1. Check the Line for Noise:
First you need to get rid of the dial tone
so you can really listen to the line. Dial a
number, any number but obviously one which
is invalid for your area, so that you dont
get the dial tone replaced by a busy signal.
The easiest and most common across all areas
is a "1". Is your dial tone
gone? Now listen and really concentrate
while you are doing so because you are only
going to get 30 seconds before it times out
and gets replaced by a busy signal
again.
This is the first major step to checking if
you have a good line for a modem or not. Is
it quiet? No pops, bangs, crackles,
creaking, or faint voices in the background
from other people's conversations. All or
any of these noises will cause you a problem
on a high speed modem link.
Just what are these noises? Well, it can be
something as simple as a loose screw on
a connector block somewhere between you and
the exchange, or water getting into one of
Telco's cable ducts and the waterproofing
(around the cable joints) has started to
break down. You could have a bad
connection in the house somewhere, and not
necessarily on the line extension that's
feeding your modem. Other people's
conversations (called "crosstalk"
in the trade) are not so easy to pin down,
and are usually more likely to be further
"into the system" before the
source becomes apparent.
2.
Check the Phone
Let's presume you have one of these noises
to some greater or lesser degree.
Next, you need to check the phone
itself. After all, it it's just the
phone causing the noise, it won't affect the
quality you get from the modem now. If
you have a spare phone, take it and plug it
into the same socket and then check for the
noise again. If you don't have a spare
phone, it might be worth heading to the
local electronics store to pick up an
inexpensive phone.
