This question is a FAQ. If you monitored the ML for a while before posting
you probably would have seen the question answered, before you made
accusations. Or checked the archives.
>I see. Well, since you work for Livingston and are privy to such things,
>can you tell me where, in any of the router documentation, it lists the
>circumstances in which the router re-initializes the modem? More to the
>point, can you point to the place where an *exhaustive* list is provided?
The list is as follows:
Boot
Manual reset
I don't know if it is in a manual. I'll send a heads up to docs just in
case.
>Keep in mind that my posting was about dialout, not dialin. Are you sure
>the router doesn't re-init the modem upon dialout?
That's what the engineer who wrote the code says. I haven't tested it myself,
didn't see the need to after asking. My greatgrandmother died yesterday and
I'm about to redeye to NY, so I can't check this, again, until I get back.
But this has been asked in the past, and I doubt the answer has changed.
>No, not moot at all. Even if the router's (undocumented) behavior is that
>it doesn't re-initialize the modem for each dialout call, that still leaves
>a situation where the router uses up some of the modem's limited EEPROM life
>every time there is a manual port reset and every time the router is
>rebooted. And for no good reason, as far as I can see.
This has been rehashed here too many times already. A good modem has well
over 10,000 writes. Someone did the math and it is many years of normal
service with the writes as is. The modem would be more likely to be
obsolete before it died.
How often do you manually reset the ports on a normal unit? Or reboot?
If it is often, it isn't normal use.
>No, that's not a correct string for a USR, not for any process that is
>repeated from time to time. &W should be done only on an as-needed bases,
>not as a routine step. The EEPROM has a limited life.
The strings are as they are because that is what the majority of customers
asked for. They use it because the modem has losts the correct settings,
and in that case a &W is called for. It isn't used to just keep reminding
the modem, it is used to *configure* the modem.
You can set your own modem table entries you know. Nothing is stopping you
from setting your own without the &W if that concerns you.
>>>sure I get error correction (&m5) and fixed DTE baud rate (&b1). So here is
>>>a different init string:
>>&F1 should provide both.
>I am sorry but you are mistaken about this. The &F1 default does not
You're right. I was thinking &M4 since in normal use it is better to let
the modems negotiate this than to lock it. Since *by far* most customers are
using them as dialin points, they cannot know what the users are doing, so
it is bad to try to force the issue. There are modems out there that don't
do error correction. And there are even more bad phone lines.
>And the modem's behavior with &M4 is that it will quite readily establish a
>non-error-corrected session on the slightest level of line noise.
Right.
>The modem string you are so strongly defending, which uses &F1 but not &M5,
>is suboptimal for dialout links to other places. Here's why. Consider the
Which is only done by a small fraction of our users. You have to do things
that work for the majority of users.
>&M5 is much, much better, in the case where it is known that the modem at
>the other end supports error correction. With &M5, when the router dials
>out, if error correction cannot be negotiated, the modem will report "no
>carrier" and a redial will be done, until an error-corrected session can be
IMHO this is not good. I've seen locations where the connection would never
be made in this condition. What what about our customers in foreign contries
where they are charged for each call origination? Can you see the bills this
can generate?
>established between modems. In this way the router causes the modem to
>redial until a clean line can be obtained.
Which is not desirable for the majority of our users.
If you want a custom string, just enter one in the table and use that. The
Config Guide has all the instructions for setting your own modem table entry.
>Well, I am very sorry that your stubbornness will lead to the EPROMS in your
>user's modems being used up sooner.
This has been beaten to death here. And you're in the minority. That's
the way things are. Especially because no one is making *anyone* use the
default strings. You don't have to use the table, and if you do, you can
always set your own strings if you have one you prefer.
>Let's suppose you were correct when you thought that &F1 provided &M5 in
&M4 is still, by far, better for most users. It is also the setting
recommended by USR themselves.
>that modem. Then instead of using AT&F1&W\r, why not simply use AT&F1\r?
>This would achieve all of your goals, and would not use up the EEPROM's
>life. What do you lose by not doing the write to the EEPROM?
Well, since the modem table was designed to *configure* modems and to reset
modems that have lost their settings, losing &W would completely defeat the
purpose of the modem table.
This is how it comes down:
1. We've been over this topic so many times most people are tired of it.
2. You're views have been raised before and are in the minority.
3. In any case, you can always set your own modem table entries so there is
no point in our changing the defaults for a minority of users.
We provide flexibility for the users. The default settings cater to the
majority of our users - that makes sense. But if you aren't in that group
you can always set them yourself.
-MZ
-- Livingston Enterprises - Chair, Department of Interstitial Affairs Phone: 800-458-9966 510-426-0770 FAX: 510-426-8951 megazone@livingston.com For support requests: support@livingston.com <http://www.livingston.com/> Snail mail: 6920 Koll Center Parkway #220, Pleasanton, CA 94566