Hi tony, this is a copy of part of a post i did a couple of months
ago, regarding on-line issues, i hope it helps a bit..
A few ideas and thoughts on how to improve on-line connections
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Most of us are not blessed with Cable etc. so we have to make the most
of dial-up modem connections, so this is a brief idea on how to improve
yours... and i mean brief.
This is simply to give you some idea of where to begin and what to play
with to try to improve your on-line *** connections.
Firstly, the DUN you use for the Internet is NOT suitable for on-line
***. It most likely would be using Data Compression, Error
Correction, Maximum FIFO Buffers and probably going as hard as your
poor little modem can peddle, or harder if i believe half of the tales
i hear about....
All of the above is VERY bad news for on-line ***.
You should make up another DUN for on-line ***, with Data
Compression and Error Correction turned OFF. Also if you don't intend
hosting, and let's face it, it is hardly worth it with an analogue
dial-up connection anyway, turn down the maximum connect speed of your
modem to 24000, 26400 or 28800 at a maximum.
The quality of the lines in your area, will dictate the best speed for
you.
This can be done in the Modem Properties tab of your DUN for the
designated Modem. Read the booklet that comes with your modem for the
initialization strings you need.
To make more than one DUN with different modem initialization strings,
you will need to go to the MODEMS in the control panel and ADD another
modem. This will not overwrite your present modem settings, but will
add another modem to the modems you have listed in the modem list. As
you add more modems to the list, Windows will simply add a #2 #3 #4
etc etc to the end of the modem name. That way you can set up as many
DUN's as you have modem names, each one with different initialization
strings.
Once you have your on-line DUNS set up, you will actually find
disconnections and high latency's will be greatly reduced.
Note: the FIFO buffers should be set no higher than the 2nd mark from
the left, unfortunately these are global settings, so if you set them
at the 2nd setting from the left, that is where they will remain
regardless of which DUN you are using. I have not noticed any lesser
performance in surfing or downloading with the buffers set there
anyway, so i just leave them there all the time.
Make sure you turn off Error Correction, also turn off the Data
Compression and select Hardware Flow Control in you modem's properties
tab for the On-Line *** DUN. If you are a paranoid type, as i am,
you could also add those commands to the extra settings in the modem
initialization string, just in case you don't trust windows to carry
out your wishes and let's face it, who trusts windows to do anything
right when it comes to *** anyway..
I have included the following line for my US Robotics 33.6k in my
On-Line *** DUN..
&F1&K0&M0&U10&N13
&F1 Resets modem to standard, in case windows messed it up.
&K0 Disables Data Compression, in case windows forgot.
&M0 Disables Error Correction, as per above scenario..
&U10 Sets the floor connect speed to 19200.
&N13 Sets the ceiling connect speed to 26400.
The above is an example for the US Robotics modem, different modems
will vary slightly in the initialization strings, so read your manual
for further details to achieve similiar results.
Secondly.. WIndows in it's infinite wisdom sets up the Port settings
on the extra conservative side by default.
This needs to be changed manually.
To do this:
Go to the Control Panel, go to System, go to Device Manager, go to
Ports (com & lpt).
Select Com1 , go to Port Settings, and adjust the following to read as
follows:
Bits per second 115200
Data 8
Parity none
Stop Bits 1
Flow Control Hardware
Go to Advanced and adjust the FIFO Buffers so they are 1 mark from
the left side.
Do the same for Com Port 2.
Get out and save it all... and go and have a beer, or a diet coke.
Hope that helps a bit Tony..
Cheers,
Ron
> > U.S. Robotics 56K internal modem (limited to 28.8 for GPL)).
> How do you limit it to 28.8? This does't show up as an option in DUN
so I
> guess it is elsewhere.
> Cheers
> Tony
