Re: flexfax: German USRobotics and "Dialing Disabled" problem

[David Woolley <david@djwhome.demon.co.uk>]

> I have a German USRobotics Sportster 33.6 modem and am having the
> problem when trying to fax and the other end is busy, after trying to
> dial this number for 8 times, the modem seems to lock up and gives me
> the following:
 
> Is there any way to reset this? I am using Hylafax 4.0pl2 under Linux
> 2.2.2 (Suse6.0)

Manually power cycle the modem.  This is in there to enforce a German
legal requirement and the intention is that software should not 
over-ride it.

Note that the equivalent UK requirement, I believe, allows indefinite
retries if there is at least 10 minutes between each attempt, however, if
you use a shorter interval anywhere in the sequence you will eventually
have the number blacklisted for 24 hours.  Maybe there is something
similar in Germany, but not every modem necessarily knows the full rules.
You need to ask your PTT for the rules then, if there is a interval which
permits indefinite retries, find a modem that will follow that rule and
make sure that Hylafax doesn't retry too frequently.

The reason for such rules is to:  prevent an effective dial of service
attack on the network or a wrong number; to mimise members of the 
public being frightened by repeated silent or tone only calls.

(The UK rules are not effectively enforced and there are various let outs
which permit modem manufacturers, in many cases, to pass responsibility
to the host software, which invariably doesn't comply with the rules.

Hylafax is probably illegal to use with most UK modems, at least with
a default configuration.)

Question last asked one to two months ago.