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Cannot dial-up via NTL line (UK based)

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by ian boothby

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My friend Laura asked me to get her online, so I put an internal V90 in her P150, installed DUN from W98SE and set it up to dial a fre ISP, BUT it refuses to detect a dial tone (error 680). A handset through works OK. NTL say the fibre-optic line is perfect, but that they only guarantee a voice service.) I took my P1800 which connects to AOL and Freeola every time via my BT line round to her house but got the same "no dial tone". I then borrowed my friends P450 which runs Freeola via his NTL line, and it also claimed "no dial tone". NTL have refused to do anything more about this because they state "if you are talking to us now, then the line is obviously O.K." I even went out and bought the most expensive hardware external serial modem I could find, but it can't get a dial tone either!. I've uninstalled DUN and all coms/modems and re-installed time after time, but cannot get a dial tone the modem will accept - yes I did turn off "detect dialtone" but you hear the (forced) dialingbut no connection arrives, usually only a 630 error. All 3 PCs I tried there failed, but instantly connected when taken back to their "homes". Has this happened to any of you - can anyone PLEASE help as this poor friend cannot change to BT as they have no lines where she lives. Thanks in anticipation from Ian.

5 replies

by coolflip

IAN,

First things first, have you made sure that the Modem was installed using the right IRQ. IRQ's for com ports are 3 and 4. I've seen some configurations where the modem has been installed on a different IRQ. Also, make sure that the modem is not sharing an IRQ. Once you have determined that, then use the modem applet in your control panel to try and communicate with the modem itself. If you recieve an ok by the test, then your off to dial out of that system. Keyword to this is : IRQ not sharing and testing afterwards.
GOOD LUCK!!

by ian boothby

Internal PCI modem is using COM4 IRQ11, but it's not usually possible to allocate an IRQ just to one piece of hardware in a modern PC because there's just not enough IRQ's! Anyway, the modem responds to diagnostics returning the correct ident on ATI4. The drivers are all the latest, and have been re-installed many times!

by nettek

It appears you have been very thorough, and the problem seems to be with the line itself.

Does she have voicemail with the phone company? If she does, then clear the messages first. Sometimes she will get a series of tones to tell her that she has new messages. This can cause the modem to not hear a dial tone straight away as it expects to. So make sure that you get a dial tone straight away when you pick up the phone.

If you plug a phone into the jack, and dial the IPS number, do you hear the screech?

Try adding three commas before the phone number. This will delay the dialing (,,,9876543).

Try Control Panel->Modems->Properties->Connections and check "Wait for dial tone before dialing".

Are there any splitters or surge protectors connected? If so remove them.

As a last resort, if possible, find the demarc for the incoming phone lines. This is where the lines connect to the house. It is probably outside, but may be in the basement. It is a gray box. There should be acover that says "customer access". You will find an RJ11 connection inside. If you plug the modem directly into that connection, and get dial tone, the problem is with the house wiring. If you still have no dial tone, the problem is with the line.

by ian boothby

Will try it after removing voicemail this w/e. Will also try the ",,," & pay you the points if it works! Have already tried checking/unchecking "wait for dialtone" it only forces dialling then responds with error 680/630, so no difference! Also hooked directly into the incoming linebox - still no dialtone. Yes you can hear the screech and handshake request, which makes me think the line is "weak" - OK for voice but not for data tx.

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