New iMac G5 - Modem Troubles

Just got my new iMac G5 20 and love it except for the modem. I got this for my wife primarily for web surfing, email, and online school work. We don't get Broadband here at all.

Here is the problem.

The modem will only connect at 28.8K if set to V.90 or V.92. If set to V.34 it will connect at 33.6K.

I have 4 other modems on my PCs here, an external USR, two cheap internal win modems, and a laptop with a PC Tel modem it in. Everyone of them connects at 48K or higher, solidly, everytime. I stay online for up to 12 hours at a time, never get disconnects, never get slow response.

This internal mac modem is either crappy or broken. I went on line with apple chat and was basically told there was nothing I can do, perhaps drive 6 hours to an apple store? Bah. Then they just stopped chatting to me right in the middle of the conversation about my options. I was not rude or anything. I was unimpressed.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? I see a few people complaining on the official forums about the same crappy performance, but I have found no solution.

I can't afford to spend that much money on a computer that won't connect to the internet at a reasonable speed. Should i be returning this one?

brobin

sounds like it could be a problem with the modem. where did you purchase the imac? is your firewall on? and if so, is it correctly configured?

Macman said:

sounds like it could be a problem with the modem. where did you purchase the imac? is your firewall on? and if so, is it correctly configured?

Click to expand...

I ordered the imac from apple.ca store. Is the modem on the motherboard or could they send me a new one?

I have the firewall turned off. I played around with just about every setting I could find with no luck. Listening to the modem training, I can hear that it does not go into V.90 negotiation.

Brobin

they wont send you just a new modem, cause installing it yourself may void the warranty.
what does it say in network>modem>tcp/ip?also, can you try, or have you tried v.92?

TCP is set to PPP. Nothing else is set. While it connects slow, it does connect and you can you the Internet... very slowly.

I did try V.92 and it also connects a 28.8.

I am worried I will have to return it. It still has that nice "new computer" smell and I don't want to send it back and lose it for weeks. Worse, I am not convinced it is just a "bad apple", but may be a systemic issue with the modem they use. (pardon the pun...)

In any case, I will try anything. Is there a terminal program I can use to query the modem after a disconnect to see if there is any clue there?

Bruce

Do you have an Apple store near you , that you can take it in and have it looked at?

Also you can have them check out the display model, to see if there is a problem.

have you tried manually configuring it? under that tcp/ip tab, what options are there besides manually and PPP? if you wish to manually configure it, there are a number of ways to get your ip address, the easiest is probably netinfo manager in the utilities folder, or system profiler.

Macman said:

have you tried manually configuring it? under that tcp/ip tab, what options are there besides manually and PPP? if you wish to manually configure it, there are a number of ways to get your ip address, the easiest is probably netinfo manager in the utilities folder, or system profiler.

Click to expand...

The IP address is different each time you dial it, so setting it manually will not work. The PPP connection is working as long as the modem connects and is not involved in the speed negotiations. The modem refuses to negotiate at V.90 or V.92 and falls back to the 28k rate.

Unfortunately, the nearest store is about a two hour drive away (the new one that just opened in Toronto). I suspect I will be driving there at some point since is should be faster to get a board replacement there then to mail it back to Apple.

Brobin

Just an update. Apple replaced my motherboard (annoying 1.5 hour drive to an authorized dealer) but it is no better, in fact it is worse. The modem will not even connect unless I have it set to V.34, which is unacceptable given all the modems that work fine. I just had a friend come over with his laptop. He connected the first time at 49.2K, just like all my other modems.

At this point I am at a loss. There is no way the modem can be that crappy. I did read somewhere on the web I guy complaining that after he switched to Tiger his machine would only connect at 28K, despite the fact that he connected at 48K before the OS upgrade.

Anyone have any ideas?

brobin