just one question: I got a USRobotics "Sportster MessagePlus" Modem
for dial up internet access and sending Faxes.
It works fine, but after a few days the green "ARQ/FAX" led now blinks
and indicates that someone spoke one or more messages onto it. So it
seems to be in auto answer mode, though the S0 register is "000".

But, this, in my understanding, means, that the modem must not answer
any call, neither fax nor voice. But instead it does.

I already tried to run USR "phone tools" in Wine under Mandriva Linux,
but the relevant functions lead to errors like "not enough memory".

The point is, the standard setting is to answer every call after 4 ring tones and store the information. Either voice message or fax.

And this is definitely not what I want. This is a shared line and other people want to answer incoming calls manually. According to the spec I can set the modem to "Message mode" off via "at +mcs=0", i.e, "message control switch" is off, but, after the next "atz" and switch off and on again it will be "1". So, whenever KPPP makes a dial up internet connection and therefore resets the modem by sending "atz" the the next day when powering on the machines the modem is in "answering machine" mode again.

Hi there,

just one question: I got a USRobotics "Sportster MessagePlus" Modem
for dial up internet access and sending Faxes.
It works fine, but after a few days the green "ARQ/FAX" led now blinks
and indicates that someone spoke one or more messages onto it. So it
seems to be in auto answer mode, though the S0 register is "000".

But, this, in my understanding, means, that the modem must not answer
any call, neither fax nor voice. But instead it does.

B.t.w., I already tried to run USR "phone tools" in Wine under
Mandriva Linux, but the relevant functions lead to errors like "not
enough memory".

Is there an additional register to set or clear to prevent or anable
auto answer mode?

Best regards,

Markus

"Message mode" off via "at +mcs=0", i.e, "message control switch" is
off, but, after the next "atz" and switch off and on again it will be

From the explanation of this model's "SelfMode", it would appear that
USR does not provide a means of disabling AutoAnswer as it defeats the
purpose of this model, ie, answer all incoming calls independent of an
attached PC.

Can you trade this model in for an older, "less-smart", faxmodem ??

Markus R. Keßler <dimke.fax at (no spam) uni.de> wrote

"Message mode" off via "at +mcs=0", i.e, "message control switch" is
off, but, after the next "atz" and switch off and on again it will be
"1". So, whenever KPPP makes a dial up internet connection and
therefore resets the modem by sending "atz" the the next day when
powering on the machines the modem is in "answering machine" mode
again.

Can you stop KPPP sending "atz" to this modem ?

If you can't prevent the modem from answering the phone using software
means, then you could remove its 1uF or 0.47uF 250VAC ringer
capacitor. This will prevent the ring signal from being detected.

Moe Trin wrote:

Yes, there are. But I cannot see any *working nntp server that
provides *http access, that is *read _and_ write, that has the *needed
groups. Maybe such servers exist, but it's hard to find them.

Inquire why port 119 is being blocked. Some entities block it
because of abuse, and get unhappy if the firewall is bypassed.

Some companies try to "intercept" their employess and this is easily
achieved by forcing any network traffic through only one proxy.

Thanks alot - well, after that the modem was permanently in
"non-message" mode, i.e. it did not answer calls automatically,
neither when the workstation is running or not.

But, then kppp (the internet dialup deamon in Mandr* Linux) couldn't
make a proper connection any more...

The log is as follows:

/* ---------------------------------------------------------------- */

# Creatix / Netsurf:
[...]
CONNECT 115200/REL
# This my older modem. It's just 33k6, but it still works.

/* ---------------------------------------------------------------- */

# USR / Netsurf:
ATZ
OK
ATM0L0
OK
ATDT0191122
CONNECT 46666/ARQ

# Connection timeout. No internet connection possible any more.
# I've no clue, why this happens.

daemon.=debug;local2.=info /var/log/ppp.debug

That causes trouble with kppp. It waits for certain messages which
either do not come or they come twice...

Thanks alot - well, after that the modem was permanently in
"non-message" mode, i.e. it did not answer calls automatically,
neither when the workstation is running or not.

You can always restore message mode by using the 'AT&F0' init string
instead of 'ATZ'.

Add the pppd options 'debug dump' to kppp. Make a _copy_ of the file
/etc/syslog.conf for safe keeping, and edit the original to add the
line at the end of the file
killall -HUP sysklogd

Moe Trin wrote:

You can always restore message mode by using the 'AT&F0' init string
instead of 'ATZ'.

That's what I did now. So in the meantime the modem works again and I
found out how to use it in 56k mode with "MessagePlus" mode on, but
reception of faxes aswell as voice mails off:

One thing is puzzling me, though:

Both, Creatix and USRobotics modems only work in 9k6 mode when setting
the maximum speed to 460800 Bit/s. V.90 mode is only possible when
setting the maximum speed to 115200.

Any idea what's behind?

Add the pppd options 'debug dump' to kppp. Make a _copy_ of the
file /etc/syslog.conf for safe keeping, and edit the original to
add the line at the end of the file

killall -HUP sysklogd

Good to know. I'll try this for debugging next time kppp or some modem
makes trouble