Tips To Get Higher Download and Browsing Speeds On Dialup Internet Connection – Part 1
Hi,
I know that in most parts of the world, broadband Internet connections are now available and are widely being used. But, still there are some friends of mine that have no choice because of the remote locations they are living, ISP not offering broadband at particular areas due to non feasibility, high business costs etc. due to which they have to use dialup for connecting to Internet.
Dialup connection uses telephone line, modem (Mod+Dem – Modulator and Demodulator) and a computer with Operating system and TCP/IP software.
You also need dialup Internet account – username and password from your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
Coming to the topic of this post, here are the basic tips to ensure that you are able to connect to the Remote Access Server (RAS) of ISP at good speeds – 33.6 to 56 Kbps and thus get the download speed of 4 KBps to 7 KBps resulting in better browsing (notice the difference in Kbps – Kilobit per second and KBps – Kilobyte per second, one byte=8 bit).
- Ensure that you telephone line is not noisy
Well this is the most basic, easier and yet the most important step to ensure that your dialup connectivity to ISP is of good quality and thus fast. When you dial, there should not any noise (disturbance) and much delay in completing the final connection. If you keep on hearing the screeching sound of modems handshake (training with each other – one modem at your side and other at ISP side) for long durations (lasting to minutes) and the connection is finalized at very low speeds despite connecting again and again, then there could be possibly some problem with your telephone line.
If there is noise in the line, you will see Errors in the dialup connection status. A screenshot showing a clear error free telephone line is shown next:
Screenshot showing an error free line status in MS Windows Vista Business
You will come to know about the way to check the line status for errors for a dialup connection after reading the complete post (For Microsoft Windows Vista OS). Some of you must have come to know about the procedure of checking the same from the above screen shot (Hint: Check the path on the top of the screenshot).
To check the telephone line for the noise:
- Disconnect the dialup connection (In Microsoft Windows Vista, Business right click on the two computers icon at the right bottom of the task bar, scroll to “Disconnect from” and then click on the dialup connection), if you are connected.
- After disconnecting, verify that the dialup connection is disconnected by taking the mouse over the two computers icon on the right bottom task bar. Check the box that shows “Currently connected to:”, the dialup Internet connection shouldn’t be shown there.
Disconnecting the Internet dialup connection in Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Procedure to check the status of dialup connection – Connected or Disconnected in MS Windows Vista Business
If you are using an external modem, switch it off and if you have an internal modem, switch off the PC so that the power to the modem card is cut off. Take out the telephone line from the modem line RJ 11 jack connector and connect it to a phone. You will have to press the plastic clip of the RJ11 connector and then pull it to take it out. When you connect the RJ11 connector into the telephone you should hear the click sound. This ensures that the contact of the male and the female RJ 11 connector is fine.
If the clip of the RJ 11 male connector is broken then you should change the wire as the contact might be loose.
After connecting the telephone RJ 11 connector to the phone, pick the receiver and hear the dial tone for few seconds. If the telephone line is noisy, you will definitely hear the noise (disturbing sound). Repeat this test 3-4 times to be very sure of whether your line is noisy or not.
You should also dial your ISP dialup number that you dial from the modem and should listen for the noises on the telephone line while doing so. If the dial tone of your telephone line is perfectly fine but not the handshake process, then there is some problem probably with the ISP line (Most of ISP uses digital lines and not analog lines and the chances of facing this problem are really low).
However, if the dial tone of your Internet dialup telephone line is fine but you hear the noise during handshake with the ISP modem on dialing the Internet access number, then you must speak to your ISP.
If you hear the noise on picking the receiver, try ensuring that the telephone cabling in your home from the junction box is fine. To do this, take the telephone with the telephone wire having RJ 11 connector plugged into the phone and the other end with the two wires (without insulation) and connect the wires at the junction box pair for yours modem telephone line connection. Also, first remove the joint of the telephone cable going into yours home and the cable coming from the telephone company. Oh!, if the junction box of the telephone company is not easily accessible, then you should skip this step. Also, you might have to pull out the cable from the junction box if it is punched, leave it if you don’t have the tool small hook – part of Krone tool) to take the telephone line (two wires) of the telephone company end.
The junction box of my telephone company is not high and can be easily accessed by climbing on a stool, there are no punches of the wires but joints only. Some relevant pictures of RJ 11 connectors, external modem and the pretty unmanaged MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) junction box are shown, I love taking pictures and then posting them on my blog for all of you 
Telephone line junction box with thick wire coming from exchange and wires of subscribers connected directly to it without any punches at the punch strip
RJ 11 female telephone line connector
RJ 11 telephone line male connector
Dlink DFM 562E++ External Modem Front
Dlink DFM 562E++ External Modem Back
If you still hear the noise after picking the receiver obviously after connecting the telephone wires to the line of the telephone company, then there is a problem from the telephone company end. You should then book the complaint for the telephone line noisy.
And, if the dial tone is fine when you connect the phone to the main telephone line junction box line of your telephone connection then there is a problem with the telephone cable going to to your modem. Change the complete cable from the junction box to the modem.
- Ensure that the modem connect speed is set to its maximum (57600 bps or the highest if less than 57600 bps)
You should check your modem settings to ensure that it can make connection at the highest speed supported by it. For example, my V.92 modem supports a maximum speed of 56 Kbps.
To check whether the modem is configured at the highest speed, follow this procedure in Windows Vista Business:
- Double click on the two computers icon at the right bottom of the task bar
- In the pop up menu, click on “Network and Sharing Center“
- In the window that appears, click on “Manage network connections” available at the top left
You will see a window with Network Connection, Right click on the dial up connection whose modem speed settings needs to be checked and then click on Properties. The screenshot of the same at my end is shown next. (the screen might be different depending on the setting of Views – details, tiles, small icons etc.)
Right Clicking the Properties of the dialup modem connection to check it settings
As shown in the path at the title bar (the top blue colored bar), you can also click on Control Panel, then on Network and Internet and then on Network Connections to see the types of Network connections configured in your PC.
After clicking on Properties, another screen will appear shown next.
Using Configure to check the modem speed in its Properties screen
- In the screen as shown next, click on “Configure..”
A screen that appears after clicking on Configure is shown next.
Modem Configuration screen after clicking on Configure
In the screen titled “Modem Configuration”, check the maximum speed (bps) and if it is less, then change it to 57600 by clicking on the desired speed and click on OK. The Modem Configuration screen is shown above.
If your modem doesn’t show maximum speed of 57600 bps and shows lesser speeds, then you should buy a new higher speed modem if you want to connect at higher speeds.
(One tip that I can give here is that if you have a noisy telephone line and it’s urgent to connect till the fault is rectified, then you can try lowering the modem speeds step by step till you are able to browse without getting frequent disconnections. On a noisy telephone line, it’s better to connect at lower speeds as you will get a stable low speed connection without frequent disconnects)
- DNS Settings
The above tips will ensure that the connection to your ISP RAS – Remote Access Server – where the ISP lines are connected is at the highest speed supported by your modem. The connectivity from your modem to ISP modem is local connectivity and a part of the Internet connectivity that requires router, switches, high speed Internet connection (to route your Internet data), Authentication server and DNS server etc.
These tips will help you in confirming that the connectivity from your PC modem and ISP modem (the local connection pipe) is fine but not beyond that.
When you are browsing the Internet, DNS (Domain Name Server) – a machine with software and database of the site names and their IP’s translates your requests of site names to their IP’s.
It’s thus necessary for a good speed browsing that you are using the correct DNS – preferably of your ISP as your DNS requests through browser are served quickly.
So, after doing the above two checks, If you are still getting very low download and browsing speeds then it’s time to check the DNS settings configured in TCP/IPv4 of your dialup connection. Most of the ISP’s automatically assign the DNS IP’s from their RAS (Remote Access Server) to each of the dialup customer.
However, there are no issues if you put it manually. For this, you need to know the DNS server IP’s of your ISP.
To check/put the DNS IP’s for your dialup connection, click on the dialup connection properties (procedure shown earlier).
- Now click on the Networking tab.
A screen similar to the one shown next will appear.
Options available in Networking tab of a MS Windows Vista Business dialup connection
- Now double click on Internet Protocol Version (TCP/IPv4)
- A screen titled Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties appears as shown next (valid for Windows Vista Business users only).
DNS Settings screen in MS Windows Vista Business
Click on “Use the following DNS server addresses” radio button and then type the DNS IP’s of your ISP/given to you. While typing, use space bar to go to the next place after the dot if the number of digits being typed are less than 3. For example to enter: 202.54.15.30, I will have to press space bar after 4 of 54 and 5 of 15.
After entering the DNS server IP’s, click on OK and close the relevant windows for this and the previous tips.
- Connect and check the dialup browsing. If the problem at your end was related to these three tips, then you must get better browsing speeds now on your dialup connection.
- Speak to your ISP if you don’t find any issue with any of the above four tips at your side
If you find everything OK at your end for the above four tips, then you should speak to the Customer Support team of your ISP and take their help about the slow browsing issue. Sometimes, the ISP have problems at their end related to their Internet connectivity, modem pool configuration (hardware/software issues) and access lines or they may require some special setting at your end to give you the good download speed.
I have some more tips to help you in better browsing and download speeds over a dialup connection to the Internet that I would share in my next post of this series.
I also hope that these tips will definitely help some of my friends to get better browsing and download speed over their dialup connection to the Internet.
Let me know if these tips helped you in improving your browsing and the download speed over dialup Internet connection?
Take care,
Rajesh Mago
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This entry was posted on Saturday, December 6th, 2008 at 12:33 am and is filed under Internet, Networking, Troubleshooting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
daisy February 28th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Awesome information-thanks so much!