PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE AND WE'LL GET BACK TO YOU.
InterNet Access Network ( )
Fri, 23 Apr 1999 08:40:57 -0400
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>Free Internet Tip of the Day:
>
>PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE AND WE'LL GET BACK TO YOU.
>
> Phone companies are always looking for new ways to make
>money. Most are now offering a slew of extra services, for an
>extra fee of course. Some of these services, such as voice
>mail and call-waiting can be very helpful, but it's important
>to know how they will affect your use of the Internet.
> Voice mail is a service you can purchase where the phone
>company acts as your answering machine. If somebody
>tries to call you while you're using the phone or you're away
>from the phone, voice mail takes over and the caller is asked
>to leave a message.
> Some voice mail systems alert you to the fact that you
>have messages waiting by beeping in the telephone handset
>when you pick up the phone. This can possibly cause problems
>when you try to dial into the Internet.
> When you sit down at your computer and try to dial into
>your Internet Provider, the first thing that your modem does is
>listen on the phone line to see if there is a dial tone (the
>tone you normally hear when you pick up the phone to dial). If
>the modem hears the dial tone it knows that the line is
>available and that it can dial out.
> If the modem does not initially hear the dial tone, it
>assumes that either somebody else is using the phone
>(possibly on another extension in the house or office), or
>that it is not plugged into the phone system.
> The problem that some people encounter is that when they
>attempt to dial into the Internet, the modem gets confused by
>the voice mail system. Rather than hearing a dial tone, the
>modem hears a series of tones from the voice mail system, which
>are alerting you to waiting messages. The modem has no idea
>what the tones mean, but it does know that it didn't hear the
>dial tone. Usually at this point the modem gives up and sends
>you an error message that says something like "Unable to dial,
>no dial tone".
> Although this situation can be very confusing at first,
>the problem is easily solved by first listening to your
>voice mail messages and then dialing into the Internet.
> If you have questions about how your voice mail system
>works, contact your phone company. Your ISP will also be
>able to make suggestions of how voice mail and the Internet
>can coexist peacefully.
>
>On Monday we will discuss how call-waiting affects your modem.
>
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>
>Web Site of the Day:
>
>You can learn a lot more about how modems work by visiting
>Curt's High Speed Modem Page.
>
>http://www.teleport.com/~curt/modems.html
>
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Dayton, OH