Dial-up headache. Any ideas?

[Relztrah]

Here's a dial-up Internet question that has me stymied. I use Juno as my ISP as does my mother who lives in the same town. We have very similar--but not identical--computers with internal modems. (RAM, CPU, Windows, etc. are all comparable.) We are using the same release of Juno. Both machines dial the same number to log on to the Internet. Using my machine I can almost always get a good Internet connection albeit a slow, dial-up connection. From her house, using the same ISP, same phone number, same everything, I hardly every connect. Most of the time I get the "This page cannot be displayed…" message. One out of about five times I'll actually connect.

I uninstalled and reinstalled Juno, tried connecting an external modem and using that instead of the internal, but still no improvement in the connection. The phone line is good and when I connect a telephone I get a clear signal. I already checked for virus and there is none.

I gave her this computer and installed Juno on it so I feel some responsibility for fixing it. What else can I check?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Relztrah

[classicsoftware]

It could be the phone lines, It could be the modem, it could be her compuuter has a virus or spyware.

Please advise hwat you done to resolve it and exactly what happens. I assume you have no problem connection to the Juno serveres, you just can't browse. Is that a correct statement?

[bassman]

I would be inclined to think there is a problem with the phone lines. What you can't hear on the phone can cause problems with a modem. If the phone company is telling you there is no problem, it is because they only need to provide telephone service. If you tell them you are loosing calls due to static, they will be more prudent in their testing and reporting.

Classicsoftware, is that really you?? :confused: That seemed like a very out of character response from you.

[classicsoftware]

I know I was tired when I posted Bassman, but what was out of charachter??

[deddard]

There are 3 main areas here - the ISP, the phone line, and the PC.

The ISP can be eliminated by using a different one - temporarily connect using a different ISP (I assume that you have the same sort of 'pay as you go' ISPs in the US as well as subscription ones that we have here in the UK)
If you can use a different ISP successfully, then the problem has gone - don't assume that just because you live close to each other that you will have the same access; it could be that you are going through a different local route.

The phone line can be eliminated by connecting a completely different pC to the phone line. It's obviously easier if there is a second pc in the house, or you have a laptop, but if another pc can connect ok, then the problem lies with the original PC, not the phone line.
If a second PC has a similar problem, then the phone line is at fault.

The 3rd option is the PC. THere are many things that could cause problems.
Is there a firewall running?
Is there an auto-protect AV package running?
A firewall may block access, and an AV may slow it down.
The first thing to check is security - spybot, adaware, a good AV with up to date files. You could also run hijack this, save the log to floppy, and post it here if needed.

My first impression would be the ISP or the phone line. Eliminate the first one - it's the easiest thing to do, and then if possible check the line with a second PC.
Connections which sometimes make it, and sometimes fail are nearly always due to congestion somewhere along the line.

[Relztrah]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Next time I'm there I'll keep trying until I successfully log on and at that time download and install and run both Spybot and Adaware which I have on my machine but not hers. I was assuming it was "clean" since I just reformatted the HD and reinstalled Windows before giving it to her. But with the minimal surfing that she has been able to do, she might have gotten some spyware that is slowing things down. I already put AVG antivirus on it and update and run it every couple weeks. So far she's had no viruses.

She still has her old computer which I'll set up and see if I get a better Internet connection.

I'll re-post with the results. Thanks again.

Relztrah