Adam Internet Support Pages

Dialup Troubleshooting

The connection drops every 5 to 20 minutes

This problem occurs when a fax machine or telephone is plugged into the same line as the modem. Some older phones, such as older Telecom phones can interrupt the phone line. It may do this every 5 to 20 minutes, drawing electrical current to charge the batteries for its recall memory.
To solve this issue, you can simply unplug the phone from the telephone line when connected on dial-up (as you will not be able to use it anyway), buy a new phone, or if you are renting your phone from Telstra, they should replace it at no charge.

Your modem disconnects unexpectedly

Do you have call waiting enabled? If you receive a phone call while call waiting is enabled, it will interrupt the dial-up connection. To turn off call waiting, dial #43# before dialing up, and to turn it back on, dial *43#. If you are having issues with drop-outs, check that call waiting is turned off.
If you have a long extension cable connected to your modem, or a telephone double adaptor, these can also cause drop-outs. Make sure that the phone cable connected is not damaged, and consider purchasing a good quality phone cable.
Home Security Systems that require access to the phone line will also interfere. If possible, connect to the internet when your security system is not transmitting. Anything electrical in the vicinity of the modem may also interfere with the connection.
Programs that disconnect after completing a task, such as Outlook Express, may also be a cause. If you use Outlook Express and you think it may be whats causing the issue, check the program settings and ensure that "hang up after sending/receiving" is not ticked.
Other things that may cause problems are issues with the line itself. If the problem becomes more of an issue when it is raining, it may be that there is poor waterproofing on the phone lines. The quality and length of your existing wiring can also have a bearing on your connection - if there is some interference and crackling when you make a voice call, contact your telephone provider and lodge a fault with your voice service.

Connection speed is only 28 or 32k

Your telephone line may be part of a Pair Gain System or connected to a RIM, which will only allow you to connect at a maximum of those speeds.

Modem cannot recognise the dial-tone

If your modem is not detecting a dial-tone, first ensure that it is connected to the correct socket, usually labeled 'Line'.
When you plug a telephone into the phone socket, do you have dial-tone? If not you may need to contact your telephone provider.
Do you have Telstra MessageBank? This will give a different dial-tone to alert you if you have messages and may not let you dial out until those messages are cleared.
There may be a delay between the modem opening the phone line and hearing the dial-tone. The modem can interpret this as a dial-tone not being present and refuse to make a connection. You can change the settings on your computer to ignore dial-tone and dial anyway. See our guides on how to change this in the dialup support section.

Dialing the correct phone number

Make sure that the dialup phone number is correct. If you are unsure, contact the helpdesk on 8423 4000 to confirm the dial-up number.
If you have a silent number or using caller ID blocking, you may need to add 1832 before the dial-up number. Some accounts, such as EZ Dial, require that you number displays caller ID to authenticate.

Username format

Your username should be the first part of your email address. For example, if your email address with Adam Internet is username@adam.com.au, the username is the word before the @ symbol. In this case it would be username. Make sure that it is correct and that your password is also correct and not in capitals.