[techtalk] Modems & partially digital phone lines

[Raven, corporate courtesan]

Heya --

     Lots of networking questions today!

Quoth Davida:
> I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem:
> When my phone service carrier was Pacific Bell I could connect to my
> ISP at speeds between 46k & 50k. However, when I changed my carrier 
> to Cox Communications the connection speed dropped to 34k. 

     Probably 33.6.

> Now whenever I connect to my ISP the speed is always 34k. I have 
> changed nothing & my modem is working properly. Is this Cox's way of 
> getting people to switch to a cable modem?

     Not necessarily deliberate.  Is your modem a V.90 modem?  There
are three different protocols that modems use to get up to 56K.  In the
olden days of 56K modems, there were only Kflex (championed by
Rockwell)and X2 (the baby of US Robotics).  56K access servers either
spoke Kflex or X2.  Then standardization came along, and all 56K
providers (well, most anyway) agreed to support the new standard, V.90.
 They'll also still support Kflex or X2, depending on who makes their
equipment.

     Why do you care?  Because if your modem is not V.90 and only
speaks X2, and you're dialing into a V.09/Kflex network, you won't ever
connect at a speed higher than 33.6.  You don't speak the right
protocol.  Check your modem to see if it's V.90, and if it's not, call
Cox and ask if they support Kflex or X2.

     If your modem is V.90 and you're still getting 33.6, you may just
be hitting an access server that doesn't go faster than that.  There's
nothing you can do about that other than to ask the ISP to upgrade it. 
I'd tend to rule out line noise, modem problems, etc. since it worked
pretty well with your old ISP.  Of course, it's always possible that
your line decided to get flaky right now...

     Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Raven

=====
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"Ummm, vi."
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