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Posted
on June 11, 2001 by Toby
Crundwell & Thomas
McGuire
Check for Operating
Systems or General Software
prices here.
Now
that it has become economically viable (& available),
many people are choosing ISDN. ISDN Terminal Adapters (TAs)
are rather more limited in how they can be tweaked. However
there are still several things you can do to improve
performance.
Updating
drivers/Identifying the TA
First of all you
should update your drivers. If you know how to do this then
skip to the next section. Right click on My
Computer, select Properties, now select the Hardware
tab, then hit the Device Manager button. Finally open
the Network Adapters tree.
You
should see your ISDN card listed. Remember your exact model,
as many manufacturers release several different versions of
the same card, each needing different drivers. You should be
able to find all the drivers you need at Windrivers.
Update your driver using the instructions provided; some
cards (like my one, for instance) have to have the old
drivers Uninstalled before the new ones may be
installed.
Be
sure to check out our OS
Updates page for further system updates, such as that to
Service Pack 2. These can improve performance in some
instances or just fix important security bugs in programs.
General
tweaking
Once
your drivers are updated go into control panel & then
into Network and Dial-up Connections. Right click
on the appropriate dialup connection & then click on Properties.
One
of the devices in the Connect using section must be
checked, otherwise you will not be able to connect. If you
plan to connect using dual channels (128k) you should Tick
them both. NOTE - Ticking both of them does
not automatically give you connections of 128k. See the
section on connecting at 128k later for further details. I
would recommend Ticking both of them, so 128k
connections can be enabled on the fly.
All
devices should call the same number
should be left Ticked at all times. You shouldn’t
need to change the phone number unless you are having
problems, in which case you could try changing the prefix 0
to 1, or even leaving it out completely (applies to UK only).
I would recommend you leave the Show icon in taskbar when
connected option Ticked at all times. Not only
does this serve as a diagnostic for your connection, but it
also enables you to switch beneath 64k & 128k
connections on the fly (if available).
Now
click on Configure button.
Set
the Line type to 64k digital, setting it to
anything else would be stupid really (Unless you have one of
the other types of connection that is). You can try toggling
Negotiate line type if you have trouble connecting,
although it may decrease speed - in my experience it
rarely does. You shouldn’t need to use a Proprietary
protocol seeing as nearly all ISPs will support EDSS1 (Euro)
ISDN. Now click Ok.
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