> Two Questions:
> Can line noise get worse with time? And, is it possible that more traffic
> through a local ISP can cause degration in connection speeds? The reason I
> ask -- in the first year of service, I always got a stable, 33.6 kb
connect
> speed, but now, 3 years later, I rarely get better than a 26.4 kb, and
> usually only a 24 kb. *IF* I manage a 33.6 these days, I almost always get
> disconnected pronto. I'm using the same setup, and the same old Supra 33.6
> modem now as I was then. TIA

My connection at home with a 28.8 would connect at 28.8 every time for the
first year or so.  Then the connection began to degrade....26.4, down to
14.4 at times, at times impossible to connect.  I swapped with several
modems and there was no change so I knew it wasn't my equipment or my inside
wiring.  The phone line had degraded.  I contacted my local phone company
(also my ISP) and they sent someone out to check the "local switch".  There
was no change, I continued to complain and they again sent a person out who
checked the "local switch"...of course there was no change.  We were by this
time ( a few weeks had gone by) starting to hear static on the line at
times.  I then called the phone company and complained (very nicely of
course) about the static on the line as well as our poor data connection
speeds and after talking to an upper level manager and almost begging that
someone PLEASE come check our line they sent a person to do so.  Well, he
spent the entire day tracing the quality of our line from the house out to
the major exchange about 10 miles away.  The repairman kept me posted during
the day.  He said that he had found and corrected SEVEN problems at
different points.  It took him the entire day.  We have been connecting just
fine ever since.

                         PCBUILD's List Owner's:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>