EXTREMELY slooooww connection...

My fiance has two computers at her home, both dial-up, both 56K. One is a Windows98SE, the other a WindowsXP. My computer, at my home, has an average speed of 49 to 52 kbps (dial-up Windows98SE as well). Both of hers, however, have an AVERAGE speed of somewhere near 19 kbps... NINETEEN. Since both computers have relatively the same speed under one roof, I'd venture to rule out worms or viruses as the cause, especially since the XP has gone through the infamous Major Geeks bootcamp (the READ ME FIRST requirements) and has successfully been cleaned. I've read somewhere, perhaps here, that there are "tweaks" one can try in order to improve connection speed. Before I dive into any of that however, I wanted to post the issue in here to make sure it definitely is NOT a worm or virus that the scan tools miss. She does live in a large subdivision with many homes, which I'm certain contributes a great deal to the tortoise-like speed, but NINETEEN kbps.... that's only one-third of its potential!

Also... and this just recently became a problem... sometimes when she goes online the computer gets booted offline after no more than 20 to 30 seconds (again, both computers have had this happen). I'll defrag, and it will be fine for another few days, then the boot issue returns.

Any suggestions, tips, helpful hints, pointers, or 7 other words that mean HELP are welcomed and appreciated...

 

I'm not sure how it is exactly at her house, but there may be a gray box on the size of the house where the phone lines come into the house. If you can find it and get into it without breaking some kind of lock, there should be a phone jack that you can plug into. This becomes easier if you have a laptop you can use to test the speed. Plug the modem into this jack, dial up, and see what speed you get. If the speed is better outside, it may be an indication that the lines inside the house are having problems. If it's the same speed, then if you know someone with a different ISP on dialup, you could ask if they login to their account and see what speed they get in her house.

NOTE: Another way to check would be to pick up her phone and listen for any crackling or other noises on the line, either during the dial tone or during a phone call.

I've done everything I listed above before. I went from 28Kbps to about 53Kbps just by switching ISPs.

 

I meant if you got the same speed while connecting to her ISP from the jack outside the house as inside, see what the speed is with a different ISP.