Dialup PPP: regular disconnects.

T

TimF

Registered
I haven't seen my particular Internet Connect issue discussed. When I dial up, 90% of the time I get disconnected anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes into the session. Sometimes several disconnects will happen in a row, but eventually the connection remains stable for as long as I care to keep it.

Usually the message says the other side has failed to respond when I lose the connection, even if I'm in the middle of, say, an active download. I've tried PPP echoing on and off, and connects to my ISP from other, non-OS X computers is very stable.

Anyone have any insight on this?

~Tim~
TiBook rev. B, 667 MHz, 1GB, 40GB, airport
plus 3 generations of iMacs in the family,
(an antique 8100/100 for sale)
 
... and not all of them are OS related.

However, do a quick search on www.macoshints.com for PPP and see if there is a "stay connected" hint. I've seen this issue before in passing, however, since I have a cable modem, I've never paid them much attention.

The only other thing I can think of to help you is maybe invest in a faster connection. Not always feasable I know. But copper phone lines are not the best connection for digital data anyways. No phone lines are good for this except maybe DSL.

Good Luck.:)
SA
 
Connections with 'problems'... line noise caused by a number of factors anywhere from your house to the ISP's server... are the most common cause of this. A noisy connection often cannot sustain v.90. If it shows up more often in rainy weather (where water may be getting in a junction box), or colder weather (contraction), it is almost certainly the problem

Try changing your modem selection to the v.34 option. If the problem goes away, you have identified the cause. The cure may be as easy as 'losing' a phone or a bad cord somewhere in your house, or as hard as convincing your local telco to fix their lines.

Best bet, of course, is lose the dialup... but that's not always an option.
 
Of course I'll lose the dialup at my first opportunity. Unfortunately, that may be a couple years for cable, likely never for DSL (too many digital/analog conversions in the way, or something). As I said, no other non-OS X computers on either of my house lines have problems, only this OS X box. I've tried on both lines, with multiple ISPs (a local, and Earthlink), same symptoms.

Thanks for your comments. I will say that being forced onto a dialup makes me build web sites that are very efficient. :)

~Tim~
 
Just because the other non-OSX computers don't have the problem still does not make it an OSX software issue. There actaully may be something wrong with the modem card in that mac, or it may be working well and be hypersensitive to phone line conditions. You may want to take your mac into a repair shop and have the modem tested.

Good Luck.
SA
:)
 
this totally sounds like a problem I had.

I went through a ton of different things, and it came down to a voltage spike / bad phone line.(stupid little cable) I just replaced it, been good ever since.

and make sure your ISP provides you with a optional DNS number.. it can help..
 
I also had this same exact problem when I first started using OS X. But it mysteriously disappeared with a system update from Apple. I can't remember which update caused the problem to go away though. It was either the update to 10.1 or one of the last 10.0.X updates before 10.1. I remember my connection was extremely unstable and very sensitive to every little thing. I could almost just look at another phone extension on the same line in the house and it would disconnect. Now the connection is extremely stable, I've stayed connected for days on end. I can even pick up another extension for a few seconds and it stays connected.

So are you running the latest 10.1 version or are you running one of the original 10.0.X versions?
 
Thanks everyone. I will experiment more with some new phone cords or other wall jacks. Maybe it is just an overly sensitive modem in the Powerbook. What's funny is that after one or two initial disconnects (between 5 and 15 mins following dial up) the connection becomes stable as a rock. Weird.

I know my phone lines are a little "dirty," and I'm guessing that's why my connect speeds are rarely over 43.9K. Someday I'll look into tweaking modem strings if I can find out how, and anyone thinks it might help.
I am running 10.1.2 on this PB G4.

~Tim~
 
This was happening to me until I changed which number I use to connect to my ISP. Which makes me think that some of the lines the ISP provided were not up to par.
 
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