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NorthNet News
Issue ##37
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WEBFEST WINNERS - The results for NorthNet's first ever Webfest
Contest are in! The contest started in October 2000 and the judging
took place in March, with the winners announced in April.
The first place prize went to LaFargeville Central School.
Their team was comprised of advisor: Marcia Gosier; and team members:
Arion Londraville, Jeboah Joerg, Kaja Flaten, Beth McCloud, Jenna Empey
and Travis Wells. The LaFargeville School District received a check for
$5,000.
Second place went to Clifton-Fine Central School. Their team
was comprised of advisors: Sandy Rice and Kristine Lachut; and team
members: Lyndsay Nolan, Kendall LeRoux, Edward Drake and Christie
Duprey. The Clifton-Fine School District received a computer system
valued at $2,500.
There was a tie for third place, and the winning teams were
Beekmantown Central School and Saranac Lake Central School. The
Beekmantown team was comprised of advisor: Dr. Allen Dybas; and team
members: Jeremy Kryvanis and Brandon Passno. The Saranac Lake team was
comprised of advisor: Randy Young; and team members: Hiliary Berger,
Kristin Crary, Amanda Lorente, Bridget Collins and Sean Dekkers. The
Beekmantown and Saranac Lake school districts each received a zip drive
and one dozen zip disks.
The top three prizes were awarded at in-school awards
presentation to each school. In addition, all participating students
and team advisors received a baseball hat with the NorthNet name and
logo on it.
APRIL WINNER - The winner of NorthNet's Three Free Months
Contest for the month of April was James Moody of Tupper Lake. The
random drawing is held on the last day of each month and all
residential NorthNet customers are eligible.
INTERNET DISCONNECTS - One of the most difficult questions to
answer quickly is: "Why do I sometimes get disconnected when I am
on-line?" A dropped connection can occur for a variety of reasons. The
important thing to remember is NORTHNET IS NOT DISCONNECTING YOU WHILE
YOU ARE WORKING ON-LINE. That would only create angry customers; we do
not want this to happen any more than you do.
Well, if you are not doing it, and NorthNet is not doing it,
who is? Disconnections fall into three categories:
Phone Line Problems
Software Settings
Modem Problems
PHONE LINE PROBLEMS: Disconnections are most often caused by
phone line problems. If disconnects just start happening after periods
of not having any problems, the cause may be the weather: periods of
hot or wet weather cause outside phone line problems, cold and dry
weather fix them.
A related cause of disconnects is line noise. As a test, try
unplugging EVERYTHING connected to your phone lines: caller ID boxes,
extension telephones, cordless telephones, other modems, answering
machines or fax machines. Simply turning them off may not have the
desired effect. To play it safe, make sure they are unplugged and that
your modem has a line straight from the wall.
Many telephone line "surge protectors" or "noise filters" will
seriously impair your phone line. Also avoid any type of "splitter" on
your line. Test your connection with the modem being the ONLY thing
connected to your phone line. If the problem goes away... then you have
something in your house causing you to disconnect. Do not route the
phone line within three inches of any electrical cord or extension
cord, including printer cable, monitor cable, or any electrical
appliance or power supply. Especially avoid laser printers, cordless
telephones and uninterruptable power supplies (UPS's). Inductance from
electrical lines and radio transmitters can wreak havoc with phone
lines. Electric fences can cause disconnects.
If the line noise is not being induced inside your house it may
be induced in the cable somewhere between your house and your local
telephone exchange central office. Your line may have one or more of
the conditions the telco calls "bridge," "ground loop," "cross talk,"
or "bad loading coil." Any of these conditions will cause random noise
and unpredictable disconnects.
Connect a regular telephone handset to the data line. Pick up
the handset, dial 1 (this will silence the dial tone) and listen very
carefully. If you can hear a lot of hissing or, more likely, an
occasional "scratching" noise, there is definitely a line problem and
you should report it to your telephone company. Unfortunately, a line
that sounds "quiet" may still be faulty.
For noisy lines, try increasing a setting that tells the modem
how long to wait (in tenths of a second) before hanging up when it
loses carrier detect. This guard time allows the modem to distinguish
between a line hit, or other disturbances, that momentarily break the
connection from a true disconnect by the remote modem.
Modem connections are usually dropped because the modem either
(1) lost the DTR (Data Terminal Ready) signal or (2) lost the CD
(Carrier Detect) signal. You can modify the length of time the modem
will wait before concluding loss of DTR or loss of carrier by modifying
the S10 and S25 registers:
To set the S registers, go to Start | Settings | Control Panel |
Modems. Click the Properties button for your modem. Click the
Connection Tab, then the Advanced button. In the Extra Settings box,
add S10=100S25=200
If the above seems to help, contact your phone company and
request the line be checked for noise at the network demarcation block
at your house. Do not let them just check the line from the central
office end, ask to meet the repairman at your house and get him to
report the results of his tests to you. If you encounter resistance
from them because you have a modem, call back and tell them your fax
machine is not working well with your phone line.
Sometimes defective cables and loose connections will cause
disconnects. Make sure your phone cord connections are TIGHT. Examine
your telephone cable between the wall jack and the modem, or better
still try replacing it and connecting to the jack on the telco network
interface itself.
SOFTWARE SETTINGS: If you have call waiting, remember to add a
*70 (or other code, depending on your phone company), to the front of
the phone number to disable call waiting. Otherwise every time someone
calls you, the modem may disconnect. This can also be specified under
Dialing Properties in the Modem Control Panel.
Windows 95/98 has a 20 minute time-out setting. If you are
getting a message that you will be disconnected, it is coming from your
own computer. You can adjust the setting in the Internet Options in the
Control Panel. Look under the Connection Tab and Settings.
Although rare, your modem may be set up to automatically
disconnect after a certain period of inactivity. Go to the Modems in
the Control Panel, click Properties for your modem, then the Connection
tab. Uncheck the idle time-out box.
MODEM PROBLEMS: If you are having disconnection problems save
yourself a lot of grief and upgrade your modem. The new software modems
may work under perfect conditions but cause problems when conditions
are less than perfect. Many people have problems with HSP or AMR
modems. (Includes all PCTel, ESS, Cirrus/Ambient/Intel, Motorola,
Conexant Soft56, and Lucent AMR.)
Most new computers come with a bundled 56K modem. Often, the
vendor will select the modem based upon cost - not quality, reliability
or performance.
Many vendors bundle HSP (host signal processing) modems with
their systems. These modems are hardly worthy of being called a modem:
they rely completely on your CPU for signal processing and are worth
about $10. If you are having trouble with one of these, we recommend
replacing it.
At the very least make sure your modem has the latest software
(called a "driver"). Even if you just bought your modem, it may contain
outdated software. You can check for the latest versions at
http://808hi.com
If you are having disconnection problems and have one of these
modems, NorthNet can lend you an external hardware modem at no charge
to see if that makes a difference.
Credits:
http://help.hevanet.com/tech/sub/disconnect.html and
http://808hi.com contributed to this report.
