Conn'n-drop spotter wanted

[harrodsyd]

Rhetorical question: Am I losing connections at 10 per hour because of a bad line, a busy ISP, or a fault inside my box?
Genuine question: Is there affordable software I might understand that would answer that question, and maybe tell me what to do next?

[WyllyWylly]

I presume you are talking about your modem disconnecting. Do you hear noise in the line when you pick up a phone extension, particularly after pressing a number on the keypad? 56K modems are exceptionally sensitive to line quality, and even interference that you can't hear can be a big problem (I speak as the vistimof a "pinched" line at an extension at one time).

That said, one excellent monitoring tool that I've used in the past is Net.Medic, which not only has a beautiful user interface but also tells you all kinds of interesting information about your network/internet connection. Download a trial of thatn and see if it helps.

[harrodsyd]

Thank you for your advice. I'm about to try Net.Medic. I got a new line put in months ago, and never hear any ghost echoes etc, but maybe line quality further away could be the problem. I'm suspicious of rising ground water tables being a factor, since a dry spell has been particularly trouble-free. But as for the modem disconnecting, I don't know: it could be servers along the line?

[WyllyWylly]

Well, the servers aren't going to disconnect you randomly, unless they think you're not there. It well could be the phone switch, if it's an older one, or something between you and the local ISP, but I strongly doubt that any server is just disconnecting you on an ad-hoc basis. Net.Medic should be able to help you narrow down the cause, but you may also want to be prepared to call the local telco and patiently explain to them what's going on, and could they pretty please have a line test run? As I noted, modem connections are highly susceptible to any kind of line quality issue, whether you can hear it or not.

[harrodsyd]

Net-Medic is certainly a big step in the right direction: I'm sure the Health Report is going to prove very helpful - everyone should have Net-Medic in their first-aid box! Net-Medic would be worth having as a model user interface even if it did nothing!