ISP provider

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RogerM

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I would really appreciate some help from members on choice of ISP. As I live out in the sticks, BT have told me that there is no demand for Broadband locally and that our exchange will not be enabled for the foreseeable future. Therefore I am stuck with a dial-up connection. Currently using NTL, but there is a 2 hour cutoff and I have been getting dropped connections at random in addition to this. Also sometimes they won't connect to MyTrack, my dataprovider. An emergency metered service has no problem, so it is definitely a problem with ntl. It is driving me mad, and costing a lot in ruined trades! Had to call up CMC to get out of a FTSE100 cfd trade this morning cos I was blind - lost 21 points whereas if I had stayed in I would have made over 50 points. A very expensive dropped connection.

Satellite may be a solution in the medium term, but in the meantime I need an unmetered dial-up connection that does not cut off after 2 hours, and doesn't drop connections at random. Can anyone recommend a reliable provider?
 
ISDN isnt too bad. May be a good idea to put both a Stop and a Target for any trade you do at the time of entry so as you are protected from short term outages by any system. A good discipline to employ anyway unless you play in huge size. Satellite is the only other way to go but costs can be prohibitive.
 
Thanks bigblue - am considering ISDN, although it is old technology, not cheap, and not so very much faster than a good dial-up connection. But certainly cheaper than ruined trades if it is reliable!

I place stops as "catastrophe" protection so are normally a fair way out. I normally like to choose my own exit, and have found out the hard way that if I place my stop too close, I get filled on my stop as well as on my manual exit as they happen within seconds of each other, so like to keep them reasonably apart.
 
NTL is quite fussy about the physical modem that sits on the line.... do you have a decent hardware one?
 
Martin - not sure of modem type. Is there an easy "on screen" way to check, or is it a case on taking the lid off my tower and eyeballing it? It is a 56 kbps modem about 2.5 years old.
 
If it says HSF/HSP/ HMR in modem properties/control panel, then it's a software type- absolutely aweful as it takes a big slice of your cpu resources away. There are other software types, but they will be harder to identify.
 
Ah Roger; such is the price you pay for living in a nice part of the country.

Have a look at www.sniffout.com
They offer a possible no cut off during one of their offerings but is only on from 8 am to 6pm.

Also your computer could be more of a culprit in this than you realise, (as I have found out the hard way)

In control panel/modem under general settings. Dial control. Untick the wait for dial tone before connecting.
Sometimes, if someone tries to call when you are connected the line will drop. This will re connect quicker.

Disable the automatic configaration in internet options/connections/settings.
And on connections. Have it set to never dial a connection.

I also have the power options set to nothing so the screen/computer can't turn itself off and drop the connection.

I think there was something else I had to do, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was, if anything.

If I do remember. I'll let you know. But the above will help in any case.

Options.
 
Options - thanks for suggestions. I have a second line exclusively for internet use and, as such, have never given the number out. Can't even remember what it is! :eek:) So no one will be trying to call us on it.

Given this info, should I still carry out the instructions you gave?
 
other tips are to take off screen savers. They use up too much of everything and if the system is fairly new will be energy compliant etc.
and increase the amount of temporary internet files folder space in internet options under settings.

Options.
 
well none of the tips will have any adverse effect on the computer. And if you do get problems you can always change them back.

Options
 
Any "hardware" modem will do. I can recommend Genius, as I fit them in all the machines I build. wether you would be able to get one locally, I dont know. The important thing is to make sure its a hardware one and not a software one. Software types cost around £10-£15. Hardware one you can reckon on double that.
 
Roger;
do you use AOL by any chance?
For those that have aol installed on their computers; even if they are not using it at the time. I found out something interesting the other day in that aol can still force a disconnection when you are on the 'net even if you are using a different isp.
All down to something to do with aol's browser.
Keeping it running full screen (even if not using it) stops this.
 
Options - nope, never had anything to do with AOL installed. Have always avoided after much negative comment. Thanks
 
RogerM, I use NTL’s broadband – very few problems.

For a backup I use a modem via the BT’s pay-as-you-go internet access – just enough to exit that trade.
 
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