Tag Archives: dialup

Stop Windows trying to dial a connection

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Not many of us use dial-up internet connections any more – gone are the days where we had to rely on internet connections that had a typical download speed of 4-8KB/s. Now we have speedy broadband with it’s always-on convenience and wireless capabilities.

However, some of us do rely on mobile broadband “dongles” or mobile phone internet connections to get online when we’re out and about. These can be fantastic, but if it’s set up as a dial up connection in Windows it can prove a nightmare.

If a connection isn’t currently available, Windows is (by default) set to repeatedly ask to dial the best available connection. This has been an issue since very early versions of Windows and Microsoft have never really solved it since.

dialup

If a box similar to this one frequently appears whenever an application tries to access the internet, here’s how to solve it.

Open up Internet Explorer (the dreaded) and find Internet Options. You’ll find this under the settings button of the latest version of Internet Explorer. When you’ve got Internet Options up, click the Connections tab.

internetoptions

Under the Connections tab, look at the selection buttons above “Local Area Network (LAN) settings”. Internet Explorer probably has selected on your computer “Dial whenever a network connection is not present”. Change that to “Never dial a connection” and click OK. Close any existing connection requests (you may well get a few more before they stop) and eventually you’ll stop getting asked to connect.

From now on, you won’t be pestered and will only connect to a dial-up connection at your request.

Do you still use Dialup?

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I have been on broadband for years now and never regretted the change over. 

If you are one of those people who feel broadband still isn’t really for you, here are a few pointers in the direction of upgrading.

You should change to broadband if…

  • You use the internet a lot – If you use a lot of internet, it’s well worth the few pounds a month it costs to have a faster connection. Especially if you are using pay as you go internet – the amount of money your using to pay for the dial up would probably pay for broadband.
  • You want to download a lot – Trying to download large files on dial up usually means leaving the computer on all night. When I had dialup I would get about 4kbps which is just pointless. Also, think about the amount of unnecessary power usage you’re getting through.
  • You want to use the phone at the same time as the internet – Yes, this is probably the biggest upside. I hate it on dialup that you can’t use the phone at the same time.
You can get broadband extremely cheap nowadays so try for yourself and see how long it takes for you to get used to it. I promise you, you wont regret the upgrade.