The most common reasons subscribers lose connection to T.R.A.I.N.

Telephone Line Quality - Modems are very sensitive to telephone line noise and some are much more sensitive than others. Most modems can handle a small amount of telephone line noise but even the best of modems will eventually drop the connection if the telephone line quality becomes too degraded. Many things can affect your telephone line quality : Old or damaged telephone line networks are common in rural areas and can cause poor connection or frequent dropped connections ; overloaded telephone networks during peek times of the day (mornings and evenings are usually when your telephone company's network is the busiest); the telephone wiring in your home (or at work Internal PBX systems are notorious for causing connection problems); electrical equipment near telephone wires or your modem or your computer (56k modems are extremely sensitive to electric fields generated by power cords) and/or other devices connected to the same telephone line as the computer can sometimes cause problems (an example is that some telephones will actually charge internal batteries every few minutes by going off-hook and drawing power from the telephone line.)

Idle Time-out - Train's modem pool is configured to drop connections after 20 minutes of idle time. What this means is if for any reason the Train modem pool does not receive data from your computer for 20 minutes the connection is terminated. The reason for the Idle Time-out is to allow everyone a chance to use Train. Without the Idle Time-out the number of available lines for users to dial into would be greatly reduced due to lines being tied up by computers that are not actually doing anything except tying up a line.

Session Time-out - T.R.A.I.N. has a 3 hour Session Time-out when the modem pool reaches 80% capacity. Once the modem pool reaches 80% full , the person who has been connected the longest over 3 hours is disconnected. The reason for the Session Time-out is to attempt to give everyone a chance to get on-line. Without the 3 hour Session Time-out the number of available lines for users to dial into would be greatly reduced since it would be possible for a few computers to keep lines tied up almost indefinitely.

Call Waiting - Do you have call waiting ? The "clicking" noise or "beep" sound call waiting makes when you have a call is seen by your modem as line noise and can cause your modem to disconnect you. To turn off call waiting before dialing add *70, to the beginning of the number your computer is dialing (example: *70,9675756)

Unsynchronized communications - Some older computers (especially older computers upgraded to windows 95/98) are just too slow for some of today's newer modems. If your computer is too slow for your modem it can fall behind. Your modem is the interpreter between your computer and the Internet and if your computer cannot keep up then communications between your computer, your modem and the Internet become unsynchronized and eventually either your modem or Train's simply terminates the connection. This is most common with 486 and older computers, especially if they have been upgraded to Windows 95/98 (Installing Windows 95/98 on a older computer can over burden the computer and cause it to run too slow). There is little that can be done in this case aside from upgrading your computer hardware although changing the port speed in your modem settings may help *see Port Speed below*

Port Speed - In modem properties check to see what your modems "Maximum Speed" is set to. Generally, for the fastest connection it is a good idea to have "Maximum Speed" set to twice your modems rated speed. What this means is if you have a 56k modem, for the best performance on the Internet , you would set Maximum Speed to 115,200 . Maximum Speed is the speed your computer communicates with your modem and rated speed, is the speed your modem is capable of communicating with the Internet. While setting port speed to twice your modems rated speed can improve performance it can also decrease the reliability of the connection in some cases. If you are frequently being disconnected , and especially if you have a older or slow computer, try decreasing your port speed.

Incorrect "Modem Driver" Installation - Windows 3.x , 95 and 98 requires a driver for almost every device in your computer ( A driver is a program that interacts with a particular device or contains instructions telling another program how to interact with the device ) . Windows requires a driver for your modem and often it has it's own driver for your modem that it uses by default. If Windows has incorrectly identified your modem and installed the wrong drivers you will likely have a lot of problems (including frequent disconnects). If the driver for your modem is incorrectly installed or out dated you can experience connection problems and/or a host of other problems. You should contact the modems manufacturer or their web page for information on obtaining the correct driver for your modem.

Buggy or Incompatible Modem Firmware - Firmware (IBM calls it Microcode) is your modems built in programming and it is for the most part unchangeable without a program made specifically for your modem by the company that made your modem. If you are dialing into the Houston or Licking 56k modem pool then your modem will need the most recent Firmware available for it. To find out if your modem has the most current firmware you will need to visit your modem's manufacturer's web site.