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Discussion Forum

Phone Jack and Wire- Suggestions?

| Posted in General Discussion on December 16, 2001 10:48am

*
I’m going to change out my phone jack and wire in the hope that it will increase my Internet connection speed (currently 24,000 bps). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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  1. Rich_Beckman | Dec 13, 2001 06:11am | #1

    *
    If you are using a 28.8 modem, you will do a lot better to replace it rather than mess with the phone jack and wire. It doesn't make sense to me that if a 28.8 modem won't connect above 24 that a 56k modem will connect in the 30's or 40's, but I've seen it happen.

    Rich Beckman

    1. jcallahan | Dec 13, 2001 06:20am | #2

      *Rich, it's a v90 56.6 modem ( the 'puter was new in June). I hear noise on the line when the phone is connected ......... thought a new jack and wire might clean it up and help my connection speed.

      1. Robert_Villa | Dec 13, 2001 06:33am | #3

        *Like co-ax, eliminate all splices and splitters. Run a continuous phone line from the room to the phone terminal. Obviously you will have a lot of wires in one place, and then buy a terminal with a couple dozen slots, and run it to your outdoor box.

        1. kkearney | Dec 13, 2001 06:47am | #4

          *Use cat5 or cat5e wire direct to outside box. Don't run next to any other wires. Hold the 1 on the phone for 10 seconds, release and listen for static. Go to http://www.dslreports.com/forum/dialup fo lots of info and tweaks and links.KK

          1. Cliff_Popejoy | Dec 13, 2001 07:51am | #5

            *jcallahan,Good advice so far, one other thing you could do before running new wire or replacing the jack.If you have a modern network interface device (also called the system network interface, or SNI), connect your modem directly to it. Use as short a line cord as possible; this is easier of you have a window near the SNI. The SNI is a plastic box and it is the demarcation point between the phone company wire and your house wire ("inside wire"). Inside the door, it'll have a modular jack and into that is plugged a very short line cord with a RJ-14 plug on it. The jack is the phone co line; the line cord goes to the SNI terminal block where you terminate the inside wire. So, you just unplug the line cord in the SNI, and plug in a 25 foot line cord, the other end of which you plug into the modem. Because the line cord wires are not twisted together, there's some chance that foreign EMF might slow things down a bit, but it's not likely. The best way to do this is get some unsheilded twisted pair station wire and crimp RJ-14 plugs onto it, but a line cord (that's the flat cable that connects the phone to the wall jack)will do.If the modem is connected directly to the SNI and doesn't speed up, it's not the inside wire. Not that it would hurt to run a new cable to the new jack for the 'puter. But it might be the phone company's line that's the limiting factor.There are some things about the phone line that affect moden speed--distance to the telco central office or CO--closer is faster. Also, the quality of the line (i.e., is it spliced in two dozen places and do those splices get wet or damp?), and the presence of "load coils" on the line.Load coils are basically boost transformers designed to increase the amplitude (voltage) of the audio signal on the line. They're optimized to boost a fairly narrow range of frequencies (voice range), and actually act a chokes for data transmission.The phone company may be willing to check your line for transmission quality for a price, and will "condition" it, removing loading coils and cleaning it up if necessary. Often if there is a "cleaner" pair available, they'll just switch your connection to the better quality line (called "cutting to clear"). You may have to order a "business line" or "data line" to get good modem speed, and you'll pay for that.If you're far (like more than 7 miles) from the central office, it's possible that there's a multiplexer between you and the CO. This is particularly likely if the area you're in has seen a growth in subscribers--phone co will install multiplexers instead of stringing additional cables. This also slows down data transmission. DSL might be a way around that.One other tip--when you call the phone company, ask to talk to the field engineering group. The business office/customer service people are usually not familiar with any of these issues.Good luck.Cliff

          2. Bill_Hartmann | Dec 13, 2001 07:58am | #6

            *Cliff is right. However, if you are hearing noise on the line go to the NI and plug a phone in there. If you hear noise then it Telco's problem. Report it as NOICE and let them figure it out.

          3. Kerr | Dec 13, 2001 08:44pm | #7

            *I have the four-hole type plug (remember the walnut sized square wall plugs?) and the junction "box" in the basement is a bakelite base with threaded brass studs that the individual wires are nutted to.So, my question is: are spider webs slowing down my modem? :o)just kidding, I cleaned off the spider webs long ago.

          4. Bill_Hartmann | Dec 13, 2001 09:00pm | #8

            *kerrDon't worry, the spider webs don't slow down the connects. But that old plug does. They pins are real big and the electronics take a long time to fill them up.Note the new connectors use real small pins so that they are faster.But if you are close enough to the central office you can get real fast speed by disconnecting the wire and replacing it with some masons twine.

          5. Stray_ | Dec 13, 2001 10:56pm | #9

            *I agree with Bill that it could be the phone co's problem. I have a rental apt in my house. Found out that the tenant had her line go dead and called the Verizon (phone co) folks to check it out. They ended up strining a new line from the pole to the house....for FREE. Increased my modem speed from somthing like 32000 up to 38000. I'm sure I could do more if I replaced the interior wireing (vitage 1950's), but I have enough other projects going on now...

          6. Steve_Joyce | Dec 13, 2001 11:32pm | #10

            *I actually had the same problem with a similar modem. 56k modem logging in at 24,400 or 21,600 all day long. Called the phone company and they mentioned that they have to provide you with the ability to receive some minumum data transfer rate (maybe 36.6kps I can't remember). They came out and ran a new line to the house. It improved a bit but not much.Then I founf the real problem. I had a win-modem taht constantly fought with windows for control over the connection. Bought a non-win modem and boom 49k every time. Before you go through the hassel you may want to look into that solution, cost me $60.SJ

          7. Luka_ | Dec 14, 2001 06:20am | #11

            *Good point Steve.But you have the wrong details. It isn't fighting with windows over the connection, it is forcing windows, and your computer to handle the connection. A winmodem is not really a modem. It is simply a connection between your box and the phone line. It makes your computer, especialy your CPU chip, do all the work that the modem is supposed to be doing.An exterior modem, one that plugs into a serial port on your computer, and the phone line from the wall is plugged into the modem... Has all the components, (chips), that a modem should have. It does all the work the modem is supposed to do, instead of sloughing it's job off on your already overworked computer.This is the simplest way to explain it. I could go and search out all the technical explanations and post them, but why ?If you buy an exterior modem, and install it, and take out that card modem crap from the inside of the computer, you will ususaly see almost a doubling of your download speed immediately.

          8. Steve_Joyce | Dec 14, 2001 04:16pm | #12

            *Luka - When I looked into the issue that was basically what I gathered....I just used the wrong wording. A friend of mine had the same problem and had me look at my modem for answers. The winmodem is basically built into my mother board, whatever. At least it is disabled and the new one works flawlessly. But your right, the download speed more than doubled, 24k to 49k. Of course had I spoken to my friend Mark sooner I could have avoided dealing with Ma Bell, then again I sis get a new line to the house :-)ThanksSJ

          9. Peter_Shlagor | Dec 14, 2001 05:16pm | #13

            *Someday hopefully this will be an old nightmare for you guys. Watch for your cable company's progress in offering both internet service and local phone service.Cox has my internet speeds looking like a T-1 line. And my phone bill was cut in half from PacBell's prices.Someday, the rest of the country will be so lucky.

          10. Steve_Joyce | Dec 14, 2001 05:37pm | #14

            *Peter - I use Direct TV for satellite instead of paying more for less with cable. I have briefly looked at the Direct PC deal....now that both downloading and uploading can be done via the satellite it looks like I may go that direction when the 56k (really 49k)connection seems to slow for us.SJ

          11. Ted_LaRue_ | Dec 14, 2001 06:11pm | #15

            *Luka,"Card modems" aren't necessarily WinModems. The "real" modems are also made on a card that plugs into a bus inside your computer's case, and they are as good or perhaps better than the external variety (one less connection). They provide their own COM port and so don't use up your external port. They also don't have that pesky power transformer.WinModems are modems; they change the analog phone signal to digital (modulate/demodulate). They pass off the error detection & correction work to Windows. The error correction schemes are one of the major reasons newer modems are "faster". Originally, modems simply checked for errors. When an error was found in a packet of data, they asked for the entire packet to be retransmitted. Newer schemes allow modems to not only find an error, but to correct it without having the packet of data retransmitted. Each packet contains a small amount of extra data, but the overall throughput is increased.

          12. xJohn_Sprung | Dec 14, 2001 10:55pm | #16

            *> now that both downloading and uploading can be done via the satellite Wow. Are you absolutely sure that the upload isn't thru your phone line? Can a little 18" dish really uplink to a satellite? How much power does it take? Can the satellite really deal with a gazillion little dishes talking to it? Amazing if it really works that way.-- J.S.

          13. Steve_Joyce | Dec 14, 2001 11:54pm | #17

            *When I got DirectTV in May of 2000 shortly after I heard about Direct PC. At the time I decided against it because you still needed a land line to upload. Granted that downloading is the most taxing as far as bandwidth for most people, but still at the time I decided against it. Then I looked into it this summer and they assured me that now they can use the satellite link for both up and downloading.The only reason I haven't switched was the cost of the second dish (mine wont support the PC connection) and I finally got the regular modem working.SJ

          14. CaseyR_ | Dec 15, 2001 05:47am | #18

            *There are two way satellite Internet links available - you don't need a telephone line, just a good line of credit with your local bank...http://www.fastinternetusa.com/StarBand downloads at speeds up to ten times faster than dial-up service. Speeds will often reach 500 kbps with targeted peak-time speeds in excess of 150 kbps. Current upload speeds range between 40 and 60 kbps. Peak time is weekday evenings.Price on the web site for Starband is $69.95 per month (plus about one $K for the initial equipment purchase.) http://www.direcpc.com/index2.html

          15. jcallahan | Dec 16, 2001 02:29am | #19

            *Thanks to all who responded ....lots of food for thought. There is no broadband revolution around here ...... cable tv isn't even offered ......satellite is the only broadband option ....one that is too expensive. Wasn't that long ago we had a five party line here.

          16. 4Lorn | Dec 16, 2001 10:48am | #20

            *Many of the maBell offspring will check the lines for free. Ask. Also changing to a closer, or better quality, ISP can do wonders if this is the bottleneck.Generally the fewer connections between your computer and your ISP the better. Depending on your houses layout, access from point to point being the kicker, running a new line to the main junction point outside, typically a grey box mounted on the side of the house, can be relatively simple. Will this help? It depends. An older house that is wired for phones with a single pair of common bell wire, not an uncommon occurance for houses built in the 30s and sometimes much later. Carefully opening a few terminal points can tell you a lot. Ideally you should see modern cables in good condition run seperate from the power cables. Also if each terminal point only has only one cable this would be a good sign. Ideally each point will have one cable running directly to the central terminal point that joins the wiring in the house to MaBells wires. Some older houses are wired in a daisy chain, series connection. This increases the number of connections and the chances of interference.Check the easy stuff first. A loose or corroded connection can slow things down. At least once I have been told to run all new cables when tightening a screw would have corrected the problem. Ten minutes checking can save you loads of time and money.Checking and if necessary repairing or replacing the wiring in your house won't do you any good if the problem is with the telephone lines outside your control. In most cases I have found the telephone company to be helpful in resolving issues but they will only bring you up to a minimum spec. I hope this helps.

  2. jcallahan | Dec 16, 2001 10:48am | #21

    *
    I'm going to change out my phone jack and wire in the hope that it will increase my Internet connection speed (currently 24,000 bps). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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