BT's Call Waiting and ppp

Brian Somers brian
Mon Dec 6 23:38:59 GMT 1999


> After several frustrating attempts to d/l a rather large Windows
> driver file for a friend (using FreeBSD) when the modem kept
> dropping the line I finally twigged that it was caused by BT's Call
> Waiting feature, which beeps several times if someone tries to call
> you when you are on a call. It appears that this confuses the modem
> and it drops the line.
> 
> Call Waiting can be cancelled by dialling ``#43#'' but this has 2
> problems when using ppp(8).
> 
> 1. When you dial ``#43#'' you get one of BT's recorded messages; "Call
> Waiting is cancelled, <pause>, Call Waiting is cancelled. If this is
> incorrect, press square after the dial tone" and then the dial tone
> returns.
> 
> I tried changing the ``set phone'' line to ``#43#,,,,,,,08450884100'',
> the commas allowing the message to pass by but unfortunately, as the
> dial tone returns, when ppp(8) dials the number it picks up the line,
> but I just get a message, "the number you have dialled has not been
> recognized......" as presumably the exchange misses the first few
> digits (adding extra zeroes didn't help).
> 
> Is there anyway to make this work with ppp? I don't think that there
> is, but would it be possible to handle this in any way?

What happens if you do something 
like:

 set dial "ABORT BUSY ABORT NO\\sCARRIER ABORT NO\\sDIAL\\sTONE TIMEOUT 4 \
           \"\" ATZ OK-ATZ-OK ATDT#43# TIMEOUT 10 \\d\\d ATDT\\T TIMEOUT 60 \
           CONNECT \\c \\n"

I would have thought this should disable call waiting, hang around 
for 4 seconds (you may need to increase this) and then continue 
dialing.

> 2. The Call Waiting feature is not re-enabled after the call is
> finished, you have to dial ``*43#'' to re-enable it.
> 
> Is there anyway to pick up the line and send ``ATDT*43#'' to the modem
> when the connection is closed? Again, I don't think that there
> is, but would it be possible to handle this in any way?

You should be able to

  set hangup "TIMEOUT 10 \"\" ATZ \"\" ATDT*43#"

[.....]
-- 
Brian <brian at Awfulhak.org>                        <brian at FreeBSD.org>
      <http://www.Awfulhak.org>                   <brian at OpenBSD.org>
Don't _EVER_ lose your sense of humour !          <brian at FreeBSD.org.uk>








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