it had that one in it, and my speed dropped from 45.2 to 28.8, so I took it out and put in my Agere and my speed went back up to what it was until att made changes to their access number in March of this year. My speed went from 45.2 to 28.6. So I checked out Copper, and I get 28.6 or 31.2 with them. I cancelled the att account because I pay less here for the same speed. I live about 5 miles outside city limits, so DSL is not available here either. I am thinking about trying the accelerator Copper offers. Does anybody here have some experience with it, and could give me some feedback? Thanks, Ellen
|
|
|
Rank: Queen Joined: 9/30/2009 Posts: 759 Location: WV
|
Ellen, I presume you are using some version of Windows and Internet Explorer. I have the latest version of the Copper accelerator. What I've found is it is quicker using it. But for an exciting increase in speed, download Firefox. Install it and also install AddBlock Plus (an addon for FireFox). When I access an AP article with Internet Explorer it takes some 50 - 60 seconds or more before I can read the article. When I use Firefox with AddBlock Plus it takes about 3 seconds. The same exciting speed increase is noted when moving around inside Copper -- e-mails, etc. The accelerator will not support Linux operating system. But again, Firefox with AddBlock Plus beats Internet Explorer hands down. Don When I works, I works hard. When I sits and thinks, I goes to sleep.
|
|
|
Rank: Pawn Joined: 5/11/2010 Posts: 2
|
dmccollom wrote:Ellen,
I presume you are using some version of Windows and Internet Explorer.
I have the latest version of the Copper accelerator. What I've found is it is quicker using it.
But for an exciting increase in speed, download Firefox. Install it and also install AddBlock Plus (an addon for FireFox).
When I access an AP article with Internet Explorer it takes some 50 - 60 seconds or more before I can read the article. When I use Firefox with AddBlock Plus it takes about 3 seconds. The same exciting speed increase is noted when moving around inside Copper -- e-mails, etc.
The accelerator will not support Linux operating system. But again, Firefox with AddBlock Plus beats Internet Explorer hands down.
Don
Thanks very much. Yes, I am using windows and mostly IE. I do have Firefox, but not the latest version, so will have to check that out. For some reason FF always seemed slower than IE, but your comment about FF and the AddBlock is good to know. Thanks again......Ellen
|
|
|