> Does adding S10=20S38=2 on my end help, or does the customer need to
> do it on their end (or both)?
I think that it should be done at both ends of the link since these
values adjust the thresh hold of how long there can be a loss of carrier
or DTR before the modem drops the line. The momentary loss of carrier
(caused by line noise) should not cause the modem to drop the line but on
the USR modems they had set the thresh hold too low (it is defaulted to
7ms I think). Therefore if you set the S10=20 value only on your end, and
there is line noise, the client's modem would drop carrier since it still
has the low thresh hold value. The S10=20 sets the carrier loss time to
20ms before dropping the carrier. On our GVC modems it is set at a
default of 14ms, so for safety I recommend 20ms. The S38=2 sets the
amount of time that DTR can go low defore dropping carrier to 2 seconds.
I am not sure what the USR default is for this though.
>
> Also, someone else suggested my ROMS might be too old. Does this
> sound plausible? These disconnects are driving us crazy.
>
This definately is plausible, USR at my last count has upgraded the ROMs
on the USR Sportster 28.8 modems about 10 or 12 times. :-(
Have a look at USRs web page under supervisory upgrades in the
service/support section. They explain how to get the version number of
code that you have installed in your modem, and what the latest version
is. If you have not upgraded your modems (or purchased) this year, you
will likely need an upgrade.
Based on our experience with modem problems at our site (100 dialup
28.8Kbps lines all with GVC 28.8Kbps modems), I would estimate that 50%
of all problems are with USR Sportster modems. If you are ever in the
market for more modems in the future I would highly advise that you take
a look at GVC or MaxTech (both based on the Rockwell RC/RCV288DPi
chipset) modems. They have very good product support, and exellent
reliability. One of the main things that I like about them is that they
have a metal (alluminum actually) case that conducts the heat away from
the modem, unlike the USR Sportster modems plastic case. We have had 30
of the GVC modems online for 2 years now, on for 7/24.. We have not had
one go bad yet.
Bye For Now,
Dean Forester
President,
Durham.Net Inc.