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Now They Tell Me!
Aug. 28th, 2007 08:16 amI'm still a cheap fellow who uses dial-up with modem for most of his communication needs. In particular, I use the very acceptable 550access.com ISP service which charges $5.50 for 150 hours of on-line time per month. With the occasional wi-fi connection at a coffeehouse or other open node, five hours a day of dial-up is usually just about right for me.
Of course, one of the big problems is that dial-up ties up a line and can make your friends rather cranky if all they get is a busy phone line. Now I have a cell to route around that problem but still some folks only have my land line and so that can make for a problem.
So to resolve that problem I bought a device called "Catch-a-Call" that uses the call-waiting function to light up a little box on my desk when someone or something is calling me. After answering the phone, I have a few critical seconds to decide if I want to continue the conversation before the dial-up connection is dropped.
When I started using my laptop in the kitchen I didn't have a direct connection to the original "Catch-a-Call" box and was too lazy to plug in the new box I picked up at Walgreens for $10. I just plugged in and turned the call waiting off in my dial-up setup. After getting a couple of important calls in the last couple days, I realized that maybe it would be a good idea to get wired properly in the kitchen too. So I sliced open the near impenetrable plastic, found some extra phone line and did the deed. Made a dial-up connection and then called myself via the cell phone.
The little red light went off with a relay clicking sound as anticipated but what also happened was that I had a dialog box pop up on my screen asking me if I wanted to answer the phone or if I wanted to stay on line! It turns out that my Toshiba laptop has some software installed that takes advantage of the newer features of v.92 modem technology that allows for a software alert for incoming call-waiting supported calls. The software is called "v.92 Modem on Hold (MoH)". Doh!
Time to put the new gizmo back into the highly secure plastic packaging for another day.
Of course, one of the big problems is that dial-up ties up a line and can make your friends rather cranky if all they get is a busy phone line. Now I have a cell to route around that problem but still some folks only have my land line and so that can make for a problem.
So to resolve that problem I bought a device called "Catch-a-Call" that uses the call-waiting function to light up a little box on my desk when someone or something is calling me. After answering the phone, I have a few critical seconds to decide if I want to continue the conversation before the dial-up connection is dropped.
When I started using my laptop in the kitchen I didn't have a direct connection to the original "Catch-a-Call" box and was too lazy to plug in the new box I picked up at Walgreens for $10. I just plugged in and turned the call waiting off in my dial-up setup. After getting a couple of important calls in the last couple days, I realized that maybe it would be a good idea to get wired properly in the kitchen too. So I sliced open the near impenetrable plastic, found some extra phone line and did the deed. Made a dial-up connection and then called myself via the cell phone.
The little red light went off with a relay clicking sound as anticipated but what also happened was that I had a dialog box pop up on my screen asking me if I wanted to answer the phone or if I wanted to stay on line! It turns out that my Toshiba laptop has some software installed that takes advantage of the newer features of v.92 modem technology that allows for a software alert for incoming call-waiting supported calls. The software is called "v.92 Modem on Hold (MoH)". Doh!
Time to put the new gizmo back into the highly secure plastic packaging for another day.
