I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I would test different settings on the TC Hub to see if I could increase the likelihood of PC-Tel modems making good connections. Previously, the only way to reliable make them connect was to turn off v.90 via the n0s37=12 init string. My initial assumptions were questioned when I brought the computer into the office. See, we are the local phone company as well as an ISP. When I used the internal modem line to connect, the PC-Tel modem worked perfectly every time: 50k connections, never got dropped and good throughput. My new assumption was that it could be a combination of the rural phone lines and the PC-Tel modem. Perhaps it needed a stronger signal from the 3com modems. Yesterday afternoon, I got my chance to test things out. Using two phone lines from home (a major concession to work from home), I dialed in from a PC using a Lucent modem and used TCM to monitor my connections when I dialed in from my laptop with the PC-Tel modem. I tried varying transmit levels from -0 db to -20 db with no effect. I tried some other settings that I wasn't sure would make a difference or not, and they didn't. I then tried attacking the problem from the PC-Tel end. I used the init strings I found at http://www.808hi.com/56k to try limiting the speed of my connection. The init string is: n0s37=14s34=X where X can be anything from 0 to 21. The higher the number, the higher the connect speed. The full list can be found at http://www.808hi.com/56k/x2-linklimit.htm. What I found is that I could connect fairly reliably where X=7, for a speed of 37333bps. When X=8 (38666bps), I could sometimes connect but other times no data would come back to me. At higher speeds, such as 44kbps and above, the TC unit would report the connection status would remain at Link Negotiation and no data would get passed. Between 42.66k and 38.66k, the status would be OnlineAnswer but most times no data would come back from the TC hub. At those times, Radius indicated that I had authenticated correctly. So data was traveling from my modem into the TC Hub. So the answer I have so far is that, over the regular phone lines with a PC-Tel modem, if I limit the connect speed to 37,333bps, I can get a reliable connection. Over this same line, I regularly connect via my Lucent modem at 48-50kbps. The init string is: n0s37=14s34=7 n0s37=14 sets the modem to v.90 only (no K56flex) s34=7 sets the connect speed at 37,333bps It will be interesting to try this with customers and see if any can use better connect speeds. Thanks for reading this far. I'll now open the floor for comments/questions. If anyone has recommendations for other settings that might make a difference, let me know. Wayne Barber Coastal Telco Services - To unsubscribe to usr-tc, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe usr-tc" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.