Phone lines???  What do phone lines have to do with computers? Well lots! Most folks will sooner or later experience problems while on line to another computer or internet service provider. Bad or noisy phone system lines can have devastating effects when it comes to communicating with remote computer systems. It is very important to understand when you are on-line, there is a phone system in between you and the host computer, any problems that occur on the line while you are connected becomes your problems. The device used to communicate with other computers is called a modem. Let's look at the modem to start with. The word modem actually comes from two separate words Modulate/Demodulate. What this device does is to convert a data or digital signal to an analog (sound) signal that the phones lines are designed to handle. Let's face it, phone lines are for voice calls. Once the analog signal is sent to the other computer it is then reconverted or demodulated back into a digital signal, thus modulate/demodulate. Any noise, pops, clicks or static can be misinterpreted as possible data by the modem resulting in a bad packet sent or received. This can make your computer do very strange things or in severe cases make you loose connection with the other computer or even worse crash your system. A common source of line noise is the connections at the pole or box on the road. These connections can get wet or corroded causing a bad connection, cleaning and tightening these connections can most of the time clear up the problem (Please contact your phone provider). Other sources of line noise can range from cordless phones, bad connections with extensions inside your home or business to what is know as RFI (Radio Frequency Interference). A common source of RFI may be a radio station broadcast tower close to you, or maybe a CB (Citizens Band) transmitter, faulty microwave oven, hair dryer or razor, it could even be your trusty electric toothbrush. A good test to see if your lines are clean, would be to pick up your phone handset and dial one number to break dial tone and listen very carefully for anything on the line. If you hear any noise or anything at all (except dead silence) then you may have a problem. Other problems with the phone lines can be miswired lines, on many occasions I have been out on site with modem problems only to find through testing the phone lines that the lines are crossed or reversed. A simple tester can be purchased at your local Radio Shack and plugged into the wall jack, it the light glows green, that wall jack is good, if the light glows red, well you have a problem.

Phone line problems can be very aggravating and quite difficult to trace down sometimes. If you think you may be having problems with your phone lines contact your computer service provider and have them make sure that your computer or modem is not at fault, then contact your telephone provider.