From: Floyd Davidson <floyd@ptialaska.net>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: satallite link
Date: 02 Sep 2000 04:47:06 -0800

"Sandy Merry" <sandy@themerrys.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>Can anyone help?
>My firm uses a satellite phone system and I have found it impossible to
>connect my modem via this system. There is a delay  (approx 2 -3 sec)
>between dialling for an outside line and final connection. The modem doesn't
>seem to be able to cope with this.
>Is there a fix
>thanks

Clearly some satellite systems work quite well, as I am
definitely at the end of a satellite link.

Delay between dialing and connection is normal, and 2-3 seconds
is a rather short delay, which leads me to suspect that isn't
what you really wanted to say.  Do you mean delay between dialing
an access digit (such as 9) and getting a second dial tone to
indicate that you have an outside line?

If so, there is an easy fix.

The proper way to dial through a dialtone is to tell the modem
to wait for the dialtone before continuing to dial.  Except not
all modems can do that... in which case the modem should be
commanded to wait long enough to almost guarantee a dialtone.
Read the documentation for your modem to get the commands for
your specific modem, but commonly a 'W' in the dial string will
cause a wait for dialtone, and a ',' will cause approximately a
1 second delay.  Hence two dial strings you might try are:

  ATDTW9W19075551212

to dial 9-1-907-555-1212

or

  ATDT9,,,,19075551212

which dials the same number, but assumes that the first dial tone
will be available immediately, but waits 4 seconds for a second
dialtone after the 9 is dialed.

  Floyd

--
Floyd L. Davidson                          floyd@barrow.com
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)