Hi Steve

In theory the COM number shouldn't have any bearing on line speed. It's only got to number 4 presumably because you may have tried re-installing the modem and Windows doesn't understand that you want to use the same COM port not a new one. There are normally only 2 physical ports on a PC known as COM1 and 2 but you can have several software COM ports. In theory it is possible to force Windows back to COM1 but the only way I found to do it was uninstall anything that might want to use the COM port then use the Control Panel to delete the port. I then went into the BIOS and temporarily make the COM port inactive. After a reboot I went back to the BIOS and reactivated the port and Windows put it back ready to be used as COM1.

Bear in mind that I did all that when I was work, it wasn't my PC and it didn't matter if I broke it. I think I would hesitate if it was MY mother-in-law!

I would be more inclined to blame the telephone company. Get them to check the line and tell them that it is used extensively for a modem. It could be that they need to turn up the gain or reduce the noise.