Prevent hangup when phone picked up? 1

[sbaker899]

I was wondering if anyone has any idea how to prevent the behaviour whereby when the phone is picked up (connected to same line as 56k modem), the modem simply drops the line. This can be frustrating and I so far failed to find a solution, any help is appreciated!

My OS is Windows XP.

 

[pansophic]

This is normal behavior. Is there a reason that you think that the modem should be able to maintain its connection?

There is a timer that allows you to survive several second interruptions. Check the S10 register on your modem, or set it in the init string to be something long, like 250. That will allow you to sustain a 25 second loss of carrier before disconnecting. Of course that only protects your end. If the other end has a short timer, then it won't make any difference at all.

S10=250

Good luck!


pansophic

 

[sbaker899]

I realise that it's normal behaviour, but I was basically just looking for a way to get around the problem of other people picking up the phone without realising the Internet is in use and ending the connection.

Thanks a lot for your help, I will try this if you could just point me to where abouts in the connection properties the "S10=250" needs to be entered?

But if my ISP has the S10 setting lower then there is nothing I can do about this?

 

[pansophic]

Open a Hyperterminal window to your modem and enter:

AT S10=?

to find out what value is being set by Windows. You could set the proper value here, and save it to your non-volatile configuraion using AT&W. But it may be reset by Windows if that driver specifies an AT&F in the initialization.

I believe that the default in modern modems is 200, which is 20 seconds. Is the phone staying off hook that long?

If not, then your ISP probably sets theirs down. If that is the case, then you are right. There is nothing that you can do about it.


pansophic

 

[sbaker899]

I have just tried entering "AT S10=?" in Hyperterminal and the value returned is "000". Since there are no Windows XP drivers available for my modem, I simply have it installed as "56k Data Fax Modem PnP".

Sorry to keep asking these questions, but how do I set the value from here/save it to the non-volatile configuration using AT&W? When you say that Windows may reset the value, do you mean when rebooted or just any point during use? If rebooted then perhaps a batch file or something could be used to set the value every time.

 

[pansophic]

To save a new value, set S10 to what you would like, and then type AT&W. That should save it to your non-volitile memory in your modem. Some modems require that you specify the configuration to save it under, so AT&W0 should work in that case.

If you can close Hyperterminal, open it again and the value hasn't changed, then you are probably OK (provided that you are opening it by TAPI name rather than COM port number). If you can power down and it is OK when you power back up (actually shut the machine off), then you are OK as well.

The "right" way to do it is to go into the Control Panel, select Phone and Modem Options, pick your modem and change the Initialization string under Properties (I think). I don't have a Windows computer handy to give you exact directions. Maybe someone else out there can help??


pansophic