Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: 72307.1502@compuserve.com (GORDON MEYER)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Breaking the Dial Tone
Message-ID: <3542@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 6 Feb 90 03:35:26 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 77, message 4 of 5


I have a re-occurring "problem" on my home phone line that I can't
quite figure out.  I use my modem to dial out nightly. At least once a
night (but often 2 or 4 times a night) I have a problem with the
disable call waiting feature (accessed by dialing #70 in my service
area (Centel, suburban Chicago)).  What happens is that my modem will
dial using a #70wXXXXXXX command which is supposed to wait for a
second dial tone before dialing the full number, this way call-waiting
is suspended.  The problem is that sometimes it dials the #70, the
phone gives three short beeps (there's probably a name for this signal
but I'm sort of new to telephony) then a short period of silence until
the second dial tone kicks in.

Now all is expected so far, but when my modem dials the rest of the
string the dial tone continues.  In other words, it's as if the switch
is now deaf to the rest of sequence.  If I try again it usually works
fine...but then later that same night the problem may occur again. 

I suppose it could be the modem (a Supra 2400) but I've never had a
problem like this at other locations.  I don't try to disable call
waiting on voice calls so I'm not sure if the same thing happens when
using the phone.  I've reported the problem to Centel but they say
they can't duplicate the problem. (BTW - I reported this a 6:30 pm
Friday night; a repairman called my back at 7 pm to get some more info
from me, and then called me again Sunday morning at 7 am (*#*$#!) to
tell me nothing was found!)

Any suggestions or comments from Telecom readers?

GRM
72307.1502@Compuserve.com

[Moderator's Note: It sounds to me like occassionally the CO is
sending you the 'wrong' dial tone. In the past, when there was very
little they could do about it, everyone could use touch tone, whether
they paid for it or not. Now they can give you dial tone from one
place or another, depending on what you are paying for. Assuming you
are in fact paying for touch tone service, one of the paths extended
to you for your call is either faulty, misprogrammed, or belongs to
rotary dial customers. I will answer in detail later on; but if you
have a second physical line there, I'd suggest next time it happens
you put the line on hold, call Repair and get them to trace it. I'd
venture a guess if someone in the CO can get their hands on it in
time, before it drops, they'll find this to be the case. This is very
definitly a CO problem, and nothing to do with your modem. To prove
this, next time it happens, go off hook with your phone and try your
own touch tone pad. They won't work either! The tones will sound, but
the CO will, as you put it, be 'deaf'.  PT]