Re: tlug: Modem question

["Jonathan Byrne" <jpmag@example.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Manuel Chakravarty <chak@example.com>

>This question is not really Linux specific, but I stumbled
>over it when configuring my PPP scripts.  If I am in a
hotel
>with my NotePC (running Linux of course ;-) and I want to
>dial out, then usually I have to prepend a 0 to get out of
>the hotel's local telephone system and get the usual dial
>tone.


Perhaps someone will have an arcane technique for faking out
a modem to dial through a PBX, but you're probably out of
luck on this one. Modems can't deal with a PBX, and
unfortunately, most hotels are computer-unfriendly in this
regard.  In our offices (we're an ISP) we also have a PBX,
so for testing purposes we actually had to have a normal
ISDN line put in.

If the hotel has a business center, try going there to see
if they either have a clear line (or better still, Ethernet)
you can plug into, or a computer you can use.  Failing that,
take your computer and go find an ISDN public phone (the
gray ones) and plug the line from your modem into the RJ-11
socket on the phone.  The phone's LCD has instructions in
English and Japanese on how to use it, and you can connect
to  your ISP that way.  It's not very comfortable compared
to dialing from your room, but unfortunately is often the
only alternative.

Another alternative is to get either an Alpha Data 32 PHS or
PIAFS PHS and the appropriate PC card to go with it.  I
don't know if there are any combo cards that work with both,
and I also don't know if those work with Linux or not.  If
they work with Linux and if you can only get one, I'd
recommend Alpha Data 32.  The reason why is that Alpha Data
32 is ISDN compatible and you can dial into your ISP's
synchronous (64K/128K - it doesn't work with async
38.4K/57.6) ISDN number and connect at 32 Kbps.  PIAFS, on
the other hand, requires an ISP to buy additional equipment
in order to make it work, so many have been hesitant to
support it.  We just recently began deploying PIAFS support
and have it at only a few of our access points, whereas we
have ISDN at nearly all of them.  Most other ISPs seem to be
this way too.

I hope this helps, even if it's not exactly good news.

Jonathan

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