Modem speed on mac mini never above 28.8

[LastZion]

So my in-laws have a Mac mini, with the v92 56k modem. For some reason they can never connect faster than 28.8. They have a PC and can connect at speeds of 35-48k/second.

Any ideas, is there any settings that need adjusting to "open up" the speed?

Thanks

 

[D3v1L80Y]

That is simply the nature of dial up service. The speed is not consistent from computer to computer or OS to OS. It could be caused by any number of things, from the phone outlet they are using for the Mac, the connections (cables, adapters, etc), time of day, inside wiring of the home, etc.
There really isn't much that can be done, outside of trying a new cable or trying it in a different phone jack.

 

[Alexis]

You won't be getting 48k a second on a modem, regardless of what Windows says or the fact it's a '56k modem'.

Download an identical file on both computers at the same time of day and time how long it takes for it to download. You should be getting 4 to 7k a second.

 

[mac57]

Alexis, back in the day when I still used modems, I regularly got 52K from my 56K modem. Of course I am lucky, living less than 1/2 a mile from my nearest telephone office - hence have excellent connectivity and short runs, which improves modem speeds. However, my point is simply that a 56K modem can deliver nearly 56K, dependant upon circumstances.

I did in fact verify the speed just the way you say, by sending and receiving large files (I used to connect my work laptop this way, and most of my company's emails seem to have large attachments, whether I like it or not).

LastZion's post makes me wonder if the Mac is somehow initializing the modem for just 28.8 vs. a higher speed (or perhaps it is just a 28.8 modem?). I have never used Macs and modems together, and so have no experience to draw on here. Does anyone else on this forum?

 

[Alexis]

The connection speed the OS reports when first connected is typically 44-48Kbps, which is different from the real world download speed. I used to have Window's reporting I had a connection of 44 or 48 and very rarely 52, but downloading was still 4 to 7k a sec. Likewise, my ADSL connects at 7.8mps, but in reality I get download speeds of 200 - 800k/s.

What I'm saying is, despite OS X saying 28.8k, does the same file download in the same time on both machines? What the OS says about modem speed connection is not always accurate.

 

[caribiner23]

(I just re-read the original posting and saw that the in-laws can connect at faster speeds with their PC. That said, this is good info to know anyway.

If your in-laws live in a newer home or a neighborhood where the phone service was recently upgraded, it's likely they will never see more than 28.8k on dial-up.

This is because most new neighborhoods are being built with an infrastructure that limits to-the-door telephone bandwidth to 28.8k. The phone companies (well, Ameritech for certain) started doing this in the mid-1990s when there was a huge proliferation of modems and fax machines.

I built a brand new home in 1993, and in 1996 I upgraded to a shiny new 56k modem. In spite of the fact that my ISP supported the same 56k standard as my modem and the POP was only two miles away, I never got better than 28.k. The ISP said their equipment was fine, so I called the phone company. They sent a guy out one afternoon and he had me test things as he was out at the pole feeding our entire neighborhood. Long story short: the multiplexing units they used to feed the entire neighborhood limited the bandwidth.

 

[LastZion]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Well the home is no where near new, its about 140 years old .
Obviously the cable service had been updated in the area, but it still very rural (hence only using dial up).
I just found it strage that it is soo slow on dial up compared to the PC upstairs.

There was a great apple discussion article on this with a similar situation, in the other case the guy had brought the PC and the mini to the same line and connected to the net within 5 minutes of each other and notice significant slowness in his mac mini. Even when he connected his old G3 power book it connected faster. I will try and dig up the article. But that seems to suggest that there is something going on in there...

 

[LastZion]

http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/modems/topic3978.html

Read from November 17th 2006 on wards (near the bottom)

Very interesting, and seems to be just what we are experiencing here.