Connect faster than 28.8??

[Redih]

I recently moved to a rural area of the U.S. and the fastest I can get my connection to go is 28.8. I stopped using my winmodem and bought a serial modem, it says I connect at 57600, but I still only get 2.5kbs download tops. I've called up my isp (MSN, my parents pay for it and I'm a broke college student with no job) and they say it's because the phone lines have static in them. I don't know whether or not they are lying, and I have tried the 3 different access #'s they gave me. I then talked my parents into trying a different isp (hereintown.net) a local isp, but that did no good either. Cable isn't available in my area, and satellite internet is $99 a month, which is a tad bit to much.

I've tried searching the web for accelerators etc, but nothing really works, and you just get bombarded with sales pitches. I was wondering if anybody had a tip or something that would allow me to connect at 33.6 or 56k, anything to get over the 28.8 barrier would be awesome. I dual boot WinXP Prof, and Mandrake 9.2. It's a US Robotics 56k serial modem I bought off ebay (Cendyne is the name it has on it). I bought the modem for 7 dollars (shipping included), and it fixed my driver problem in linux, so I can't complain about it.

If you have any suggestions/tips, it would be much appreciated.

[Strogian]

it says I connect at 57600,

that's definitely a port speed, not connection speed

your phone lines are probably bad.

different modems may work better -- US robotics are good for bad lines, from what i remember

(don't buy anything you can't return though)

[gehidore]

call your phone company or a friend in an urban area and get a phone line filter to limit static that should help a little, and have you ever seen 56k go above 4.6kps? when you werent sitting right next to the local isp server?