MODEM TIPS

AUTHOR : BROADUS WEATHERALL

FROM : MEMPHIS COMMODORE
   USERS CLUB

   This is one of those " thought everybody knew ..." bits of information . For those who do know , it is , of course , obvious . But just think , there had to be a day when you first heard about it . 

What am I talking about ?  Dialing telephone numbers with Hayes ' compatable modems , especially if one has special phone functions such as call waiting or speed dialing . Dialing is most easily accomplished from the TERMINAL MODE in all terminal programs I have tried ( OK , OK , OK , there probably is one that is easy to do from a DIAL MODE , but I haven ' t gotten to it ). All modem commands have to start with AT ( ATtention ), so dialing from a pulse phone would be done with ATDP ( ATtention Dial Pulse ) and then the number , such as ATDP3821864 . If touch tone is available the dialing would be ATDT3821864 ( ATtention Dial Tone ).    Now , all of this is well - known to everybody , right ? Right ! So let ' s get to the Good Stuff ( GS ).    

Call - waiting can play hob with telecommunication , and simply ruin a nice day of downloading . So how can it be turned off ? Well , on pulse phones dial 1170 , wait for the dial tone again ( without hanging up ) and dial the number . Since it takes a second or so to get the second dial tone , the number cannot be run together as 11703821864 , if you try it the lucky thing would be not getting anything , the unlucky thing would be calling long - distance ( 1 +). For tone phones 1170 will turn off call - waiting , or * 70 will do it , too .  ( Now you know what that * does on the phones !)  ( By the way , hanging up will reset the system and call - waiting will be reinstated ). I have not found any terminal program that will accept the * as part of the phone number , so that seems to be out anyway . Nor have I found a terminal program ( now , remember , there might be one ) that will pause between the two numbers that need to be dialed . 

   On Hayes compatable modems the * can be used , AND the modem accepts a comma as a 4 second pause . So dialing the number with call - waiting disabled can be done as ATDT * 70 , 3821864 .  AIN ' T THAT SLICK ?
 
   Speed - dialing is another special feature that the phone company offers to those that feel they have to be on the cutting edge of the dialing game ( like me ). This feature uses a code number for the number to be dialed coupled with the #  ( octothorpe ). For instance , on my phone the CUP ' s number ( 3821864 ) is coded as 9 . So , to dial the CUP I can simply press two buttons , 9 #. This is really speedy , too . Usually by the time I get my finger off the # I can hear the other phone ringing . IT JUST SO HAPPENS that the Hayes ' type modems can also handle the #.  And it works like a charm .    

Nowadays , when I call the CUP I have to disable call - waiting , pause , and ( of course ) use speed - dialing . So the ' number ' I dial looks like - ATDT * 70 , 9 #. See ?    And of course , after going through all this the number is usually busy ! I kind of miss the automatic redial that most terminal programs offer , but redialing takes only two keystrokes ( A /) and no < carriage return >.    You readers have found something new here , and I hope you don ' t make use of a lot of it .  ( HATE busy signals ).