Why a won't a "56K" modem connect at 56Kbps?
The maximum connect speed allowed by the FCC over standard phone lines is around 53Kbps. You can not connect faster than this. Sometimes a modem will show a speed rating above 53Kbps. In this case, either you modem is reporting the "port speed" (typically 57,600 or 115,200 Kbps) or, due to some software setting, the speed reported by the modem is incorrect.
What speed should I see?
53Kbps connections can happen with a high quality modem on a perfectly noise-free phone line. Real world experience shows that connecting at 53Kbps is uncommon. Any connect speed above 45Kbps is considered good. 45Kbps down to 40Kbps is average, below 40Kbps is poor, but not uncommon. If the connection speed is 33.6Kbps or below, you are not getting a "56K" (v.90) connection.Why is connecting at 53Kbps unlikely?
Connecting to the internet via a phone line involves many variables that affect quality. The biggest influence comes from your phone line and how your call is routed to Worldlink through the phone company's network.What affect will the phone company have on speed?
First, in order for you to connect at any speed above 33.6Kbps, your area must have a digital phone network infrastructure. 56K technology depends on this. Most urban and suburban areas have this, but rural areas may not. Second, due to the time of day and the number of people making phone calls at the time, your call may be placed over lower quality lines or through overloaded equipment. A customer experienceing this may notice that when they dial Worldlink in the evenings, they connect at a lower speed. 5pm to 9pm tends to be a heavy use time for the phone systems in residential areas.What if I used to be able to connect fast, but now I can't?
Fortunately, many things that cause your connection speed to fall are short lived, so the inconvenience may be temporary. Electrical interference can pop up, for instance, due to a neighbor using a high-powered CB radio. Even devices like fax machines plugged into your phone jacks can lower your line quality. Construction in your neighborhood can add to the burden on the phone network as new customers are added. In high-growth areas, phone service may be in the process of catching up to demand. Due to the rapid growth and change in the telecommunications industry, it is common for the "last mile" of the phone network to be improving continuously.What, besides the phone company, can cause a slow connect speed?
Over 90% of the calls to technical support about low connection speeds are from customers using extremely inexpensive modems. This applies to new computers, as well as old computers that were upgraded with some kind of "56K capable" modem. In the $10 to $40 price range there is little quality difference between modems- and these are almost exclusively software modems. A "software" modem usually does not perform as well as a higher quality hardware modem in the $100 to $200 price range. A software modem may perform as well as a hardware modem under a "perfect" set of conditions, but they have shown not to deal with interference well. In a new computer with little software installed, on a very clean phone line, from one location, you may see good performance. However, this performance may decrease over time.If your computer came from the store with a "56K" (A.K.A. v.90) capable modem, it may be hard to tell exactly what type (and quality) of modem was installed without going into the documentation, looking in the modem control panel, or physically taking the modem out of the computer for inspection. Even then it may not be obvious. Software modems have increased in popularity among computer manufactures due to their low cost. Any computer sold since mid-1998 is likely to have a "software" modem installed in it by the manufacturer. Software modems first appeared in low end machines, but may be found in middle and a few high-performance machines as well. A high-performance machine is less likely to experience problems with a "software" modem because it has sufficient power to run one.
So what are "software" modems?
Basic description: a "software" modem depends on a program running on your PC to do the work for it. The entire time you are surfing the web, sending email, this program is running on your machine. A traditional "hardware" modem doesn't need this type of program, because the chips built into the modem are doing this work. A software modem looks (physically) similar to a hardware modem, but the card itself is usually smaller.You may notice that your computer slows down as you run more programs simultaneously. The same is true of a software modem. Many of the software programs that run these modems are very resource intensive. You many not be able to run several programs and still be able to surf the net. On a powerful machine, the software modem isn't much of a burden, however on an older or low-end machine the resources that the modem needs may be in use by another program.
Another feature of software modems is that the program they use (known as "firmware" or a "driver") is usually upgradeable. See our firmware upgrade resource. Experience has shown that upgrades to the firmware can make a big improvement in performance.