Dial-up connection drops after 15 mins...?

Hi
Just bought a new Dimension 5150 from Dell about a month ago. Using eircom dial-up and worked fine for 2 weeks, then since the night of the bad storm (when I was on the net) the connection drops after about 15 mins and I have to dial up again. Really frustrating!! And it's not the idle-time thing kicking in cos i could be in the middle of booking hotel rooms as I was last night - took three goes to complete it!

Dell say the internal modem must have been damaged and want me to buy a new one for €70 - not covered under warranty as storm is 'act of god'. Eircom say it's not their problem. I've done a virus scan and the pc seems clean.

Can anyone give me any advice? I'm totally un-techie so these people could be telling me anything and I've no way of knowing what's the truth.

Much appreciated!

Could be a problem with eircom, worth trying another ISP, e.g.
http://u.tv/internet/services/
Cheaper than a new modem anyway!

Also, if the modem is kaput, you should be able to get one cheaper than €70, either a pcmcia one (assuming you have a free slot) or an external USB one.
e.g. marxcomputers.ie have a pcmcia one for €42
Might be tricky to setup, as your computer would be seeing 2 modems...

Thanks, Tiger

I have an external modem from my old system which my nephew 4th year in computers DCU _ so my only help!) tried to connect for me to check if it was the modem, but he says there's nowhere to connect an external modem on the pc!

Can I ask what you mean by a 'free slot'? Coule I not take out the existing internal modem??

As you can see, I have no clue what I'm dealing with here. Thought my days of pc problems were over when I got the new one!!

Cheers

most laptops have 1 or 2 pcmcia slots at the side, like this one
[broken link removed]
(buttons make the cards pop out)
cards go in some thing like in this pic
http://www.sip.be/hardware/pcmcia-kaart-toshiba-kl.jpg
The internal modem would be a job for a technician. Would need to open the laptop & would invalidate your warranty if you did it yourself.

Sorry, Tiger, must be trying your patience here.

It's a desktop pc I have, not a laptop. Dell Tech Support tell me they'll 'talk me through' inserting a new internal modem on their helpline.

How can I know the problem lies with the modem - they can't seem to answer my questions - they dunno if it's the modem, might be so why not buy a new one and try see if that works??

Smells a bit fishy - they'll be €70 richer and I might still have the problem!!!!

Eircom deny all responsibility - if the phone line is working then it's not them.
Oh dear..

A dell dimension 5150 is a desktop, so in this case PCMCIA isn't an acronym you need to think about. The reason your nephew couldn't hook up the old external modem was probably because it has a serial connector and you need to get one with a USB connector.

While you could buy or borrow and external USB modem, I think first it would it be worth borrowing somebody elses laptop or PC for an evening and trying to connect. Maybe there's wind damage to the line, and you may need to talk to your friendly phone line monopoly. Or like tiger said it could just be your ISP.

I'd have guessed a voltage spike from a lightning bolt would be more likely to cause a complete modem failure rather than an intermittent one, so it would be nice to verify it really is the modem before going through the pain of configuring a new one.

Sorry, my bad. Must have been the €70 price that made me think it was a laptop! For a desktop, you should be able to get one for €15 or less. [broken link removed] It's easy to add or replace a PCI card on a desktop. Had a quick look at dell, couldn't find the info, but I'm guessing the built in modem is on the motherboard which could still give you the 2 modem configuration problem.

BTW, agree with ashambles, replacing the modem should be the last step. Try another ISP, try another computer (or borrow an external modem) on the same phone line first.

Try any of the non subscription "free" (call charges apply) dial-up ISPs [broken link removed] to see how they work out.

Thanks, guys
I'm going to give Dell tech support one last try tonight. If opening the box invalidates my warranty they can forget that then!

Techie colleague in work says just bypass whole internal modem issue (2 modem thing as you say) and go for broadband. She reckons it works out cheaper than dial-up and is less prone to these sort of problems, which I had on the old pc too and replaced external modem twice.

I don't have easy access to another pc or laptop - no techie friends!! And I don't want to prevail on work colleague who lives a fair distance away.

What do you reckon to her advice re broadband? I think I'd stay with eircom as I couldn't be doing with the hassle of trying to change to another ISP. I've heard all about what eircom puts you through!

Really appreciate your help.

Whether or not broadband is justified depends on how you currently use dial-up and what charges you incur as a result. Post details and people might be able to give more informed comment.

Well, I'd use the dial-up most evenings. There might be periods of a few days when I wouldn't use the net at home..if I'm out or whatever. Hubby's daughter visiting at weekends uses it for Bebo etc. Hubby himself not a heavy user - intermittant, I'd say.

I'd be on for maybe 2-3 hours in the evening as the connection it so slow it takes ages for pages to load, if i'm searching for acommodation for a holiday or something the time flies by. I also use MSN messenger to chat witha friend abroad.

I'll go check last eicom bill and post details later.

Hope this helps!