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Modem
Tweak Guide
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Updated:
July 6, 1999
Written by: Ryan "Xero"
Martinez
With parts from older guides by
Dan "Tweak Monkey" Kennedy and Keith "Farrel"
McClellan.
Introduction
Ever
wonder why your friend with his 56k modem gets a
150-200 ping on some game servers, and you can
barely get 300 at best? Your modem just may not be
optimized. Follow this guide, and soon web pages
will load faster, downloads will finish faster,
and your ping in games will drop.
Drivers
The
first step to successfully tweaking your modem is
downloading the latest drivers. For tons of
drivers, check out WinDrivers.com.
You will most likely find your modem's drivers. If
you cannot find them, search your modem's
manufacturer's website.
Com
Port
Next,
we'll optimize the COM port that your modem uses.
To find out which COM port your modem is using,
open your Control Panel and double-click Modems.
Click on the Diagnostics tab. In the box below, it
should list your modem and the COM port on which
it is installed. Remember this number (writing it
down). Next, open up the Start menu and select
Run. Type SYSEDIT in the box that appears and
click OK. In the window that pops up, select the
WIN.INI sub-window. Select 'Search', then
'Find...' in the menubar, and in the dialogue box,
type [ports]. It should give you a listing of the
ports and their settings. Find the COM# that
corresponds to your modem, and enter the settings
115200,n,8,1,p. It should look like:
COMX=115200,n,8,1,p - where X is the number of
your modem's COM port. From the menubar, select
File, and then Save.
Modem
Cache
Modems
have a relatively small on-board cache and data
buffer. The following settings allow the modem to
access some of the system RAM to use as cache
during times of high modem activity. Go into your
system.ini (in the SYSEDIT window) file. Locate
the following: [386Enh]
If your modem is
on Com 1, on the line directly below the [386Enh]
add this:
Com1Irq4Buffer=1024
If
your modem is on Com 2, on the line directly below
the [386Enh] add this:
Com2Irq3Buffer=1024
If your modem is on Com 3, on the line
directly below the [386Enh] add this:
Com3Irq4Buffer=1024
If your modem
is on Com 4, on the line directly below the
[386Enh] add this:
Com4Irq3Buffer=1024
Modem
Settings
Open
your Control Panel, double-click on Modems and
then select the General Tab. Select your modem
from the list below and click the Properties
button. In the box that pops up, select the
General tab. In the pull-down menu at the bottom,
select 115200. Then select the Connection tab.
Click the button at the bottom labelled Port
Settings. Turn the Receive and Transmit buffers up
as far as they will go. If you have problems
later, you can try turning this back, but this
rarely affects newer computers. Next click OK, and
then click the Advanced button. Make sure the Use
Error Control box is checked, as well as the Use
Compression box. Make sure the Use Flow Control
box is checked, then select Hardware (RTS/CTS)
from the list below. Click OK and then close all
the boxes.
Network
Settings
Open
up the Control Panel (once again), and
double-click the Network icon. Under the
Configuration tab, select the Dial-Up Adapter and
click Properties. Go to the Bindings tab and
uncheck all boxes except the TCP/IP box. Select
the Advanced tab and set Enable Point To Point IP
to Yes, IP Packet Size to Automatic, Record Log
File to No, and Use IPX Header Compression to No.
Select the TCP/IP -> Dial-Up Adapter and click
Properties. Select the WINS Configuration tab, and
choose the Disable WINS Resolution option. Click
the DNS configuration tab, and select Disable DNS.
Go to the Bindings tab. Uncheck all the boxes.
Dial
Up-Adapter Settings
Open
up My Computer and open the Dial-Up Networking
Folder. Right-click on the icon for your Internet
connection and select Properties. Go to the Server
Types tab, and uncheck the Log on to network,
NetBEUI, and IPX/SPX Compatible boxes. Then close
the boxes.
Setting
MTU, MSS, and RTWIN
First,
download the program iSpeed from High Mountain
Software's home site. This program will make
changing your MTU, MSS, RTWIN, and TTL settings
easy. There are other methods to achieve the same
task, but this is generally the easiest way. Now
we will see about finding an optimal MTU size and
then how to calculate the MSS and RTWIN
accordingly.
MTU size is a hotly debated
topic, and people's results will vary greatly. I
will provide 3 ways to get different values for
your MTU, and you should try all three MTU values
for best results. Pick whichever one works best
for you.
Method 1:
Open up your Dial-Up
Networking folder again, and right-click on your
connection icon and open it's Properties. On the
General tab, click Configuration. Go to the
Options tab, and check the Bring Up Terminal
Window After Dialing option. Click OK, and close
all the boxes. Start up your Internet connection.
After connecting to your ISP, instead of sending
your password and minimizing, it will bring up a
window with a username and password prompt. Type
in your username, then your password (you cannot
see it for security reasons). Shortly after
confirming your log on, it should state the
networks MTU, or Maximum Transfer Unit. After
writing this number down, close the terminal
window to disconnect.
Method 2:
The
second method is just a small algebraic equation
to find an MTU. The equation is: (2n x 128) + 40 =
MTU, where n is equal to 1, 2, or 3. I recommend
you try 3 first.
Method 3:
The last
method is to simply use the number 576 for your
MTU. High-packetloss ISP's usually do better with
this number.
Install and run iSpeed. For
MTU setting, select Custom and enter the MTU
you've obtained using the above methods. For MSS
Setting, subtract 40 from your MTU and enter that
number. Be sure you get your math right, other
wise it'll slow you down - a lot! For the TTL
Value, select 128. For the RTWIN multiplier,
adjust the slider until the number inside the box
falls somewhere between 50% and 100% of your
modem's downloading capacity. In the case of a
56000bps modem, you'd want it in between 5000 and
2500. On a 36.6, you'd want it around 3000 to
1500. Try to lean more towards the 1/2 mark if you
can. For a quick example, my ISP's MTU is the
strange setting of 1524, so I set my MTU to 1524,
my MSS to 1484, and my RTWIN to the 2nd notch
(2968).
Apply the settings, close the
program, and restart to apply them.
Initialization
Strings
In
most cases, if your modem's drivers are up to
snuff, a manual init string won't be needed. But
in some cases, an init string may help force some
features on or off.
Here is how you use
initialization strings:
Go to your START
menu, go to Settings, and go to Control Panel.
Double click Modems. Click Properties. Click the
Connection tab at the top. Go to Advanced. In the
box under Extra Settings type your new
initialization string.
To find a good init
string, try this
site. [Note: this site is down from time to
time] They have a large archive of init strings
for many modems, and you're likely to find yours
there.
Binding
Modems
Note
- This method works on Win98, but I doubt it does
on 95. There are other ways to do this on 95, and
if you know an efficient, easy way, e-mail me.
Binding modems simply means you're running
two modems in tandem to give yourself more
bandwidth. They don't have to be the same brand or
speed. This is sometimes also called "the poor
man's ISDN", as binding 2 56k modems will give
about the same bandwidth. To do this you'll need:
Two modems
Two phone lines
An ISP
that lets you dial in the same account twice (for
modem binding purposes)
Patience
Open
your Dial-Up Networking Folder, and right-click on
your Dial-Up connection. Choose Properties, and
then go to the Multilink tab. Select 'Use
additional devices', and then add your second
modem to the list. Select it, click Edit, and
configure it to dial the correct numbers, etc.
Now try starting up your connection, and
if it works, you should now have a much faster
connection - for pretty cheap, too. :)
Upgrading
to V.90
Many
people bought 56K modems when they first came out
as X2 or KFlex, without considering the update to
a standard that was bound to come. Luckily, most
modems are flash upgradeable to the V.90 standard.
It is a simple process that takes about 15 to 20
minutes.
Check out the V.90 Upgrade FAQ on
56K.com here.
It tells all you need to know about the procedure
itself. Make sure that your ISP supports V.90 as
well, and that you're using the correct phone
number.
Basically all you must do is flash
your modem's BIOS w/ the V.90 protocol and (for
best results) update your modem's drivers.
Does your modem manufacturer have the V.90
upgrade ready to download? Check out 56K.com's Modem
Link Board. Download the flash update and the
newest drivers and you should be well on your way.
For example, I had the Motorola VoiceSURFR
External 56K. The modem supported KFlex. My ISP
did not have KFlex lines, so I checked the
Motorola site, and sure enough the V.90 upgrade
was there. After installing it and flashing the
BIOS, I was very impressed at the connection
speed: 52000 bps. Downloads are almost always
around 6.0 K/sec +, where before (using KFlex and
33.6 lines) they only hit 3.0 K/sec.
V.90
is a great protocol as long as it is fully
supported by both your ISP and your modem.
However, in some circumstances people may actually
want to disable V.90. Reasons could be caused by
several things, including problems connecting to
online games etc. For more information on
disabling V.90, check out 56K.com's Upgrade FAQ -
here
for KFlex or here
for X2 users.
Tweaking
Cable Modems
Since
this isn't my area at all, I will not even try
(until I get a cable modem...) to come up with
methods for tweaking cable... yet.
Check
out the PH
Net Cable Modem tweaking guide for all your
tweaks. This is a massive guide, and I have heard
of great results with it.
What will
tweaking a cable modem do? Perhaps not much, but
every bit of speed counts. If you thought your
cable was fast before, check out these tweaks then
compare them to your previous results. You will be
impressed.
Conclusion
With
this guide, and a good ISP, your ping should
improve to around 250, and web pages should load
even faster. You might even connect at higher
speeds... hope this helps!
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