Make sure that the phone cord doesn't twist around power cords or monitor cables, these emit lots of electromagnetic noise which can cause line noise. Try unplugging everything and watching the connect speed to see if it improves. If it does improve use trial and error to find the device that is causing the slowdown. If you still experience problems, try moving the computer to a different phone jack in your house. If you suspect your modem may be bad, try taking your computer to a friend's house where you know you can expect a good connection, or bring a modem that you know works to your house and see how it connects.
Load coils prevent excessive noise on phone lines by filtering the line above a certain frequency.
This works great for voice lines, but cuts off frequencies that your modem needs to connect at high speeds. There is no good solution for this situation, since the phone equipment needs to be relplaced with new equipment before it will improve. You can read more on load coils at the Unofficial Portmaster Repository . All rights reserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.