Black magic.

There are dozens of impairment that may exist on a telco line, either by themselves or in combination. Each modem manufacturer/model handles these impairments for better or for worse.

Take this same group of machines/modems to a different site, and the relative connect speeds could be completely opposite.

so you are saying i can't do a stinking thing about it? i also tried a ZOOM external modem, and it gets 26.4K on my gramma's comp and 43K on my laptop at the same location using the account and phone jack.   another possiblity- my uncle says the ground on the comp could affect it. i also say maybe the way the windows was configuired. both, my gramma's 4300s and my 1100 had been reformated and windows reintalled due to some corruption. my uncle rebuilt my gramma's comp and i rebuilt my laptop and since we both have very different ways of setting windows up i think that may be the difference. would any of this "reasons" be true?

InspironOwner wrote:
so you are saying i can't do a stinking thing about it? i also tried a ZOOM external modem, and it gets 26.4K on my gramma's comp and 43K on my laptop at the same location using the account and phone jack.

Well, I'm at a loss to explain that. Unless your gramma's machine is using an init string to limit the speed, I would expect the connect rates to be the same under those situations. A 43.3K connect is on the low end for a v.90/v.92 connection, and would indicate a marginal line - but still I would not expect the machine it is connected to to make any difference.

another possiblity- my uncle says the ground on the comp could affect it.

That is a possiblity. The desktop would be grounded via it's power cord, and the laptop may be floating. If the telco line is imbalanced, it may be affected by that grounding.

i also say maybe the way the windows was configuired. both, my gramma's 4300s and my 1100 had been reformated and windows reintalled due to some corruption. my uncle rebuilt my gramma's comp and i rebuilt my laptop and since we both have very different ways of setting windows up i think that may be the difference. would any of this "reasons" be true?

The Zoom external is most likely a full hardware modem. The modem itself is fully responsible for negotiating the connection rate, consistant with the init string it has been given. Unless the 4300 is issuing an init string to the modem that is limiting its speed, I don't see how Windows config can make a difference.

As for the grounding issue... Hook up the laptop to the line and turn it on. Also connect a normal phone to the same line. Lift the phone and dial a digit to clear the dial tone and listen very carefully for any hum, buzz, or other noise. Now connect the 4300 and do the same. If you have a quiet line with the laptop, and a noisy one with the 4300, then you may be onto something.