Can't find the "how to" anywhere. (Enable call waiting in XP Home)

PegInAlaska · #1 02-27-2003, 08:24 PM

I'm a new XP Home Edition user and computer is brand new:
Ver. 2002 - SP1
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
1.67GHZ
244 MB

When I previously had WinME, I was able to disable and enable call waiting. I'm not on a network and I'm the only user (even though it shows me and "new user" as users on the computer) which also has me a bit confused.

My current question is, how do I enable call waiting so I can receive phone calls when I'm on line (without downloading Call Wave or similar programs)? My dial-up connection is set up, but for some reason, it won't recognize this feature.

Should I add a setting to the modem properties? I've looked EVERYWHERE on line and can't seem to find a solution (sorry for yelling). Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you!
(What does "post a poll" mean?)

curtybob · #2 02-27-2003, 09:01 PM

go to start>control panel>phone and modem options>highlight the number you use (normally the top one) and click edit. towards the bottom of this applet there will be a small option :to disable call waiting. if this option is not ticked, you should get disconnected when you get a beep.
poll will put a little vote thingy on your post. like if you wanted to know what brand of processor people like to use: AMD or Intel. then everyone who views the post has the opportunity to vote on their favorite, and when it is completed, a graphical representation of the results are put in place of the vote window. look through the other sections of this forum for topics that start with "poll:" such as this one.

PegInAlaska · #3 02-27-2003, 09:27 PM

Thank you, curtybob, for the info on polling, as well as your reply to my question.

The option to disable call waiting is not checked, but my call waiting is still enabled. I'm set up as an administrator (at least that's what it says by my user name), so I wonder if there's something that needs to be added to the modem string.

I've checked the box to enable it and selected *70, rebooted, unchecked it, rebooted, and it still doesn't work. I've even recreated my dial-up connection several times because it seems to get corrupted when I edit the settings. It's a brand new system, so it should work.

I have the ethernet connection disabled, and XP Help on my system seems to focus on networking. It's probably something simple, but it's beyond me. People have come to my house to see if I'm ok because they can't reach me on the phone. Any other ideas? Thanks again for your quick response.

curtybob · #4 02-27-2003, 09:34 PM

what system do you have, and if you know, what kind of modem? i'll be up all night, and will try to turn something up.

PegInAlaska · #5 02-27-2003, 09:59 PM

I'm not sure what you mean by "system." Here's what I could find out:

XP Home Ed., Ver. 2002 w/Svc. Pk. 1
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (I assume that's my processor)
1.67 GHZ
244 MB RAM

The modem info is:
HP56MR (Com 3)
PCtel
PCI bus 0, device 17, function 6

I'll be up for a little while yet in case you find something. Thank you so much. I've been doing some mandatory on-line training and a family member is ill, so I don't want to miss any important calls. Hope you have better luck than I've had. I'll owe ya one if you can fix this thing!

curtybob · #6 02-28-2003, 09:31 AM

after all nite searching, i found nothing.well not exactly, i found all kinds of neat initialization strings that make the user sound dumb when he/ she tells everyone that his/ her modem connects to the internet at 115.2 kbps. which is impossible and goes against FCC regulations imposed on all analog phone lines. the closest thing i found to an explanation as to why you don't get kicked off is that for some reason your modem may not be as sensitive to the noise made when you get a beep, but this does not make sense to me. as far as i can tell, you have all your settings correct and there are no extra settings that will help. but do listen closely the next time you log on and count the number of beeps it makes when dialing to see if there are extra numbers being dialed. also, call someone, and have someone else call you while you are on the phone to make sure the call waiting service is working properly on your line. this is all i can think of right now. oh yeah, enter s11=50 into your extra settings. this will make your modem dial quicker. if you don't hear a difference, try s11=40. it cuts the time each number tone is sustained, and also the pause between numbers to the shortest that is handled by the phone company's routers. 50ms.

PegInAlaska · #7 02-28-2003, 10:58 AM

Curtybob, I can't thank you enough for all of your time and effort you've put in trying to solve my dilemma. I can relate--I've been all over the place looking for an answer. It's frustrating. I can call CompUSA tech help, but you never know what kind of expertise is on the other end. If I ever find a solution, I'll post back and let you know what I found out. I probably need to modify a registry key somewhere, which makes me a bit nervous.

Thank you again, and now you should go get some sleep!

zen2002 · #8 03-01-2003, 12:19 PM

Unless you get broadband you will probably not get your modem to accept call waiting (causes probs ) Read this it may answer some questions

http://www.digitalroom.net/index2.html

curtybob · #9 03-01-2003, 07:52 PM

well, i have a v.90 modem, and when i get another call, i get disconnected, then the phone rings. i really am not sure why hers just carries right on through the beep, which should be heard by the modem, and cause it to disconnect. earlier on, she said that someone was worried because they could not get hold of her. and she did not have call waiting disabled. any clues? i am stumped. a v.92 modem would let her put the line on the internet "on hold" for a few seconds, but the basic functionality of call waiting is being defeated somehow.

curtybob · #10 03-01-2003, 08:00 PM

my wife just told me something i did not know. (leave it to a woman to find things out) lately, my incoming calls have not been kicking me off either. i recently updated my modem driver (same kind as yours, just plugs into a different kind of slot) and i think this may have something to do with it. i will have to look through my backup cd's and see if i have the old one backed up. tried to rollback the driver, but apparently the names were the same and the old one got wrote over. if i find one, i will try it, and post back.

PegInAlaska · #11 03-01-2003, 08:39 PM

Hi, guys. Well, tech support told me yesterday that I needed the V92 modem, so I installed it last night. Been troubleshooting it all day. When I queue the modem, everything seems to be working. But when I try the dial-up connection (including new ones I've created), I've gotten a few different error messages. My ISP says they don't support V92, but the documentation with the modem says if that's the case, the "modem-on-hold" feature won't work and I'll just get kicked off the internet when the phone rings--which is what I wanted in the first place.

Errors have ranged from no dial tone; connection attempt failed because the modem or other communicating device on the remote computer is out of order (contact system administrator); and an error report in the management console said IPSec Services failed to get the complete list of interfaces on the machine, Run: IPSec.

I've got state-of-the art confusion and my mind is boggled! For now, I've just reconnected to the original modem until I can find a solution.

The new modem is a Creative Blaster V.92 PCI Model DI5633, and I'm not sure it's compatable w/WinXP. I got the warning message when I installed it, but the documentation says it's been tested and will work with XP. (Okay, I'll stop now. Let me know if there's any news...

) Thank you for all the input...I sure appreciate it.