It sounds like you aren't getting a clean connection. There are three parts
involved in this process.
- The ECR switch that you are connecting to.
- The phone lines in your house and on your street continuing to your local telephone
company switch.
- Your modem and computer.
With a huge number of different modem manufacturers out there, an issue with compatibility
of your modem and our switch may exist. Many connection problems can be resolved
by just dialing a different ECR switch. We have 4 different types for you to try.
If you have tried each of our dial-up numbers (392-3710, 392-2186,
392-2124, or 392-0069) and the problem persists, then
you've eliminated the possibility that the problem is a compatibility issue
with our switch. This then points to our most likely culprit, the phone lines.
Usually the problem is changing conditions on the phone line that cause users to
suddenly be unable to connect or maintain a connection. It is hard to do much with
the phone line unless the problem is from your in-house wiring system. Test for
an in-house problem by disconnecting everything except your computer from the phone
lines in your house. Especially any answering machines or satellite TV tuners. Even
if they are on a separate line in the house they can bleed over and cause a problem.
If that helps, then it is a process of elimination to determine which device is
the cause.
If testing the in-house wiring doesn't yield results, then the focus moves to
the phone lines in your neighborhood. Often these problems affect a group on a single
street and the phone company is the only one that can help, but typically are no
help at all. You can test if it is a phone company issue by moving your computer
to a different location and see how the connection differs. For example if you bring
your PC to ECR and if we connect on the first try and maintain a solid connection
then it indicates the problem is in the phone lines where you live. Working with
Sprint to test or upgrade your service has yielded results for some users in the
past, but typically not without great persistence and frustration.
A final remedy to a bad phone system is to try a different type of modem that has
proven to be more forgiving to poor line conditions. As the technology of modems
has advanced they have become less forgiving. Often we see a customer with a new
PC and modem who suddenly can't connect. This has to do with the fact that the
new high-speed protocols don't operate on a poor connection, so the switch and
modem will attempt to downgrade the protocol to something that will accept the conditions.
On many new modems the old protocols are not installed because the manufacturers
need to save money and keep the cost of the modem down and gamble that you won't
need the lesser protocol anyway. So when the switch tries to downgrade the protocol
to something that isn't supported on your modem, you are immediately disconnected.
Trying an older modem from the same location can sometimes demonstrate this phenomenon
and installing an older or more expensive modem with more installed protocols can
solve the problem sometimes too.