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From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.dcom
Subject: Re: Telco Hassles
Message-ID: <845@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-Oct-85 23:57:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.845
Posted: Mon Oct 21 23:57:40 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Oct-85 05:59:07 EDT
References: <1125@ulysses.UUCP>
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 29

It's certainly true that the 202 is half duplex and that you cannot
get a positive indication of hangup simply from "loss of carrier."
However, in the case we're talking about, it doesn't matter.  We were
told that the far end reset and hung up its modems at a fixed interval.
This action ALONE, regardless of what the other end does with ITS
modem, will break down the phone connection and stop charging.

If party A calls party B and party B hangs up (more than 15
to 30 seconds or so) the call will be terminated.  Party A might
still have his or her "phone" off hook (if they were a brain-damaged
202 modem, for example) but it'll just be looking into a dial tone
or (shortly thereafter) a dialtone timeout siren or recording.
The point is that when party A hangs up, the call is broken down
immediately.  If party B hangs up but party A stays offhook, the call
will STILL break down (and charging stopped) after a relatively few
seconds.  It doesn't matter what party A does at that point.

The only case where this doesn't happen is in local calls in extremely
old-style step-by-step telephone exchanges, which are few and far between
these days.  In particular, the sequence I outlined above will
definitely break down calls on any conventional long distance
circuits, including international circuits, of course.

So, if it is indeed true that party B definitely hung up its modems
every 8 hours or so, the 24 hour+ phone call could only
be explained by a telco billing error, regardless of the type of
software or modems in use.

--Lauren--