Connect Support Central - Dialup Connection FAQ

Q. What exactly is the Dialup Connection FAQ?
A. FAQ is an acronym for Frequently Asked Questions, which serves to inform people of the most common questions and answers on a given topic. This Connect FAQ exists to give you, our valued customer, a bit of insight on what happens when you try to connect, and when the connection fails, why.

Q. Why do I need to read this FAQ?
A. When you try to dial into the Internet, a million things can go wrong. The quirks of Internet software, modems, 56K technology, and computers can leave the average person confused. Therefore, when something goes wrong, calls pour into Internet Support. By reading this FAQ, you will learn helpful information about how your connection works, that will let you troubleshoot the most common connection problems all Internet users face. That will let you more accurately decide what action to take from that point.

Dialup Connection Problems & Questions

Q. My password is being rejected!?
A. This is a legendary problem amongst Internet users. Fortunately, in 99% of all cases, it is easily fixed.

Your Connect password must be lowercase! Our system is case-sensitive, therefore if your password is annie and you type Annie, AnNie or ANNIE it will not work. Make sure your Caps Lock key is not on. In the top right part of your keyboard, if you see a light above caps lock, your password will be entered in UPPERCASE. Sometimes, people with poor eyesight like to leave Caps Lock on, so their letters appear bigger. Look in your computer manual for instructions on enlarging your text size instead of doing this.

If you are certain your password is being entered correctly, check your signup receipt, or a recent billing manager statement. When your account expires, it does so automatically at 12:00am on the day listed. Your password will no longer be accepted until you renew your account. If this happens, simply call Connect. We will be more than happy to take your payment, or get you back online instantly until you can send in payment.

Sometimes, if you are online, and are disconnected by call waiting, a power failure, or any other reason where you did not manually disconnect, our database does not properly log you off. Essentially, it believes your account is still online. If you try to login during this time, the system shows you are still online, and your password will not be accepted. While this is unavoidable due to the nature of dialup connections, we do monitor for these anomalies, and clear them out every 6-8 hours. If you think this has happened to you, just give our support staff a call, and we'll fix it.

Q. My username is being rejected!?
A.

When you enter in your username, please make sure that it does not have the @conninc.com suffix added to it. Your username is the part before the @conninc.com. This suffix is only used by the email system to put your email in your box, (and give you a unique email address). When "Bob" logs into our system, it knows him as Bob- not bob@conninc.com.

Q. When I try to dial, I get "NO DIAL TONE" Why?
A. That will happen for any of the following reasons:

Is your phone cord is plugged into the modem's PHONE jack, instead of the LINE or TELCO jack?

Is your phone cord damaged or unplugged from the modem/wall jack?

Is your daughter calling her boyfriend again? (phone off hook somewhere)

Your modem may have encountered an error and stopped responding. This happens often and can be fixed by shutting down and powering off the computer for a few minutes. If the problem persists, you should contact your computer or modem vendor. Since your modem is not physically seeing that it is attached to a phone line, Connect cannot troubleshoot this problem.

Installed Fax/Speakerphone software will sometimes 'listen' for an incoming fax/call, thus preventing the modem from getting a dial tone. Make sure this software is not running when you attempt to dial into Connect.

Is the phone jack damaged, or has your line been disconnected? Try plugging a phone into the jack to see if you get a dial tone.

Q. The modem dials, screeches forever, then disconnects!
A.This "screeching" is called a handshake, and it is where modems identify their capabilities to each other and attempt to make the best connection possible given current phone line conditions.. When this screech takes longer than 15-20 seconds, it is likely that there is something interfering with the connection. This could be phone line noise, outdated modem driver, faulty phone cord, or a signal dropout. (You've experienced this before when you call someone and can barely hear the other party's voice). Remember: until your call hits our digital network, your call is going through the same lines as normal phone calls do, which in Western North Carolina are highly susceptible to moisture, heavy use and are not conducive to 56K speeds in many neighborhoods. Also, modems are highly sensitive to sudden changes in line condition and quality. Finally, every phone call you make may take one of several paths through your telephone company. it is possible that some routes are not as "clean" as others. When this happens, you should simply try calling in again and more often than not, the problem will go away.

However, persistent occurrences of this may indicate is a more serious matter. Your modem settings play a very important part in the quality (and ability) of the modem to connect. If you are having this problem often, you may need to modify your modem's settings. Generally, this involves:

Verifying you have your port speed set normally (between 38400k and 57600k)

Verifying you have error correction enabled

Verifying you are not running any fax/answering machine software while trying to connect.

Verifying your 56K modem has a V.90 driver, not K56Flex or older X2.

Connect Support will be glad to walk you through these settings.

Q. When I dial, I hear an operator talking through my modem!
A.: This has many causes. Connect uses newly created phone exchanges, and North Carolina just went through an area code switch. So, this is still somewhat frequent. Here is a list of some of the messages you may receive, and what they really mean:

All circuits to the customer you are dialing are busy = Standard Busy signal

The number you have dialed (Area code + number) cannot be completed as dialed = Your dialup settings are dialing the area code in addition to your local 7 digit number. Make sure these are removed from your dialer's screen, and try again.

Fast busy signal = Your local phone company is too busy to process your call at this time. This is NOT a Connect busy signal.

The number you have dialed is not in service = A random message given to some of the newer exchanges we've added. Try calling the number from a telephone, and if you continue to get this message, contact your local phone company and ask them to give you access to this local number.

It is not necessary to dial the prefix, One or zero when dialing this number = Your dialer is attempting to include the 1 + Area code when dialing. Make sure it is removed.

Q. My modem worked fine until today/last week, now the computer can't find it!
A.: This also has many causes. Usually, it's just a glitch in your operating system. In Windows, you can run the Add new Hardware wizard from your control panel and see if the modem reappears. If it does not, sometimes powering off the computer, then turning it back on will cause the modem to be redetected.
Note: Some modems will require a driver disk to be reinstalled. You should have this handy, or contact your computer or modem vendor to obtain one. Connect does not change your system hardware configuration in any way, therefore we cannot help you reinstall your modem, should it stop working.

If this problem occurs after a series of power failures, or an electrical storm, it is possible that your modem may have been damaged by a power spike. The best way to avoid this is to always unplug your modem from the phone jack during a storm (surge protectors don't always work) and never use the Internet during an electrical storm. Doing so risks destroying your entire computer.

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