Why does my 56k modem connect at only 26kbps when my neighbors can connect at 46kbps on identical computers?
If you’re living in the UK, there could be a chance that your line has a DACs unit on (this digitally splits the line to provide 2 lines over one phsical wire… though this is ok for voice calls it wrecks the speed of modems, as there’s not as much physical bandwidth for the connection). However, I think you’re living in the US (from the spelling of neighbours 🙂 so let’s consider a few other things: 1) Are you dialing up with a long distance number to access your ISP? If you are, there might be a local area number for you to access which your ISP provides to give you higher speeds. 2) Your line _could_ have been installed before the line next door, and as such the cable could have been routed over a physically much longer distance – thereby reducing the effectiveness of the line at transmitting the electrical signals the longer it gets. (This happens for some strange reason with telcos, not sure why, though this has been known to happen a lot in the UK especially in villages where ca
