Disconnections are a source of frustration and can usually be prevented. Poor phone line quality is the main source of disconnect problems. When phone lines are noisy, the modem has trouble transmitting and receiving data accurately and may just disconnect.
To test for noisy phone lines, disconnect from the Internet and call someone on your modem line. After they answer, ask them to be quiet for a minute so that you can listen for noise on the line. If you hear pops or clicks or any kind of noise, first try wiggling the phone cables. Sometimes the problem is a bad telephone cable.
Here are some things to try in order to lower the noise level on your phone line:
- Disable call waiting by inserting *70 before the ISP's phone number in your modem setup.
- Keep phone cords as short as possible, both from the wall to the modem and from the modem to the computer.
- Install a separate phone line for the modem or get ISDN or DSL service.
- Remove any cordless phones, FAX machines or answering machines from the modem line.
- Have your phone company check your lines for noise.
- Check with your ISP for possible init string, modem script or configuration changes.