If your modem is K56 flex and they are V.90 only, that's the problem.
Their modems might not be dual-protocol and thus they don't recognize
your K56 (if that's what you have) as a 56K modem. If you can't find
specs on your modem, ask your ISP what types they support; if both, the
problem lies elsewhere.

minerva nine wrote:
Did that already -- they only have a single dial-in line (small local ISP).
However, that brings to mind a possibility... this modem may be a couple
years old, and my ISP is notoriously up to date. If they have upgraded
their modem settings, and I'm dialing in on an older modem, would that cause
problems? Seems to me it wouldn't make sense for the dial-in parameters to
exclude older modems, but people do all kinds of crazy stuff these days....

M9

"Bennett Price" wrote in message
...

Before V.90 became an official standard there was another 56KB
unofficial standard, K56 flex. ISPs set up different modem pools (phone
nos) to support the two types. It may just be that the type of modem
you've got is dialing to the opposite type. Check your ISP's list of
dial up nos to see whether there's another phone # you can try. If you
are connecting to the wrong # you won't get an attempt at 56K.


minerva nine wrote:

Greetings, all -- utter novice here. I have a Dell Dimension 700 w/ an


internal USR 56K modem, running Win98. I have never been able to get

the

modem to connect at a speed higher than 168000 bps, even though it's a

56K

modem. I know one never gets a true 56K connection, but I would think I
could at least get 40K. I've tested my phone line by connecting thru

the

same jack with another computer (signed on easily at 50K bps), and the
configuration settings for the modem are set to my ISP's preferences
correctly. I've tried several of the most common INIT strings, with no
luck. Is my modem just dying? Or is there some configuration variable

that

I'm overlooking? The ports are set to maximum bps of 115K, there are no
conflicts shown in device manager, and port and IRQ settings are to

standard

default parameters. The laptop is set up with Win 98 also, and all the
networking settings are identical to this machine, but it's a different

type

of modem (Win LT fax modem(?) I think). I've always heard that USR

modems

are pretty reliable -- however this one may be a couple of years old, so
it's possible that it's wearing out. However, I don't want to go buy
another one if there's something simple that I'm overlooking, and

especially

if the problem isn't the modem. Any ideas? Thanks -- M9