Mac Forum / General / Networking / October 2007

It's difficult for you to tell in this situation whether it's your modem
or the phone line.  It's likely not the ISP's modem as that changes
every time you connect.  Unless the ISP has a lot of bad modems which
would be unlikely you would only intermittently experience a problem.

First step is to simply listen on the phone line (computer not logged
in).  Press a button on the phone to get rid of the dial tone.  If it's
noisy then that at least is a problem, but not necessarily the only one.

Most new or upgraded phone connections (in the US) have a demarc
(demarcation) box where the phone line comes into the house.  One
feature of this box is a phone jack with a cable plugged into it.  If
you unplug this cable it disconnects the house wiring.  You can then
plug a phone into it to test the connection.  If problems go away with
this test the problem is in the house.  If they persist (and the phone
is good) then the problem is with the phone line and the phone company
has to deal with it.  Try connecting the computer at this demarc box if
there is one.

The best thing you could do is to get another modem and try it on your
line.  Alternatively try connecting on another line.

And if you haven't done it already make sure you power cycle the modem
(turn it off, wait 5 seconds and then turn it on again).

Do you have an extension? Maybe it is too long!
Do you own an answering machine? If so it could be the answer. Perhaps
you've recently changed your answering message. That could make a world
of difference!
Unplug all your extras.
Don't leave a hands free near the modem.

Minnie

You describe EXACTLY the same symptoms I have been living with for years.

In my case, the problem is with the rural phone company itself.

For a brief while, one day or so, my phone connection worked great.

I commented to the phone company technician about my good fortune.

He told me that tech's had replaced a relay in a switching box near my
rural location.

Unfortunately, a few days later things reverted to just as bad as usual,
I often had to dial 4 times just to get a stable connection.

At times, even my regular telephone voice connection sounded "scratchy",
so I redial and it clears up.

Computer data connections are a lot more fussy than regular voice
connections, especially when making initial contact.

ALL my six Macs have trouble with the bad phone connection.

When I physically transport the same Macs to the nearest city, they
never have problems connecting from there, on well-maintained city phone
lines.

I would venture to say that if you could somehow "uproot" your mac and
transport it to a friends house, a friend who used an entirely different
phone company, that then your Mac would work just fine.

With a large desktop computer, that move is more or less impossible to
do of course.

Also, it does not work to complain to your phone company.

I have been doing that for years, it does no good whatever.

You will just have to live with the constant redialing, as I do.

Bummer.  :(

Mark-