Tony Harminc <TONY@mcgill1.bitnet> (06/06/91)
> [Moderator's Note: And while Toby is answering that, here is another > question: how come US Robotics has a condition you can set which > allows for 'quick dialing', or dialing without waiting the obligitory > two seconds before starting? From another writer: > Also, I have heard of, but never heard officially, of a telco > tariff which requires that autodialers not retry the same number more > than ten times in a row automatically. This lead to: a) some > crippled terminal programs which won't do more than ten retries before > having to be restarted, and b) crippled hardware -- my DUoFone 195 (an > old Radio Shack gadget) has an auto redialer which keeps trying till > there's no more busy. But it will only try a maximum of ten times. > Of course, this is all obsolete now, in the days of Call Return, where > the Network does it for you. Well - referring to the bible (for Canada at least) I find: (conveniently the same section covers both these matters) Definitions: AUTOMATIC DIALING The process of dialing the nth (n greater than 1) in a series of calls which is not interrupted by human stimuli to initiate each call attempt. Calls must be to different numbers ("repertory", "random", or "sequential"). AUTOMATIC REDIALING The process of repeatedly and automatically dialing the same number (last number called). For the purpose of this document, Automatic Calling Units under external computer control, and emergency alarm dialers are not considered to automatically redial. OK - now to the *real* bureaucratese: 3.18 Automatic Dialing and Automatic Redialing 3.18.1 Requirements Terminal equipment shall comply with the following requirements: 1) Audible or visual indication shall be provided during automatic redialing. 2) a) Automatic redialing to any individual number shall be limited to 10 successive call attempts. b) If a pause of at least 60 s is provided between the completion of one call attempt and the initiation of the next call attempt, then up to 15 call attempts may be made to any individual number. The dialer shall return to the on hook (idle) state after 15 call attempts to any individual number and remain on hook until manually reactivated. 3) If the called number does not answer, the dialer shall return to the on hook state within 120 s of the commencement of dialing. 4) Sequential dialers shall only dial once to any individual number before proceeding to dial another number. 5) Network addressing signals shall be transmitted no earlier than: a) 70 ms after receipt of dial tone at the network interface OR b) 0.6 s after automatically going off hook (for single line equipment that does not use dial tone detectors) OR c) 70 ms after receipt of central office ground start at the network interface. < section 6 dealing with the rules after you have applied simulated lightning strikes and so on to your dialer omitted :-) > ------------------- (The bible here is DOC document CS-03, available from the Department of Communications in Ottawa (or your local regional office)). I posted the address a couple of weeks ago. BTW, please don't order this stuff just for fun - although it is "free", we hard working taxpayers end up paying for it. Order it if you have a genuine use for it.) So it looks as though there is no need for *any* delays if your modem is under "external computer control". Also, the required dialing delay is much less than two seconds; even if you don't listen for dial tone you can dial after 0.6 seconds. Caveat: my copy of CS-03 is getting rather old (1988). Things may have changed since then. Tony H.