Section 1
Q:
What are the dial-up access
numbers?
Q:
Can I connect to your service from
other areas in the U.S.?
Q:
Why won't Dial-Up Networking
remember my password? When I try to dial in, the "save password"
checkbox is grayed out and doesn't allow me to check it.
Q: How do I change my dial-up
number?
Section 2
Q:
I'm getting randomly
disconnected/hung up on at times, or I'm getting really slow connect
speeds.
Why?
Q:
I can't always connect reliably --
it takes several tries to get online. I do NOT get as far as
"Verifying username and password".
Q:
I can't always connect reliably --
it takes several tries to get online. I DO get to "Verifying
username and password" but it comes up with an error message (such
as "Dial-Up Networking
cannot negotiate a common set of network
protocols") after that.
Section 3
Q:
Why can't I connect at 33600 with my 33.6K modem?
Q:
Why can't I connect at more than
33600 with my 56K modem?
Q:
Why can't I connect at more than
53333 with my 56K modem?
Q:
If I'm connecting at 45K, then why
are my downloads only 4.5K/second?
Section 4
Q:
I'm getting an error box that says
"Dial Up Networking could not negotiate a compatible set of
protocols."
Q:
Dial-Up Networking spontaneously
tries to dial into the Internet without me asking it to. How do I
stop it from trying to dial?
Q:
When I launch Internet Explorer,
it used to automatically dial my internet connection. Now it just
brings up a blank screen and never dials, or it says "Cannot open
site". Why?
Q:
When I close the browser, the "do
you want to disconnect" box doesn't appear. How do I
disconnect?
Q:
Whenever I connect to the
Internet, I get a message about my copy of Microsoft Network (MSN)
is
out of date. I don't use MSN, so how can I get rid of this?
Section 1
Q:
What are the dial-up access numbers?
All of our local numbers can be found
here.
*(note)* - If your email address ends
with @otherside.com or @disknet.com you must use your email
address as your new logon name. (such as
johndoe@otherside.com).
ALL passwords will stay the same. If you are an Aye.Net or
DigiCove.com client then you must use @digicove.com after your
username. (such as
johndoe@digicove.com).
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Q:
Can I connect to your service from
other areas in the U.S.?
Yes. You may use one of our national access numbers listed
here.
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Q: Why won't Dial-Up
Networking
remember my password? When I try to dial in, the
"save password" checkbox is grayed out and doesn't allow me to check it.
This is a bug in Windows 95, with several possible workarounds.
Read all of the following Web pages for more information:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q148/9/25.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q137/3/61.asp
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Q: How do I change my dial-up number?
To change your dial-up number you will need
to know which operating system your computer currently uses.
Once you know that you can identify which set of the following
instructions you will need to use.
Please click here
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Section 2
Q: I'm
getting randomly
disconnected/hung up on at times, or I'm getting really slow
connect
speeds. Why?
There are MANY things that could cause this to happen.
Some are things we can control, most are not.
- Windows 95 and Windows 98 have
their own "idle timeout" that will bump you offline if you don't
do anything for 20 minutes. In some versions of Windows, there is
a bug in it -- it checks for keyboard and mouse activity, instead
of modem activity. That causes Windows to kick you offline even
when you're downloading a large file. To fix this, go to Control
Panels, then pick Internet. Under the "Connection" tab, search for
the "Disconnect if idle" option and turn it off.
- If you have Call Waiting on the
phone line you dial in with, this can cause you to be
disconnected. The signal the alerts you that a call is coming in
is what causes this. To turn it off, add "*70," before your dial
up number to disable call waiting.
- Some 56K modems have problems
holding connections reliably -- in particular the Rockwell HCF
modems, and some LT Win Modems, have many problems.
- Outlook Express on Windows
machines sometimes defaults to hanging up the line after
sending/receiving e-mail. To check this, go to the Tools menu,
then Options. Pick Connection. Make sure "hang up after
sending/receiving" is not checked.
- Make sure nobody else in your home
picks up a phone on the same line while you're online. The noise
from this will cause the modems to freeze for a few seconds, or
possibly hang up completely.
-
You may be in an area with noisy
or strangely configured phone lines. If this is the case there
isn't a whole lot you can do. You can cut the speed of the
connection down to try and stablize it, but other than that, there
normally isn't anything you can do.
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Q:
I can't always connect reliably --
it takes several tries to get online. I do NOT get as
far as
"Verifying username and password".
Listen carefully to what sounds your modem is making.
If you don't get a busy signal, but
you don't get to the password verification stage, you may be running
into a modem compatibility issue. There are some compatibility
problems with certain brands of modems, particularly 56K modems.
Here are some issues with particular
brands of modems. If yours isn't listed here, try
http://www.808hi.com/56k or maybe
http://www.modemhelp.org for some tips.
Lucent/LT Win Modems are found in
some Hewlett-Packard Pavillions and in some IBM Aptivas. They're
found in many other computers because they're extremely inexpensive.
Early versions of LT Win Modem
firmware are astoundingly awful. Firmware versions after about
version 5.28 are phenomenally better. (Version 5.54 or higher is
strongly recommended.) We've found that updating the
firmware/drivers on these modems solves 99% of the problems we've
had with them. An explanation of how to do this is at:
http://808hi.com/56k/ltwin.htm
If your modem is showing up as a
"Lucent Win Modem", or if you are running Windows 2000, then you
already have the newer drivers and shouldn't have a problem. If it
shows up as "LT Win Modem" then you have problematic drivers.
- CONEXANT/ROCKWELL HCF MODEMS
Conexant/Rockwell HCF modems are
usually found in the newest line of Compaq Presario, HP Pavillion,
and many other new computers. (They are even less expensive than the
LT Winmodems.) The Diamond SupraMax 56 is another modem with this
chipset. (The Diamond SupraExpress 56 is not.) Unfortunately, these
modems have lots of reliability problems.
Upgrading the firmware on these helps
a great deal, but does not solve 100% of the problems. If your modem
shows up as a "Conexant HCF" modem, you have fairly recent code. If
it shows up as "Rockwell HCF", you will have reliability
problems and spontaneous disconnects.
For more information on Rockwell HCF
modems, and some links to more current firmware, see the following:
http://808hi.com/56k/rockhcf.htm
These are found in Gateway computers
starting in late 1999. Current firmware can be found at:
http://www.motorola.com/networking/products/softmodem.html
IBM MWaves are found in older IBM
Aptivas, among others. Newer Aptivas have LT Win Modems instead.
Most IBM MWave problems can be fixed
with a firmware update. Search
http://www.ibm.com/ for "mwave drivers".
Find the MWave configuration program
and make sure it's set to the United States. We had one customer
with a 33.6K MWave who couldn't reliably connect. It turns out they
had the country set to Brazil in the MWave config program. Once it
was changed to USA, it started working perfectly.
- 3COM/US ROBOTICS SPORTSTERS, OR
GATEWAY TELEPATHS
Make sure you have the newest
firmware from
http://www.3com.com/. If this is a 56K modem, make sure you have
the newest v.90 code. There are some weird bugs in the x2 versions,
and in some 33.6K versions, that can cause spontaneous disconnects
(v.42 bugs), or a gradual slowing down of the connect speed during a
call ("Spiral Death Syndrome").
A temporary workaround for many
Sportster/Telepath problems is to try putting
"s15=128"
in Extra Settings.
This disables v.42 error correction (but leaves MNP 4 error
correction on), which works around a bug in firmware dated 3/21/97
or earlier.
(Recent Gateway Telepaths are really
LT Win Modems in disguise, not 3Com Winmodems.)
3Com/US Robotics Courier modems don't
have any of these problems.... but they're also much more expensive.
On any modem, try putting 2 or 3
commas at the end of the phone number. Sometimes this alone will
help things.
On some Rockwell-based 33.6K modems,
the modem will start to connect normally, but it'll stop and just go
to a clear, high-pitched tone, and keep doing that for 15 to 30
seconds. Ironically, it happens more on clean phone lines than on
bad ones. It doesn't seem to happen with any 56K modems. This can be
worked around by
manually throttling the speed back a bit.
Many Rockwell-based 14.4K modems have
a hardware problem that keeps compression from working correctly.
Disable "Use Error Control" (see below) to work around this until
you can buy a faster modem.
ADJUSTING MODEM SETTINGS
Some bugs can be worked around by
adjusting settings on your modem. To do this under Windows 95 and
98:
- Go to My Computer.
- Go to Dial-Up
Networking.
- Right-click on the
current connection (may be called Win.Net, Aye.Net, DigiCove.com,
Otherside.com, etc...), and pick Properties.
- Click on the
"Configure..." button.
- Click the
Connection tab, then click the Advanced button.
- Make sure that
"Use Error Control" is checked.
- Make sure that
"Use Flow Control" is checked, and that it's set to Hardware (RTS/CTS).
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Q: I can't always connect reliably --
it takes several tries to get online. I DO get to
"Verifying
username and password" but it comes up with an error message (such
as "Dial-Up Networking cannot negotiate a common set of network
protocols")
after that.
Make sure your Caps Lock is off. Make sure your username is in all
lowercase and has no spaces in it. Make sure your password is in all
lowercase.
If you're running Win95 or Win98, go
to Control Panel, and then to Network. You should have TCP/IP and
Dial-Up Adapter in there. You should NOT have AOL Adapter in there
-- remove it if it is there. You can leave Client for Microsoft
Networks alone if it's there; it won't hurt anything.
Next, go to My Computer, then Dial-Up
Networking. Right-click on the current
connection (may be called Win.Net, Aye.Net, DigiCove.com,
Otherside.com, etc...), and pick Properties. Go to the Server
Types tab. The only two things you want to have checked are "Enable
software compression" and "TCP/IP". Make sure you uncheck everything
else.
Some older Packard Bell systems have
a bad copy of Windows 95 on it. These systems have major problems
with DNS lookups. Installing the Dial-Up Networking 1.3 update from
http://www.microsoft.com/ should fix it.
If you're using Windows 95 or 98,
make sure there is only one WINSOCK.DLL file on your system. Go to
the Start Menu, pick Find, the Files Or Folders. Search for "winsock.dll"
and have it look in C:\ (instead of just My Documents). The correct
Winsock file should be dated 7/11/95 or 8/24/96 for Windows 95
(unless you've installed the Dial-Up Networking update), or 5/11/98
for Windows 98. They should be between 21K and 26K. Any other
winsock.dll files that don't match these descriptions may be causing
problems. (Check with us before deleting them, though!)
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Section 3
Q:
Why can't I connect at 33600
with
my 33.6K modem?
Connections in the mid-to-high 20K range are perfectly normal
for most phone lines. 31200 and 33600 are pretty rare and only show
up on extremely good lines. It's very likely that such a line will
support a 56K modem.
Connect speed is a function of the quality of phone lines in the
area, the programming of the phone company's switch/DLC in your
area, and a ton of other factors. The connect speed given isn't
necessarily accurate anyway, because the speed of the incoming and
outgoing directions can vary independently of each other, and can
shift up and down while you are still online as phone line
conditions improve or worsen; your modem doesn't tell you when it
makes these changes. You could call in at 24K and disconnect at
31.2K.
A connect speed in the lower 20K's (24000, 21600) is usually
indicative of a bad phone line. Such a line will probably not
support a 56K modem.
If you're connecting at less than 14400, then the phone company is
using a compression trick that puts 48 lines on a 24-line trunk, due
to a shortage of trunks. In telco speak, you're on a Digital Loop
Carrier, or DLC (sometimes known as a SLC or "slick") that's set to
"Mode 2". You can't notice this compression on a voice call, but it
wreaks havoc on modem connections and limits speeds to about 9600.
There is no fix except to convince the phone company to run more
trunks to your area and switch the DLC back to Mode 1 or Mode 3...
or see if they can move your line to a different DLC or channel
bank. Check with your neighbors -- they're probably having the same
problem with their Internet service too.
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Q: Why can't I connect at
more than
33600 with my 56K modem?
The two most likely reasons are that your modem only supports
K56Flex, or that your phone line can't handle 56K speeds.
The requirements for v.90 or x2 (or
K56flex) to work are:
- There must be NO
digital-to-analog conversions from the server modem (that is, our
modem) to the phone switch. In other words, the modem you call
must be connected to the phone company using a completely digital
T1 or an ISDN line, not a standard analog phone line.
- There must be only
one digital-to-analog conversion from the client modem (that is,
your modem) to the phone switch. Whether your line meets this
requirement depends on how the phone company has wired your area
up.
- The pair of copper
wire that your phone line rides on must have no "loading coils" or
"taps" or other kinds of amplifiers on it. These are usually only
placed on lines that are over a mile or two long, to make up the
signal loss in such a long circuit. You usually have to live
pretty far out of the city for this to be the case.
If you are in an office with its own
PBX, and you have to dial 9 to get out, your line will almost
definitely flunk requirement #2.
Some neighborhoods are served by
remote modules, channel banks, or Digital Loop Carriers (DLCs) that
convert the signal from analog to digital, then back to analog, then
back to digital again before it reaches the telephone switch. This
flunks requirement #2 above, and usually gets you connect speeds
around 26400 but no higher.
Some trunks run by the phone company
to some locations either drop one bit out of every eight (robbed-bit
signaling). If you run through two of these trunks, you can get a
weird intermittent problem where you'll sometimes lose two bits
instead of one. If you get good connects one out of every six times
but bad connects the other five out of six times, you're running
into this.
Lastly, I've seen some other bizarre
telephone company problems that sporadically cause 56K to fail in
unexplainable ways.
If you're having any of these
problems, there's not a lot that can be done about it. Most phone
companies (Bellsouth and Verizon included) will only guarantee 9600
bps anyway. You might want to check into getting ISDN, which are
much faster and far more reliable.
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Q:
Why can't I connect at more than
53333 with my 56K modem?
This is the absolute maximum speed you can actually achieve, due
to FCC regulations on transmit power. Contrary to modem manufacturer
propaganda, they don't actually limit the speed -- they limit the
amount of power on the line. The reason is to avoid crosstalk
between pairs of copper. If you've ever been talking on the phone
and very faintly heard someone else's conversation, you've
experienced crosstalk.
The average connect speed is 44000 with x2, and 46666 with v.90.
Some versions of Windows Dial-up Networking have a glitch that will
state the modem has reached a speed of 57600 or 115200. This is not
true. You will still connect at or under 53333.
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Q:
If I'm connecting at 45K, then why
are my downloads only 4.5K/second?
Connect speeds are measured in bits per second. Download speeds
are measured in characters (bytes) per second. There are 8 bits in a
byte. When you add in overhead for things like error correction and
framing, you end up with roughly 10 bits per byte. That's why it's
off by a factor of 10 -- it's just different units of measurement.
Actual download speed is affected by a lot of other factors, such as
compression, line noise, congestion on the Internet, and so on. So a
factor of 10 is just a rough guideline and is usually not exactly
what you get. If you're downloading text (email, news, web pages)
it's going to be a lot faster because it's compressible. If you're
downloading pictures (i.e. in web pages) or programs, it'll be
slower because it's pre-compressed.
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Section 4
Q:
I'm getting an error box that says
"Dial Up Networking could not negotiate a
compatible set of protocols."
Go to: Start Menu -> Settings -> Control
Panel Double click on Network.
- In there will be a list of items.
Make sure that 'TCP/IP' is in the list. If it is not, you should:
- Click on the 'Add' button.
- Double Click on 'Protocol'.
- Choose 'Microsoft' from the left
selection box.
- Double Click on 'TCP/IP' in the
right selection box.
- Click on the 'OK' button.
- Your machine will now ask you for
your Windows 95 CD.
Put in in your drive, and click on 'OK'. If it can't find the file
it's looking for, and just has a drive letter, try telling it to
look in the \win95
directory of the CD. Once this is all done, go and open up 'My
Computer' on your desktop.
Open up the folder labeled 'Dial-Up Networking'.
-
There should be two (maybe more)
items in there. One will be 'Make New Connection', the other one
will probably be named 'Win.Net', or something similar. It may be
named 'My Connection'. If there's more than one in here, we want the
one that's mentioned when you try to connect to us.
[It would say 'Connect to name', and we want the icon named
name]
- Click on the icon using your right
mouse button, and a list will appear. Click on 'Properties' with
your left mouse button. There should be either a button called
'Server Types' in the lower right hand corner, or a tab called
'Server Types' at the top. Click on it.
![[Server Types]](images/dialin6.gif)
It should bring you to a screen that looks similar to the one on
the right.
Make sure that 'TCP/IP' is turned on, along with 'Enable software
compression'.
Make sure that all of the other check boxes are turned off. Click
on 'OK'. (however many until you're back to the Dial Up Networking
folder.)
- (click on image to enlarge)
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Q:
Dial-Up Networking spontaneously
tries to dial into the Internet without me asking
it to. How do I stop it from trying to dial?
Your computer has some software installed
that runs in the background that's trying to get online. You'll need
to track this down and disable it. It's hard to identify every
possible piece of software that could ever do this, but some well
known culprits include:
- Hewlett-Packard
printer drivers
- Viruses
Meanwhile, you can stop it from
dialing by going to Control Panel, then Internet. Select the
"Connection" tab. Make sure that it's told to not dial a connection,
rather than connect as needed. To get online, then, you'll need to
manually go to Dial-Up Networking and double-click on the Otherside
icon.
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Q:
When I launch Internet Explorer,
it used to automatically dial my internet
connection. Now it just brings up a blank screen and never dials, or it says
"Cannot open
site". Why?
Go to Control Panel, then Internet
Options(it may just say "Internet"). Select the "Connection" tab.
You'll see 3 options in the middle of your screen. One says "Always
dial my default connection", "Dial whenever a network connection is
not present", and "Never dial a connection".
"Dial whenever a network connection is not present" should be
selected.
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Q: When I close the browser, the "do
you want to disconnect" box doesn't appear.
How do I disconnect?
Go to Control Panel, then Internet Options (might simply be
called Internet).
Select the "Connection" tab.
Highlight the current dialup connection, and click Settings.
In there, you should see a checkbox
that says "Disconnect when connection may no longer be needed". (On
Internet Explorer, this is under the "advanced" button.) Turn it on.
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Q:
Whenever I connect to the
Internet, I get a message about my copy of Microsoft
Network (MSN)
is out of date. I don't use MSN, so how can I get rid of this?
You can remove Microsoft Network by going to:
- Start
- Settings
- Control Panel
- Add / Remove Programs
- You should find something in there
with 'MSN' in it. Click it once, and then click on 'Remove'. If it
asks if you're sure that you wish to do this, click 'Yes'. If it
gives you options on how to remove it, click 'Automatic'.
MSN may also place other files in
Outlook Express, if you have a computer that came with Windows 98
already installed on it.
In Outlook Express:
- go to the 'Tools' menu.
- go to 'Accounts'.
- click on the 'Mail' tab.
- If there is something in there
that mentions 'MSN' or 'Microsoft Network', click it once to
select it, and then click on the 'Remove' button. (it may be
called 'Delete')
- Under the 'News' tab, there may be
additional settings for MSN. If there is, click it once, and click
on the 'Remove' button.
- Click on 'Close' or 'OK', once
you're done.
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