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11604
March 17th, 2004 03:00
Slow Connection Speeds with BCM V.92 Modem
My Inspiron 600M dials up (beep, beep, boop, etc.) and, after an extensive session of handshaking (psssh, begang, begong, pssshh, gong-ong-ong) will not connect at anything higher than 21kbps to my ISP (Verizon.net). My Optiplex desktop connects consistently at 48kbps to the same ISP on the same phone line as does my IBM laptop.
Having read the other revelant postings here and elsewhere, and having tried various things, including, but not limited to:
- connecting with AC Power
- adding various extra initialization commands ==> the only one that had any effect was +MS=V34,0. It shortened the handshaking, but it still connected at 21Kbps.
- alternate ISP phone numbers
- running the Dell modem helper and troubleshooter
- ensuring that my modem driver is the latest-up-to-datest (3.5.25.0)
- holding my mouth just so:
I would summarize the postings I've read this way: The BCM V.92 56K modem is a "soft modem" that does not have the same performance as the hardware modems in my Optiplex and IBM. I have come to the conclusion that my phone line may be part of the problem -- it doesn't bother the modems in the Optiplex or the IBM but the BCM in the Inspiron appears to be insufficiently robust to achieve anything over 21Kbps.
Do other Inspiron users achieve higher speeds on better phone lines...or does nearly everyone use high speed these days so the modem is irrelevant?
So what are my options at this point? Does Dell have a solution or do I have to buy a PCMCIA or an external modem to get the dial-up speed I expected from the "56K" modem that was shipped in the Inspiron?
Thanks in advance for any advice or commiseration.
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mikers85
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March 17th, 2004 16:00
johnallg
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7.3K Posts
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March 18th, 2004 02:00
sdmlsu1
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March 26th, 2004 06:00
johnallg
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March 30th, 2004 01:00
EngineerTed
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April 4th, 2004 23:00
Sorry to be slow in responding -- I was away on business. I have not yet tried a phone in a different location. However, I did try dialing up from home at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning and connected at 52Kbps. I downloaded Windows updates from Microsoft while I had the good line, hung up, and tried to reconnect again at 8:00 (without physically disconnecting the phone line) and couldn't get a better speed than 24Kbps.
I think this confirms that the Inspiron's modem works well when connections to my ISP are good and not so well when they are not. I am disappointed since I expected it to work as well as my desktop which never connects at anything slower than 48Kbps on the same phone line.
Since my daughter is going to use the Inspiron at college where she will be on the college's T1 line, this will not be a big deal in the future, but it is an inconvenience right now.
ramsystems
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April 22nd, 2004 04:00
I believe you are correct John. I am working on a 5150 that the user complained of not being able to connect for more than a few seconds if at all to Earthlink. I took the laptop home with me and tried it on mine and it did the same thing. I assumed the BCM modem was not good. I called support and they sent a refurb'd one and it did the same thing. After reading your last post I unplugged every other phone (3 cordless phones) and it is working like a champ right now as you can see. Connected @ 52k. I hope this helps others in their quest for a solution. I am very surprised that Dell would put this very sensitive device in their product. I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 and that modem connects fine from at home or anywhere else every time. Even at my customers house!
Tim
johnallg
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April 26th, 2004 01:00