I am having difficulty connecting to the Internet using my Telstra Next G LG mobile phone as a modem, mainly so I can send and receive email messages while away from home (I don’t intend to use this for web browsing, as this would become very costly). Outlook Express is my email client, and when I connect to the internet using the inbuilt modem over a standard phone line everything works fine, and I can send and receive email messages. However, I run into trouble when attempting to use the mobile phone as a modem. I am using all the same settings as for my standard dial up modem connection, and have unsuccessfully tried three separate methods of connecting. First, I have tried the phone as a dial-up modem and attempted to dial the same OzEmail national number (0198379000). The mobile phone does nothing, and almost immediately a message appears on the computer saying “Error Message 678 - The remote computer did not respond”. The second approach used the LG Internet Kit which was supplied with the phone. This is a program that I understand was produced by Telstra for LG and the standard default setting is to use the Telstra PS Data network using the shortcut dialling number *98#. I changed that shortcut dialling number to the standard Ozemail dial up number (0198379000). This produced the same error message as above, and the phone did not actually dial out. Third approach was just to connect via the Telstra short cut dialling number (*98#) and this gives me a connection. However, while I can receive incoming e-mail messages, I cannot send any outgoing messages. Attempts to send produce the following message: “The message could not be sent because the server rejected the sender’s e-mail address…Server Response: 530 Authentication required”. I have tried a different brand of phone (ZTE 850) which functions as a standard modem and dials the OzEmail 0198379000 number with no trouble. Contacting my ISP, the phone manufacturer, and Telstra have not resolved the problem, each suggesting that I contact the other two. The computer is an Acer Aspire laptop computer running Windows XP SP2. (more…)

My computer is connected to the internet through an ADSL model. Every time I install a Windows Update and reboot, my ADSL modem refuses to work and I am unable to connect to the internet. The only workaround for this issue is to disconnect the modem from the power source and USB, then use System Restore to restore the PC to a point before the update was installed. Then, after the PC has restarted, reconnect the ADSL modem. How can I stop this problem from occurring? The computer is running Windows XP Professional SP2. (more…)

Ever since installing a new modem, the computer exhibits some really strange behaviour. Without any user intervention the computer turns itself on, however if the modem is disconnected from the computer it will not turn itself on. When the computer turns itself on, and I attempt to establish an internet connection, a message appears stating that the modem is in use, however the phone line is clear. If I restart the computer I can establish an internet connection without a problem. Once on the internet, web pages load very slowly and occasionally Internet Explorer cannot even access these web pages and returns a message ‘Site not available’. However, if I try to access the site immediately again the problem does not occur. The computer is running Windows XP with ZoneAlarm firewall. (more…)

When Windows starts a message appears saying ‘Cannot register with sm56 driver. Press OK to exit’. The problem only began to occur after installing Norton Antivirus 2005. The computer is running Windows XP. (more…)

When attempting to dial a connection to my ISP, the following message appears: ‘The modem is not responding properly. Please verify that the modem is plugged into the computer and to the telephone line’. When I try again, another message appears: ‘You have been disconnected from the computer you dialled’. On checking the device’s tab, there is a plus next to modem. I have checked all the plugs and everything is connected. The modem is an internal modem. The computer is running Windows 98 with Internet Explorer 5. (more…)