DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT tell the phone company that you are having
communication trouble with your computer or any other data device.  The
phone lines (POTS) are only guaranteed to give you trouble-free AUDIO.
They can come out and take your money and not make any real change in
the quality of your service.

If you are not paying for ISDN or another dedicated connection, you have
no chance of holding the telco to a data grade connection.  However,
many of the problems that affect data can be heard as hissing, clicks,
pops, static, etc.  It is these that you want to listen for and report
to your phone co, saying, "I can't hear the conversation" or "I hear too
much noise".

If you are paying for their inside maintenance, there should be no extra
cost for the service call.  Most of us willing to connect two wires
don't (or shouldn't) pay for maintenance.  But, without it, you must
make absoultely sure that nothing on your premises is causing a problem.

Since you have found the connection box, you can disconnect evrything on
your side and make a call from there to confirm that the problem is in
the outside wiring or telco offices.  In any case, DO NOT REPORT A DATA
COMMUNICATION PROBLEM ON POTS  (plain old telephone seervice) LINES.
Good Luck,
Eric

Michi Imamura wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I have an Actiontec 56K X2 Modem.  I have tried numerous ISP's and I can
> only connect at 28.8.  Does anyone know how I can boost this up?  I have
> downloaded all of the firmware upgrades for this modem.  I think it is the
> phone lines but I have no idea how to solve this problem.  The phone company
> told me to check the connection box.  I live in an appartment complex.  I
> found the connection box but what do I do from there?  Does anyone have any
> knowledge of phone line trouble?  I would like to avoid the $67/hr charge by
> the phone company.  If not, does anyone know how I could boost the speed of
> the modem internally?  Any help would be nice.  TIA
>
> System Specs:
> PII 400 w/ASUS BX MoBo
> Windows '95
> 8MB Fire GL Video Card
> PCI SOund
> 128MB 100mhz SDRAM
> 12GB UDMA Hard Drive
> Actiontec 56K x2 Modem
>
> Thanks,
>
> Michi Imamura

--
Eric R. Outten 773-978-3478
[log in to unmask] - Oh! Electronic Solutions, Inc.
8835 S. Clyde Avenue - Chicago, IL 60617-2904