Dropouts & disconnections.

Do you have 'Call Waiting' active?

'Call Waiting' is the beep that indicates that another caller is waiting.

If a call waiting beep occurs when you are using the phone line for access to the internet, your connection to the internet will be abruptly terminated.

It is advisable that you temporarily turn off your call waiting facility whilst you are connected to the internet, otherwise your connection to the internet will be constantly disrupted.

You can temporarily suppress call waiting for the duration of a single Telstra phone call by adding #43# to the start of the number you are dialing.

Contact your telephone company to determine what method you need to use to suppress call waiting.

Is your phone line connected to things other than your modem/computer?

If your modem shares a line with a telephone, fax or answering machine, try disconnecting these devices before you connect to the internet, so as to eliminate these as the possible cause of your problem.

Having extra devices connected to the phone line you use to connect to the internet is a frequent source of problems.

Also ensure that no one picks up another phone whilst you are on line, as this can also disconnect you from the internet.

Do you have a messaging service?

If you have phone messaging service on your telephone, you will notice that when you pick up the line a shrill dial tone alerts you to the fact you have a message. If this tone is being transmitted through your phone line when you are trying to connect to the net, your connection will fail.

Check for and clear any message from your line prior to connecting to the net, or disconnect the messaging service.

Are you connecting through a PABX or Switchboard?

PABX or switchboards can introduce noise and degrade the quality of phone lines, causing problems in connecting to the internet.

Try connecting to the internet using a phone line normally connected to a fax machine. This phone line probably connects directly to the outside world without going through your PABX. If your problem is fixed using the fax line then you need to connect to the internet using a line that avoids your PABX.

Remember if you do have to dial out through a PABX then you will probably need to prefix the telephone number with 0, in order to obtain an outside line.

Are you using a telephone extension cord?

The use of telephone extension cords or telephone double adaptors can introduce problems for internet connections.

Always try to avoid the use of extension cords, you should seek to place your computer close to a phone line port.

If you must use an extension cord, buy a good quality one no longer in length than is absolutely necessary.

Poor quality extension cords use thin cheap wiring and this causes slow connection speeds and drop-outs. Lengthy, or wound up, (and at worst, a poor quality lengthy wound up extension cord) will cost you money in phone calls, because you will drop out regularly and need to re-dial. Furthermore, it will negatively effect the quality and performance of your connection.

Make sure your software is not disconnecting you.

Various programs on your computer have the ability to disconnect your internet connection when those programs are finished with the connection.

If you're on Windows and using either Outlook Express or Internet Explorer or both then try the following:

1. Go to your control panel and open up internet options.
2. Select the connections tab.
3. Select your connection to Australia On Line and click settings.
4. Press the Advanced button that is beneath the properties button.
5. Make sure the disconnect if idle option is not checked.
6. Make sure the disconnect when connection is no longer needed is not checked.

If you seem to get disconnected while using Microsoft Outlook Express then try the following:

1. Open up Outlook Express.
2. Select the tools menu.
3. Select options.
4. Select the Connection tab.
5. Ensure the hang up after sending and receiving is not checked.

Do you have a cheap and nasty modem?

There is a variety of cheap internal modems generically known as win-modems or soft-modems.

These modems are made cheaply by relying upon the computer to do a lot of the modem work and so reducing the amount of circuitry that must be included in the modem.

Win-modems are increasingly popular due their lower cost. However, their reliance on the computer can mean unreliable internet connections when the computer is required to do more work.

In particular we have noted that the operation of additional software such as virus checkers can cause unreliability with win-modems.

We recommend that users experiencing these kind of problems borrow an external modem from a friend to see if this resolves their connection problems.

Alternatively, if you turn off your virus checker and your modem connections to the internet become more reliable, then it is likely you have a win-modem that needs more CPU to run than you have available when your computer is also virus checking. In which case you should consider getting a quality external modem.

Upgrade your modem's drivers.

Drivers are programs provided by your modem manufacturer that enable your computer to know the nuances of using your particular brand and model of modem.

Some connection problems can be resolved by fetching the latest driver for your modem from its manufacturers website.

Are we disconnecting you?

Remember you are only entitled to connect to us once using any given login name at any one time.

If you've given your loginname and password to some one else and they are using it at the same time as you, both of you will be disconnected.

Remember that our unlimited plans have a minimum session time of 6 hours. If you are disconnected at some point after 6 hours we may have disconnected you, if it was absolutely required. You are welcome to dial back in immediately.

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