Modemsite's Forum56 - The Modem Board Main | profile | register | search | help | Ad-free Login

Author	Topic
Tom_1974 Tl Posts: 2 USA	Posted - 5/2/2000 7:14:56 PM       I have an external usr Sportster 56 k, model 00568602 This modem has connected at speeds of 48000 solidly for over 1 year... until Saturday. Without much warning we were hit with a bad lighning/thunderstorm while I was online. I got knocked off, then later I tried to log back on. Now I am very lucky to connect at all, and when I do the connection is very poor (12000 and 9600 are very common, maybe twice it has hit 21600 it has been as bad as 4800) All these connections are very short lived. (about 2 minutes at best) I have an old Zoom 28.8 modem I have reinstalled temporarily which will connect very solidly at 24000 or 26400, which is the best that modem ever did (I rarely made a 28800 connect) It will hold a connection until I break it. (8+ hours) Of course this is to the same access number the 56k is failing on. I have tried many other 56k numbers for several ISPs with the same results. Is it possible my modem is damaged but still semi-working? USR keeps blaming the phone line, but if it were the line shouldn't I still see at least 24000 connects out of my USR like on the Zoom? Also when the speaker of the USR is on I hear a lot of bad noise while it is connecting even before it dials (the dialtone cracks and pops) There is no such noise on my voice connections. I have tried both modems on my other phone line, with identical results. Should I just buy another modem to either fix the problem or condemn my phone line (in which case I could return the new modem... although I hate to do such a thing) Thanks for any help Thomas
SARGE Tl Posts: 743 USA	Posted - 5/5/2000 10:03:43 PM         Call telco repair, report a noisy line. If you can "hear" the noise thru modem, it's obvious. Verify by trying a phone. Next time, though, turn off and unplug pc and modem, I don't care what kind of "surge suppressor" you have. In my business, I've seen what lightning does, even hitting next to a house it's smoked components. It's too much of a jolt at once for any so-called protective devices.
SARGE Tl Posts: 743 USA	Posted - 5/5/2000 10:08:20 PM         Oops, reread your post and saw where voice is ok on line. Still, get line checked, but sounds like modem fried.
Tom_1974 Tl Posts: 2 USA	Posted - 5/6/2000 8:23:01 AM       Thanks for the reply, it was indeed the modem. I bought a cheap internal software driven modem (a $25.00 Diamond Supramax) and it connects fine and hold connections for hours at speeds up to 41333. Armed with that info I was able to get an SRO issued from USR. Thomas
SARGE Tl Posts: 743 USA	Posted - 5/6/2000 8:39:43 PM         Congrats! You were lucky - lightning could have traveled beyond modem, into pc, if indeed that was the culprit.

Click Here To Close Thread, Administrators & Moderators Only.

Show All Forums |