On Saturday 16 February 2002 08:51 am, Laurent EVAIN wrote: > On Fri, Feb 15, 2002 at 05:21:52PM +0000, Karl E. Jorgensen > > patiently answered: > > [ snip...] > > === > > All of these errors seem to point towards an unreliable modem > > connection. Perhaps you have noise on the phone line? > > > > Can you *hear* the modem when you dial up? (yep - that speaker is a > > *very* good diagnostic feature!). > > Yes, I hear it very well. > > >If they take a long time > > "handshaking", that's a clue. Especially if they handshare for some 45 > > seconds and you end up with "NO CARRIER", as this means that the > > handshaking failed. > > This is typically what happens very often. > > > Noise on the line could also explain the "Modem hangup" errors. > > This diagnostic is very convincing to me since this is > compatible with the very chaotic behaviour of my connection. > (Similarly, when I phone abroad, I can sometimes hardly > understand what is said whereas the link is sometimes very clear.) >
given that you have erratically occuring problems with the line when you phone in from elsewhere, it would seem that the line itself is at fault. the physical line may be laid against a power line associated with some device that runs intermittently inside your house, or it may even be a fault outside the house and beyond your control. in either case, the phone company is responsible for not providing you with a noise-free line. the only exception under which they would not be responsible is if you have had some electrical re-wiring done or recently installed a new power-hungry device like a refrigerator, air-conditioner, or a washing machine, or any other intermittently operational household devices that draw a lot of power. actually, even if that's the case, the phone company remains responsible for not ensuring that the phone line is installed in such a way that electrical interference is mitigated. modem use of a phone line is in no way different from regular usage, and demands no more of the phone company's service than do simple voice calls. you should hold their feet to the fire until you get a satisfactory response. who provides your phone service? there may be other people on the list using the same company who have had similar problems, and who might be able to help. IMHO, no phone company on the planet can be trusted to honor the service promises they make, and you'd be surprised at how ignorant a lot them are about the physics of the business they are in. personally, i consider any disruption of phone service to be tantamount to outright theft, given that the technology itself is quite simple and that disruptions are, in the main, due to either technician ignorance or corporate greed. so, jump all over the phone company.
