pinging the ISP

[wildhobo]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

My access to the ISP is by dialup. In our locale, there is no cable and no DSL. Satellite quality is poor and expensive. When we try to download a large file, like a critical update for Word, it takes hours if not days and nights. That would not be so bad but, after a few hours inaction, other than the downloading process, the ISP drops the line. There may be other reasons for a line drop but we should be able to eliminate the ISP as a cause for line drop. Pinging the ISP at regular intervals could be the solution. Does anyone know of a better solution or know of a little program that would ping the ISP without breaking the connection ?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

This Word group is unlikely to be the best place to get information
about a program to ping the ISP.

I'm not really clear on exactly what pinging the ISP means, but I
wonder--if you set your email program to automatically check email every
30 mins or so and left it running while downloading overnight, would
that serve the same purpose?

Otherwise, only suggestions would be take a laptop to an internet cafe,
if possible, or have a friend download, burn to CD, and mail to you.

You can use Help | Send Feedback to tell MS they should offer a CD
option for updates (though they probably won't, but it might make you
feel better).

(PS. There's a company in rural California doing some sort of
line-of-sight wireless broadband off towers and it works pretty well.
Keep an eye out for something similar in your area, as it's basically
designed for your type of situation to fill the space between dialup and
satellite. Though it might do better in hilly areas.)

 

[John McGhie]

I am thoroughly familiar with this problem

It's not "lack of traffic" that's doing this, it is the ISP's "Hard
disconnection limit".

Some ISPs set a four-hour maximum session length, others six hours. When
you get to that point, they will drop the line, and there's nothing much you
can do about that!

If you study all the fine print, you may find that your ISP does not impose
disconnection during the wee small hours, or that it only disconnects when
it has all modems occupied.

Either way, kicking your download off just before you go to bed may provide
better results. Home User ISPs go through a "quiet period" from about 22:00
through to about 09:00 the next day. If you start at 18:00, you will get
four hours, and then there will be no other users, so they may not kick you
off until traffic picks up at 09:00. That's how I used to get a lot of my
large downloads during my dialup days.

I must admit that I eventually switched to an ISP that did not have a
disconnection limit. It once downloaded the whole of a Windows Beta in 35
hours

Failing that: Off you go to the local public library with your USB stick in
your hand, and download it there.

If you ring Microsoft and talk very nicely, they may agree to give you an
FTP location from which you can download. Proper FTP clients (not web
browsers, real FTP applications...) use a "Restartable" protocol that will
pick up from where it left off, for exactly this purpose.

Finally, if you ring your local Microsoft office and speak very nicely, they
may agree to burn all the patches to a CD and post it to you. The fee for
this is about fifty bucks...

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

My access to the ISP is by dialup. In our locale, there is no cable and no
DSL. Satellite quality is poor and expensive. When we try to download a large
file, like a critical update for Word, it takes hours if not days and nights.
That would not be so bad but, after a few hours inaction, other than the
downloading process, the ISP drops the line. There may be other reasons for a
line drop but we should be able to eliminate the ISP as a cause for line drop.
Pinging the ISP at regular intervals could be the solution. Does anyone know
of a better solution or know of a little program that would ping the ISP
without breaking the connection ?

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]