30. Do You Keep Getting Disconnected?

I was having major difficulties connecting and going to web sites when I first signed on as a WebTV subscriber. At first, I thought it was just "the speed of the internet".

But later, I began to hear static on my phone line ... audible static ... when talking on the phone. I called WebTV and was told to unplug all "extras" such as portable phones, answering machines, caller ID boxes, etc. I did all that, but to no avail. I then called the phone company, and they did a "remote check" of my line and told me it was just fine. I asked the operator to run the check again, since she could also hear the static.

The second check came out fine, too. So I asked for a phone repairman to be sent to the house to check my lines. I was told there would be a charge for this service if he didn't find anything wrong. I agreed to this. (Hey, I was _desperate_.)

He came out and found a bare section in the wire between the house and the telephone pole. The break in the insulation was allowing moisture to collect inside the insulation, all along the wire. The copper wire was corroded and green. Once the bad wire was replaced, my surfing speed was like greased lightning, faster than I even knew it could be!

My point? That you can never trust any kind of remote check of your phone line. Noise can come from a number of sources, and none can be ruled out until everything has been checked "hands on."

Additionally, the distance between your point of connection and the telephone switching office has a major bearing on your surfing speed. A distance of more than 2-1/2 miles will have a definite detrimental effect on your ability to surf with "speed." Longer distances may even hamper your ability to connect or surf at all, or to stay connected.

There are so many possible reasons for frequent disconnects, but here are a few things you can try.

Try adjusting the Call Waiting Sensitivity setting, even if you don't have call waiting from your phone company. To do this:

From your MSN-TV Home:

1. Click on Settings

2. Choose Dialing

3. Choose Call Waiting

At the bottom of that screen, you will see a box labeled "Adjust sensitivity." Click on the box, and on the next screen, lessen your sensitivity by one notch, moving towards "Less". Be sure and click Done at the bottom of that screen and any others which might appear!

Other ideas are:

Remove all "extra" devices from the phone line, such as portable phone, answering machine, caller ID box, etc. See if you then can notice any improvement. If so, begin to add the "extras" back in, one at a time, until you find the culprit.

If you have a phone line splitter, remove it, and check performance.

Try the phone line cord in another phone jack.

Try the electrical cord for WebTV in another power outlet. If you use a surge protector, remove it and check performance.

If you have a surge protector on your phone line, remove it and try connecting and surfing. Most WebTV units have 56K modems, which are very sensitive. A phone line surge protector can possibly filter out important signals, keeping your modem from communicating with the phone company.

Try and notice if the disconnects come at the same time as your air conditioning unit or refrigerator comes on. Electrical power surges can cause disconnects.

Has your dialup number changed recently, and was that when the problems began?

When your WebTV begins dialing in, unplug the PHONE cord momentarily, and then plug it back in, forcing the WebTV unit to call an alternate phone dialup number. See if a different dialup cures the problem. If it does, call 1-800-GOWEBTV (1-800-469-3288) and ask that it be the FIRST number your unit dials when connecting.

Check the proximity of your phone cord to other cords, such as A/V cables and the electrical power cord. Try to isolate them from each other, placing as much distance between them as possible.

Make sure the WebTV unit is well ventilated. Heat buildup can cause disconnects.

Try surfing during non-peak hours to see if your disconnects may simply be due to heavy internet traffic, either on your local dialup number, or just the internet in general.

All of the above suggestions will cost you nothing but time and effort. If they all fail, here's one last suggestion which won't cost much.

Replace your existing phone cord with a new, heavy duty one.

At least 99 percent of all disconnect and non-connect problems are phone line related and not due to the WebTV service itself, nor your WebTV Internet Receiver!

Here's what Paul Erickson says about disconnects......

And here's another possibility which was posted by TheWebJunkie in a post to news:webtv.users on November 21, 2001. His quote is used with permission.

"There are MANY different reasons for disconnects. What causes them for WebTVer "A" isn't necessarily what is causing them for WebTVer "B". Here is a reason that I haven't as yet seen mentioned in this forum:

Most telephones that have autodialers get their power either from house current (they have a transformer that is plugged directly into a wall outlet) or from user-changeable batteries. Telephones that have SIMPLE autodialers that merely re-dial the last number entered usually get THEIR power from a capacitor which in turn gets ITS power directly from the telephone line.

When the circuit switches on to automatically recharge this capacitor -- this happens every 15 minutes or so -- a "pop" can be introduced into the phone line. This pop can be interpreted by your WebTV terminal as a call-waiting beep.

So, check all the telephones that are connected to your phone line. If one has a "redial" feature but does not use batteries or have a plug-in transformer, it could be causing your disconnects."