Windows 98 Dialup Networking

This page contains advanced information about configuring your Windows 98 computer to make a modem connection to UIUCnet Dialup.

This page provides more configuration information than the Quick Start, including directions for manually configuring your DNS and WINS server information if the dialup connection has difficulty auto-detecting it. A printable Adobe PDF version is also available.

What you'll need to know

Some things you'll need to know to configure your machine to connect to campus dialup services include:

Dialup phone numbers

The following numbers are used for dialup access to the campus network:

Speed Access Phone Number
56Kb/s V.90/Kflex Premier subscribers only 239-7252
56Kb/s V.90/Kflex available to all authorized users 333-3700
56Kb/s V.90/Kflex available to all authorized users, limit of 15 minutes per call 244-4976

On campus users: If you’re calling from on campus, add a 9 before the telephone number.

If all the restricted-use phone lines are busy, they will redirect automatically into the 333-3700 (all users) pool. If all 333-3700 lines are also busy, you may receive a busy signal. (The exception is the Premier service, which is designed not to have busy signals. If you receive a busy signal from the Premier line, contact the Operations Center.)

Configuring Windows 98 to connect to UIUCnet Dialup services

Configuring your location information

Under the Start menu, select Settings, then Control Panel. In the window which appears, double-click the Modems button. You should see a window like this:

Modems Properties window

(If there is no modem installed, look here for installation instructions.)

In this window, click the Dialing Properties button. This produces a window like the following. (Although the layout may vary slightly, the information requested is the same.)

Dialing Properties window

Local and long-distance calls:

Define the location from which you will dial up most often. For many people, this location will be Champaign-Urbana, so the area code information will not be necessary. However, some people may dial up most often from outside the 217 area code; those people should make sure their home area code is displayed in the area code box.

If you are dialing in from an on-campus (office or residence hall) phone, you'll need to enter 9, (9 and a comma) in the "For local calls, dial" box. Otherwise, the modem will get through the first five numbers of the phone number and the UIUC phone system will handle it as an on-campus extension and either return an error or ring through to the person who has that five-number extension. Dialing 9 first will make sure you can dial all the numbers of the modem lines (and any disabling-call-waiting codes necessary from your location).

Call waiting:

Call waiting may or may not be enabled on the phone from which you are calling. See your telephone provider's service contract for details. However, if call waiting is enabled on your phone, you should temporarily disable it while you are online. Otherwise, an incoming call can cause problems for your network connection.

Calling cards:

For more information on using dialup with calling cards, see the Calling Cards page.

After you've entered your location information here, click OK. You will return to the Modems Properties page. Click OK again. You should be back at the desktop.

Configuring a dialup entry

Next, you'll create a dialup connection and configure it.

For Windows 95, from the Start Button select Programs -> Accessories -> Dial-Up Networking
For Windows 98, from the Start Button select Programs -> Accessories -> Communications -> Dial-Up Networking

You should see a window like this (with or without the My Connection icon):

Dial-up networking window

Double-click the Make New Connection icon. This produces a New Connection window. You can either accept the default connection name or rename it; then click Next.

The second New Connection screen looks like this:

Make New Connection window

Enter 217 in the area code field if you are dialing from outside the 217 area code.

Put your preferred phone number from the campus dialup phone numbers in the telephone number field. (Remember that any user-restricted lines will switch over to the main line if the restricted lines are all busy.)

Speed Access Phone Number
56Kb/s V.90/Kflex Premier subscribers only 239-7252
56Kb/s V.90/Kflex available to all authorized users 333-3700
56Kb/s V.90/Kflex available to all authorized users, limit of 15 minutes per call 244-4976

Also, if you usually dial from a location which needs an initial 9 to connect to an external phone line (such as an office, dorm, or hotel), add 9, to the beginning of your phone number (for example, 9,333-3700).

Click Next, then Finish.

Assigning DNS server information to your new connection (optional)

Note: In most cases, you shouldn't need to manually assign the DNS server addresses; your computer should automatically detect them. For that reason, this step was not documented in the short version. However, if you've experienced problems connecting with the quick configuration, you can add the following information to your dialup configuration.

There will be a new dialup icon in the Dial-Up Networking window. Right-click (click with the right mouse button) on the icon, and select Properties from the menu which appears.

You will see a window like the following, although the General tab may be displayed first and you may or may not have a Multilink tab in the window you see. If you click on the Server Types tab, these options will be available:

Connection properties

The type of dialup server should be PPP.

Only two check boxes should be checked:

Enable Software Compression
and
TCP/IP.

If any other check boxes are selected, un-check them.

Next, click the TCP/IP Settings button. This produces a window like the following:

"TCP/IP settings" window

You can also obtain the DNS server information automatically if you wish. If so, make sure "Obtain DNS server information automatically" is selected, click OK until you return to the desktop, and skip down to "Starting a session" below.

However, since the DNS information does not bring the WINS information with it automatically, and you may wish to specify WINS information to connect to Windows Network Neighborhood Resources, you can also provide DNS and WINS information as follows:

DNS server IP addresses

128.174.5.58 Primary DNS server
128.174.5.102 Secondary DNS server

WINS server IP addresses

Note that these are optional; you will only need them if you plan to connect to Windows server resources such as printers or Network Neighborhood folders.

128.174.5.30 Primary WINS server
128.174.5.31 Secondary WINS server

Once you've configured the DNS servers (and the WINS servers if you want to use them), click OK. You'll return to the main Properties window; click OK again.

If you want to have a dialup shortcut on your desktop, you can drag and drop the dialup icon you created from the Dial-Up Networking window to your desktop.

You're now finished with the initial configuration.

Starting a dialup session

After you've done the initial configuration, connection is a simple process:

Plug a phone line into your modem and into an analog phone jack in the wall.

If you created a shortcut on the desktop, double-click it. Otherwise:

For Windows 95, from the Start button select Programs -> Accessories -> Dial-Up Networking. Then, in the window that appears, double-click your connection icon.

For Windows 98, from the Start button select Programs -> Accessories -> Communications -> Dial-Up Networking. Then, in the window that appears, double-click your connection icon.

A window like the following will appear:

Connect To window

User name: Give your Network ID.

Password: Give your Network ID password.

Do NOT check "save password."

Click the Connect button.

You will see a window reporting on the progress of the attempts to make a connection. If you connect successfully, you will see a window like the following:

Connected window

You can leave this window visible or click OK. If you click OK, a small network icon (two computers) will appear in the lower right area of your screen, in the task bar. Whenever their screens light up, information is being transmitted over the active connection. At this point, you can check email or web-browse.

When you've finished with your networking session, click the network icon (two computers). It will reopen this connection window in the middle of the screen. When you wish to end your dialup networking session, click Disconnect.

Windows 95/98 modem troubleshooting

If you have not yet installed your modem's drivers, see the installation assistance page for help.

To date, the rest of the CITES Windows 95/98 troubleshooting information is stored in the general modem troubleshooting page.

If the online documentation has not resolved your problem, contact the CITES Help Desk at consult@illinois.edu or 244-7000.