Wednesday, February 16, 2000

Modem Troubles -- 11:05 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I have a Zoom 2919 internal modem (56K, v90, non-WinModem) that has been a source of, ahem, difficulty since I got it. With the latest firmware, I have had no problems connecting to my ISP. Now, every so often, it will just freeze up. It won't drop the connection. It won't retrain. But it also won't respond to a ping. All my Internet apps act as if the connection is still there. If I hang up and try to reconnect, it will reconnect, but it won't receive or transfer anything. Generally I have to power down my computer for a bit to get it to respond again.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Don't bother to tell me "get broadband!" There is no cable modem access, DSL, or even ISDN available where I live--and there won't be for the forseeable future.

The Master comments: In Wisconsin, there's a "broadband dead zone" that pretty much centers on Green Bay and radiates outward to Marinette to the north and Appleton to the south. This is the land of the 56k internet connect. It doesn't look like it'll be improving soon, either . . .

Update! Are all modem tech support guys trained to say one thing, "It is not a modem problem. It is a problem with your ISP."? I think you could tell them that the modem spontaneously burst into flames, immolating your entire family, and they will tell you that your ISP is misconfigured.

J.t.Qbe comments: When I worked PC tech support (get 'em off me...get 'em OFF me...AAARGH!) we learned that AOL "tech support" people were given 8 minutes to get callers off the phone. If they didn't resolve problems within that time, they declared the modem to be faulty and told callers to request a new one. Honestly.

News for 02/16/2000

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