Bob: List experts may explain this better, but much of the problem with modem access speed is related to the local phone lines. Eg, a few months ago, I swapped my elderly Mom's 33.6K modem for a 56K modem. Prior to the swap, she was connecting at a speed of 15K+/-, but after installing the 56K, she connected at a proportionate 28K+/-. She lives in a retirement village which I believe has its own system or phone exchange. (They have no explanation for the slower service, alhough I have an identical modem in my system which connects at between 49+K to 52+K. > My computer has a 56K dialup modem in it that has typically > connected at > 31.2K baud. When this happens I get the normal handshake sounds and > connect > every time to Earthlink. Recently I've I've been connecting at 37 > to 42K > and the handshake is normal but louder and then there is a sound > like a > large bee going by; this handshake preceeds the faster hookup. When > this > ocurs, I frequently don't hook up and have to redial, sometimes > several > times. The question is; is there a modem setting that will enhance > the > consistancy of connecting at the higher speed? I've tried setting > the > 'send' and 'transmit' speeds from 'maximum' to 'medium' but this > didn't > help. > Thanks for your help, Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to Digest mode - visit our web site: http://freepctech.com/pcbuild.shtml