Re: Lightning and phones/lines
JB,<br />Just a couple of things. <br />Ask your guru what brand and model of modem he replaced your old one with, if you don't already know and post back.<br />The 50' phone line you're running on now is probably a "straight thru" patch cord (typically flat cable,silver grey or grey. Because the wire pairs are straight thru and not internally twisted, you can pickup a lot of noise that limits throughput. Older phone wiring in older houses used parallel phone wire (non-twisted conductors). This was usually fine for a normal POTS (plain old telephone system) voice communication. Most newer phone line installs use Cat3 wire. Cat3 wire has twisted pairs to cancel out crosstalk and reject line noise. <br /><br />Try this too. Take a pushbutton phone to your outside 'demarc' (phone interface box). Plug in the phone directly to your phone drop. Pick up the receiver, you should hear a dial tone. Hit any key on the dial pad, this will drop the dial tone. Listen carefully for any pops, crackles or noise. If you have a noisy line, a call to your local phone company is next, for them to check your line. A noisy phone line will cause your modem to constantly have to re-transmit it's data both in and out, thus reducing throughput. If your line it too dirty, it can cause your modem your disconnect. <br />Living out in the boons probably means that cable broadband is not an option. <br /><br />Opting for a different ISP is another option as well. I personally don't like AOL because of their invasive software and marketing attitudes. If switching ISP's sounds attractive, be sure you check to make sure that the phone numbers they offer for you to dial into them are not toll numbers. Try to pick a POP(point-of-presence)number within your calling area. If in doubt, call your phone company and ask. <br /><br />Additional info for your dancing and dining pleasure....
Testing...<br />Here too...
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