Help with very slow [7.2 ] connection please

[helenboz]

I live 4 miles out of town in a very small community and high speed is not available yet. I usually have a connection of around 26 to 28. We have had a lot of rain lately and several days ago the speed went down to 14.6...phone lines are buried in this area.
Today it is only 7.2 and I can barely move around the net.
Does anyone have any suggestions?..when I have the normal connection of 28.8, I have tried a couple other modems and there was no difference...one was only 26.3
If you think I need to call the phone company, can you suggest what to say to them. When we moved here 3 years ago and I saw that I was only connecting at 28.8, I called them and they said it was not their problem. Earthlink said it was not their fault.
Helen

[rangeral]

Earthlink is usually rite, could be spyware etc. on your machine.

When you make a phone call do you hear static also and or do they hear static from your end? If so then you need to call phone company to check line.

If talking is okay then try the spyware, av and trojan apps listed in the stickey above, your system could be corrupted or need cleaning of this stuff.

You said you tried other cards but did you try them in a different slot rather than the original?

What OS and machine are you using?

[BipolarBill]

If 28.8Kbps is your maximum speed, that means that your phone company is using "pair gain" technology to split one line into two. That's fine for voice, but stinks for data. The result is that you're sharing your phone line with a neighbor.

Call them and ask if they are using pair gain. If so, ask for a dedicated line.

[Ol'Tunzafun]

I came across the same problem last year, but in that case, there were two phone lines and only one of them slowed to a crawl in the rain, so it was easier for me to determine that the problem was not with the buried cable but rather with the terminal boxes connecting to the building.
Building a cover for the terminal boxes solved the problem.
If the problem goes away soon after the rain stops, then a similar fix may work for you. If the problem hangs around for longer periods of time then look inside the building for the possibility of a wire laying in water from a roof leak.

[helenboz]

Thanks to all for your help. I tried to reply Sunday and was unable to because my connection had slowed to 4.7.
I didn't realize that my phone had a loud noise on the line also when i posted. The phone company fixed the problem yesterday. It was back to 28.8 this morning and now it is 26.4. They deny that they are using "pair gain", but i imagine they are.
My only hope is to get high speed in the near future.
Thanks again

[pootietang]

Originally posted by Ol'Tunzafun
I came across the same problem last year, but in that case, there were two phone lines and only one of them slowed to a crawl in the rain, so it was easier for me to determine that the problem was not with the buried cable but rather with the terminal boxes connecting to the building.
Building a cover for the terminal boxes solved the problem.
If the problem goes away soon after the rain stops, then a similar fix may work for you. If the problem hangs around for longer periods of time then look inside the building for the possibility of a wire laying in water from a roof leak.

True another problem I had few years ago causing my slow connection was a birds nest by a transformer box, up in the tele-pole a block away. The phone co guy said they hacked into the wire and the rain from the other day was causing line noise/slow or dropping connnection speeds using modems.

After that happaned twice I got cable. Weighed the phone calls costs Vs price etc.

[rmanet]

you never told us if you were using a 56k modem, are you?

...and way back when (I have 3 lines, personal, dedicated fax, and office) before cable I installed 2 modems in each machine and doubled my speed that way

couldn't get DSL and cable was way expensive when they first offered it in my area

[helenboz]

Yes my modem is 56k and I use XP Home. How do you use 2 modems in one computer to get a faster speed?
I would absolutely get cable or high speed if it was available. My only option is to get a satelite, and i've not heard too much good about them.