Thanks a lot Rik and Phil.

However, i wanted to ask one more thing. When you say that:

"...your modem re-syncs (connects) with the exchange frequently, more than 10 times an hour."
"...the number of times you have dropped the connection."

Do you mean that the line drops completely and the modem redials (because this used to happen but does not happen anymore)?

OR

Do you mean that these two little PCs icons on the down right side of the screen flashing (which also causes one of the modem lights to flash. however i think the modem light is the "data" light and does not have to do with the dropping of the line, right?)

After I read you posts I called my ISP and they told me that my line seems to drop very often, as you had said. However, as I explained to the tech guy, it is possible that this does not happen due to line disconnection but because I unplug the model from my pc frequently in depserate attempts to get a better connection. He said that I should wait and stay connected for long periods and call back in 3 days.

Thank you very much.
mount199

p.s. it s very nice that there are people out there that have knowledge and are willing to help others. Thanks again.

we're talking about the number of times the exchange and the modem lose contact with each other, or fall out over the state of the connection.

As you have a USB modem unplugging it causes it to re-sync and doing that 10 times in an hour should incur the wrath of the MaxDSL gods.

You have to think of this in different layers - if the modem speed to the exchange is 4000-odd then its doing fine, the problem is elsewhere and there's no point in disconnecting the modem when this is the case.

Hi Mount

What Phil said. It's a bad idea to keep unplugging the modem, either from the computer or the phone line. The monitoring software BT uses will see that as an indication of an unstable line and will keep pushing your profile down in order to try and correct the problem. Which is the exact opposite of what you are trying to achieve. To get your speed up to where it should be, you will need to maintain a high sync speed for a period of 3 days. As Phil says, if nothing changes after that, you need to talk to your iSP about the possibility of a stuck profile.

Assuming you have the normal 'frog' modem, from memory, there are two lights on it, power and ADSL. The ADSL should be a constant green. If it starts flashing, as distinct from flickering - which just indicates traffic), then you have lost sync.

In the longer term, I would advise you consider going for a router, even if you are only connecting one PC. They sometimes provide a better connection, they always provide a much higher degree of security, and put less load on the PC, both power and CPU cycles.

138Kbps is the lowest I have seen.