rdvisit@tty3b.UUCP (10/10/83)
About 6 months ago I bought a US Robotics 212A modem so that I could
call UNIX from home at a resonable speed. The UNIX systems do not have
a direct outside number for access. Teletype has a Dimension PBX and so
you must use the remote access number for the PBX. This means (for those
unfamiliar) that I must dial 14 digits 111-1111,2222,333. The first
7 are for the local office to route me to the Teletype PBX. I then get
a second dial tone and must dial the second 4 digits to gain access to the
PBX. I then get a third dial tone and I dial the last 3 digits which are
the PBX extension for the UNIX system. All this works fine if I use the
tone pad of my phone, but if I use the USR modems auto-dial capability it
often fails. The modem dials through the local office just fine but seems
to have problems breaking the dial tone of the PBX. I have monitored the
line as the modem is dialing and I have the proper delays programmed.
I thought it might be that the modem can't drive the 10 miles (as the crow
flies) of copper so I took it to work and tried it. I used the modem to
dial out and then back in again through the PBX, and it still didn't work.
I have tried switching the polarity of the line at the modem also. I talked
to some people at USR and they were very pleasant but of no help. Basically
because they wouldn't let me talk to an engineer. Some times I wish there
were a special phone number at every company which would connect you with
an engineer instead of a sales person. ("But all I want to do is talk to
a fellow engineer who understands the problem!") Anyway, all I've gotten
from USR is "it doesn't sound like our problem, but we'd be interested
to know the solution.". I tried to talk to some Bell people too but they
would not answer any technical questions.
It seems to me it is either a level problem or a frequency problem.
If anyone knows the tolerances required by the Dimension or can help me
with my engineering curiosity I would really appreciate it. Also, I would
be curious to know if anyone else has the same problem.
Andy Rolfe
Teletype Corp.
CORENET 362-3202
..!otuxa!tty3b!yellow!arrfair@ucbvax.UUCP (10/12/83)
Just one comment: Where I work as a Software Engineer, anyone foolish
enough to ask for an engineer will get shunted to customer service,
because otherwise I spend 85% of my day answering silly ass questions from
thick customers, and I don't get any work done. Thus can I sympathize with
U.S. Robotics' Policy. However, the proper solution is to have a competant
customer service department. If USR doesn't pay attention to this, they
will sell fewer modems.
BTW, we have a USR as the dial out on our main system, and it did not work
properly when it came (would pulse dial, but not tone dial). Turned out to
be the main chip inside the box was not properly seated in its socket.
Reseated it, and have had no problems since.
Erik E. Fair ucbvax!fair fair@ucb-arpa.ARPA
{ucbvax,amd70,zehntel,unisoft}!dual!fair
Dual Systems Corporation