How to configure ADSL modem to auto dial on startup & auto reconnect upon disconnection (XP/Vista)

On one of my machines I use an ADSL USB modem instead of a router. Unlike a router, this modem uses a dial up connection to connect to the internet – it does not automatically connect to the net when the system is booted up and nor does it automatically reconnect if the line is dropped. For those who are used to (or prefer) automated connection/re-connection, this can be pretty painful. This article tells you how to configure your dial up connection to auto connect at startup & to auto redial upon disconnection.

How to configure your ADSL modem to automatically connect at startup

For this to work, you need to have your dial up connection set up and username, password and phone number saved on the connection.

On Windows XP:

1. Open Control Panel and open Network Connections
2. Dial up and LAN connections you have created on your machine will be listed. Find the dial up connection you want to auto dial on startup, right click it and select properties.
3. Open the ‘Options’ tab. Uncheck the checkbox that says ‘Prompt for name, password, certificate, etc”. Also uncheck the ‘Prompt for phone number’ checkbox.
4. Press ok to close the options dialog.
5. Back in the Network Connections window, right click the dial up connection you just modified and click ‘create a shortcut’. Allow the shortcut to be placed on desktop as per the warning message.
6. Cut the shortcut from the desktop and paste it in your Start Menu—>Startup folder.

On Windows Vista

1. Open control panel and open Network and sharing center
2. From the list of options on the left panel, choose ‘manage network connections’. Dial up and LAN connections you have created on your machine will be listed. Find the dial up connection you want to auto dial on startup, right click it and select properties.
3. Steps 3 and onwards are the same for both Windows XP and Vista (follow instructions for XP method above)

How to configure your dial up connection to automatically redial if disconnected

On Windows XP

1. Open Control Panel and open Network Connections
2. Dial up and LAN connections you have created on your machine will be listed. Find the dial up connection you want to auto dial on startup, right click it and select properties.
3. Open the ‘Options’ tab. Under redial options, set the number of redial attempts to a number greater than 0 (something like 3 or 5 will do)
4. Set time between redial attempts to 30 seconds (some modems take some time to re-initialize after disconnection)
5. Check the ‘Redial if line is dropped’ check box and click ok to save and close the dialog box.
6. OPTIONAL: You may want to change your power saver settings so that the PC never auto switches to standby mode. Sometimes the computer go on standby before dial up networking can establish a new connection (if line dropped during an idle period).

On Windows Vista

1. Open control panel and open Network and sharing center
2. From the list of options on the left panel, choose ‘manage network connections’. Dial up and LAN connections you have created on your machine will be listed. Find the dial up connection you want to auto dial on startup, right click it and select properties.
3. Steps 3 and onwards are the same for both Windows XP and Vista (follow instructions for XP method above)

Here is a screenshot of how your dial up connection should be configured for auto dialup and auto re-connect.

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