You have ensured that the telephone
extension you are using in the hotel will work with the modem in your laptop,
but it still won’t connect! This is probably because the hotel's telephone
system is of an older, mechanical style.
The modem in the modern laptop computer
dials the required telephone number at speed, often confusing the telephone
system to which you are connected. The result? A failed call.
One solution is to slow down the speed at
which the modem sends the numbers to the telephone system. This can be
achieved by inserting a comma between some or all of the digits in the
telephone number to be dialled. This is particularly important if you need to
dial "9" or some other digit to obtain an outside line. Some systems
require the receipt of dial tone from the outside line before accepting further
digits. Without this pause, the call may fail.
Next month’s
edition will carry a piece on Dial-Up Networking which will provide further
help.
