[comp.dcom.modems] the "Transparency" of MNP...

CS117341@YUSol.BITNET (Norman) (12/05/89)

Hello all,

In a previous posting, I mentioned that MNP didn't seem to be very
transparent...

I received the following message from Bjorn Sjoholm:

>>Oh, on a (slightly) related note, I've noticed that when connecting
>>to non-MNP modems with MNP enabled on the T2500 results in an
>>unusable connection.  Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought MNP was
>>supposed to be a transparent protocol negotiated by both modems
>>after they connect.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

>       I have the same problem using Microcom AX/2424c Modems which
>       are MNP class 5. After days of struggling with the problem
>       I noticed, in the manual entry
>       for "AT\N", that when operating in "AT\N3"-mode (auto-reliable)
>       the modem needs 12 seconds (!) to drop down to normal mode!
>       The solution is to always use "AT\N0"-mode when calling
>       non-MNP modems.
>
>       Hope this helps,
>
>                       Bjorn

I checked the T2500 manual, and when you set S95=2 (auto-reliable), the modem
will attempt to connect with MNP for 4 second.  If it cannot negotiate MNP
within that time, it will fall back to non-reliable mode.

Unfortunately, when I try this, the modem does indeed take about 4 seconds
to show a CONNECT, however, at this point the modem doesn't seem to respond
to anything typed from the keyboard.  After 20 to 30 seconds, the connection
is dropped.

I suppose the only solution is to turn off MNP when you know the modem
on the other end is non-MNP.

*sigh*

Norman
cs117341@yusol.Bitnet                    cs117341@sol.YorkU.CA
cs117341%yusol@mivma.mit.edu             cs117341%yusol@cunyvm.cuny.edu

joe@junkyard.UUCP (Joseph Sarkes) (12/06/89)

In article <89Dec4.212759est.57389@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>, CS117341@YUSol.BITNET (Norman) writes:
> >>Oh, on a (slightly) related note, I've noticed that when connecting
> >>to non-MNP modems with MNP enabled on the T2500 results in an
> >>unusable connection.  Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought MNP was
> >>supposed to be a transparent protocol negotiated by both modems
> >>after they connect.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

My understanding of what is happening is that if the machine being called
is set up to echo (full duplex) characters sent to it, it is quite easy
for the mnp modem to get confused and assume that it is talking to another
mnp modem, and then just gets hung in trying to talk mnp to the other
modem, which is just echoing what the mnp modem is transmitting for
negotiation. Thus the non mnp modem "looks" just like an mnp modem that
is sending the negotiation data. Are you confused yet????

Joseph Sarkes	(junkyard!joe)

bei@puzzle.UUCP (Bob Izenberg) (12/06/89)

In article <89Dec4.212759est.57389@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca> CS117341@YUSol.BITNET (Norman) writes:

>I suppose the only solution is to turn off MNP when you know the modem
>on the other end is non-MNP.
>
The MNP Class 5 on the AT&T 2224CEO caused uucp 'g' to choke, and the other
end would get a SIGNAL 1 or an IN SEND/SLAVE MODE INPUT FAILURE.  Turning it
off let data through with only the usual line problems...
There's such a thing as a too-smartmodem.
-- Bob
-- 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     Bob Izenberg [ ] Ralph Kirkley Associates
         attctc!puzzle!bei  (or)   cs.utexas.edu!ibmchs!auschs!evil-ed!bei
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

jobrien@nixbur.UUCP (John O'Brien) (12/09/89)

one other "non-transparent" feature I noticed with MNP is what happened
when I tried to do a kermit file transfer.  The reason I was using kermit
was that I was transferring a large number of files and I didn't want to
have to type in all those file names.  When I tried to do the transfer,
the modem locked up and had to be reset.  The problem was that kermit uses
^a (ctrl-a) as a packet header, and MNP uses ^a for something, too.  When
I set the start of packet header to ^b instead, the transfer worked, although
it was slower than straight text transfer.  Is there any software file trans-
fer protocol that works with MNP?

				John F. O'Brien