Dialing your ISP with a Calling Card

Dave and Helen Damouth www.damouth.com

20 February 2003

Always under construction - corrections and additions are solicited

When traveling in an area where an 800 number or a local number is not available for your ISP (Internet Service Provider), the economical solution is to use a calling card.  The Escapees card, for example, can be used anywhere in the United States for about 13.5¢ per minute, so that a typical three-minute call to retrieve EMail costs about the same as a postage stamp. 

After going through the following procedures to set up Windows to use your card, using the card is really easy:  Whenever you are in a place in the U.S. where you want to use your calling card, you open the  Dialup icon, click on the dropdown menu in  the "Dialing From" box,  select "Calling Card" from the list, and click "Connect".  If you have configured more than one calling card, there's an additional step before clicking "Connect": You click "Dial Properties" (in Windows 95) or (Dialing Rules/Edit/Calling Card" (in Windows XP), make sure "use calling card" is checked, and  select the card you want from the list.

I've used the Escapees card from many locations in the U.S. and Canada (substituting their different Canadian 888 number).  It has worked well in all locations except the Yukon Territory and northern British Columbia - where Escapees acknowledges that their number won't work.

I also have an AT&T Univeral Card - a standard AT&T calling card combined with a credit card.  This is very expensive to use (up to $1.00/minute), but is one of the few cards that is pretty sure to work almost anywhere in the world.  It works in the Yukon Territory and northern British Columbia, for example.

Pre-paid cards can be considerably cheaper.  I have an AT&T pre-paid card issued through Sam's Club that costs $.035/minute, with no other charges. (Caution - some pre-paid cards with even lower per-minute rates may charge something like $.50 for each call, in addition to the advertised per-minute charge.  Unless most of your calls are very long, this is not a good deal).

Yet another option is www.BAMnet.com .  This is an ISP with an 800 number (which works in the contiguous 48 states only) that charges 4.5 to 6.5  cents/minute on a prepaid basis or 6.5 cents/minute on a pay-as-you-go basis, billed to your local home telephone number.  (If you don't have a "home" telephone, or if your home telephone company doesn't support third-party billing, you're stuck with the prepaid option).   If you use only a few hours of Internet time per month, and if you don't feel committed to your current ISP, this is probably the least expensive way to get on the Internet.  It works with a cell phone too!

Microsoft Windows makes it possible to automatically dial using a calling card.  However, in Windows 95 and 98, the instructions provided for initially setting up calling card dialing are difficult to find and difficult to understand.  The instructions   below should make it easier.  Windows ME has a very different set-up procedure which is easier to understand.  The Windows XP set-up procedure is again different from ME, and has become even easier.  (Even Microsoft does eventually learn from their mistakes).   In the sections that follow, I'll provide specific instructions for two common cards for each of these operating systems, and will also provide general technical information that should help you figure out any necessary modifications for other varieties of calling card.

If you find any part of the following instructions confusing or incorrect, please let me know - I periodically revise this document based on suggestions I receive and problems that other people discover.

The Starting Point:

Before beginning the set-up procedure for your card(s), make sure you have the following information handy:

I'll assume you already have a dial-up connection to your ISP which works from your "home" location, and that you now want to dial that same phone number by using a calling card from a remote location.   

Windows allows you to define several "Locations", each of which may have a different set of rules for dialing.  These rules can include many things,   including which number to dial, what calling card to use (if any),  whether to dial a "9" to get an outside line, whether to dial the area code, etc. 

If you are using an Escapees card or the Sam's Club/AT&T prepaid card, I've provided step-by-step instructions for your specific operating system. 

Jump to  Windows XP  or  Windows ME  or Windows 95 or 98   to set up a new "Location" for these cards.  After you've used one of the these somewhat tedious procedures to enter the "Location" and Calling Card information, you'll find that actually using the calling card is really easy.

If you have some other card, you'll want to read the More General Information section to help you modify the above procedures to work with your different card.

You may also want to browse through the Other Hints and Suggestions section, particularly if you are having problems.

Windows XP: 

From the Start Menu, click "My Computer" then "Control Panel" then "Phone and Modem Options".  You'll get a window with three tabbed pages:   Dialing Rules, Modems, and Advanced.  First click  the "Dialing rules" tab (this page may already be open as the default).  You'll see a list of "locations" (the list may be empty if you haven't previously set up a location, or may show a "default" or "home" location).   As you travel, it's likely that you'll want to create several new "locations".   For now, we'll create a single location called "Calling Card".

Click the "New" button.  The "New Location" dialog box will appear, with the "General" page selected.  Enter "Calling Card" in the "Location name" text box.  The Country/region text box will contain United States as a default if you bought your computer in the U.S.  (The "United States" setting will work for Canada too.  If you travel to another country, you'll need to create a new location and select that country from the drop-down list).   Since you'll probably use this "Location" from many different regions of the country, I suggest that you enter your homebase area code in the "Area Code" text box. 

Look at the entries in the "Dialing rules" group box.  For now, you'll probably want to leave all these entries blank.  But in the future, when you spend time at an RV Park or Hotel where you must dial an "8" or "9" to get an outside line, you'll want to create a new location, and enter an "8" or "9" in the "To access an outside line for local calls, dial:" text box.  Or if you have the Call Waiting feature on your home phone, you'll want to create a "home" location, check the "Disable Call Waiting" box,   and fill in the proper disable code as provided by your phone company.  Look at each of the other possible entries - you may need them someday.  When you finish with this page, click the "Apply" button. 

Now click the "Calling Card" tab.  If you intend to use a common calling card (not pre-paid), you may find your card listed in the "Card Types" list.   If so, select it, enter the account number, PIN, and access  telephone number and your're done).  But the Escapees card isn't in this list, and no pre-paid cards are currently in the list.    Click the "New" button to create one of these cards.

Escapees Card: After clicking the "New" button,  enter a name for the card ("Escapees" is fine).  Enter the 14 digit concatenated Account Number and PIN in the PIN box, leaving the Account Number box empty.  (You could separately put the account number and PIN in the separate boxes, but that simply complicates subsequent setup, since the Escapees prompt tells you to enter all 14 digits at once). 

Click the "Long Distance" tab.   Enter the Access number for your card, which currently  is 1 800 220 6848 for the United States.  (If you expect to be in Canada, you may also want to create yet another Location to use the different Escapees number for Canada).  

Now comes the hard part - setting up the specific sequence of numbers and pauses which the calling card's computer requires to be transmitted by your computer.  At the bottom of this window is a collection of buttons which will insert each step of the sequence, in order.  If you forget one step in the sequence, or enter the steps in the wrong order, you can re-order the steps by selecting (clicking) one step and using the   Move Up/Move Down/Delete buttons. 

You're done.  There's no need to fill in anything on the "International" or "Local Calls" pages, since you won't be using this Location for international or local calls. 

Sam's Club AT&T Prepaid Card: After clicking the "New" button,  enter a name for the card ("I just called it "Prepaid Card").   Enter the 12 digit concatenated Account Number in the PIN box, leaving the Account Number box empty.  (Or you could use the Account number box and leave the PIN box empty, making the appropriate change in the steps below). 

Click the "Long Distance" tab.   Enter the Access number for your card, (which probably is 1 800 506 9511).  

Now comes the hard part - setting up the specific sequence of numbers and pauses which the calling card's computer requires to be transmitted by your computer.  At the bottom of this window is a collection of buttons which you will use to insert each step of the sequence, in order.  If you forget one step in the sequence, or enter the steps in the wrong order, you can re-order the steps by selecting (clicking) the incorrect or misplaced step and using the  Move Up/Move Down/Delete buttons. 

You're done.  There's no need to fill in anything on the "International" or "Local Calls" pages, since you won't be using this Location for international or local calls. 

Windows ME:

From the Start menu, click "Settings" then "Control Panel" then double-click "Telephony".  The "Dialing Properties" window will appear.  The "My Locations" page should be visible as the default page.   The "I am Dialing from" text box may be empty or may have a default location or a drop-down list of any locations you have previously defined.  To the right of this box is the "New" button.  Click it.

"New Location" will appear in the text box, highlighted.  Move the cursor into this text box and change the name to "Calling Card".  The Country/region text box will contain United States as a default if you bought your computer in the U.S.  (The "United States" setting will work for Canada too.  If you travel to another country, you'll need to create a new location and select that country from the drop-down list).  Since you'll probably use this "Location" from many different regions of the country, I suggest that you enter your homebase area code in the "Area Code" text box. 

Look at the other entries on this page.  For now, you'll probably want to leave all these entries blank.  But in the future, when you spend time at an RV Park or Hotel where you must dial an "8" or "9" to get an outside line, you'll want to create a new location, and enter an "8" or "9" in the "To access an outside line for local calls, dial:" text box.  Or if you have the Call Waiting feature on your home phone, you'll want to create a "home" location, check the "Disable Call Waiting" box,  and fill in the proper disable code as provided by your phone company.  Look at each of the other possible entries - you may need them someday.

Now click the "Calling Card" button.  If you intend to use a common calling card (not pre-paid), you may find your card listed in the deop-down list.  If so, select it, enter the account number and PIN, (concatenated as a single number) and you're done).  But the Escapees card isn't in this list, and no pre-paid cards are currently in the list.    Click the "New" button to create one of these cards.

Escapees Card or Sam's Club AT&T Prepaid Card:  After clicking "New", type a name for your calling card (any name is ok - it's just to help you remember which card it is).  In the "Personal Identification Number" text box, enter your personal card number and PIN (concatenated as a single 14-digit number for Escapees.  Sam's has only a single 12-digit ID number).   Don't enter any dashes or spaces.  

In the text box labeled  "To use this card for long distance calls . . . "  enter the access number, currently 1 800 220 6848 for Escapees in the U.S.   or 1 800 506 9511 for the Sam's Club AT&T card .  Don't enter any dashes or spaces.  Leave the International Calls box empty. 

Click on "Calling card sequence for Long Distance Calls".  You'll see boxes for "Step 1" through "Step 6".  Each box has a drop-down menu with (hopefully) self-explantory entries.  You select an entry for each step to match the sequence of events required for your particular type of card.  

For the Escapees card:
Step 1: Dial: "Calling Card Phone Number" then wait for: "10 seconds"
Step 2: Dial: "PIN" then wait for: "4 seconds"
Step 3: Dial: "Destination Country/Region" then wait for: "Nothing"
Step 4: Dial: "Destination Number (including Area Code)" then wait for: "Done"

 

For my Sam's Club/AT&T Pre-Paid card:
Step 1: Dial: "Calling Card Phone Number" then wait for: "10 seconds"
Step 2: Dial: "Specified Digits: 1" then wait for: "2 seconds"
Step 3: Dial: "PIN" then wait for: "14 seconds"
Step 4: Dial: "Specified Digits: 1" then wait for: "4 seconds"
Step 5: Dial: "Destination Number (including Area Code)" then wait for: "4 seconds"
Step 6: Dial: "Specified Digits: 1" "Done"

Then click "OK" to close each window.  Open your Dial-Up icon and click "connect" to test it. 

Windows 95 or 98:

I haven't been able to verify the following instructions for Windows 98, since I don't have access to a Windows 98 computer.  The comments I've inserted about Windows 98 are from other people who have told me about these specific differences from my Windows 95.  Please let me know if you discover any other significant differences with Windows 98.

Locate the dialup networking connection icon you usually use from home. (If you don't keep a copy of this icon in your desktop, go to My Computer/Dial-Up Networking and double-click the icon for your ISP).  Right click the icon and select "Properties".  The check box labeled "Use country code and area code" should be checked.  Your ISP's area code (which normally would be your home area code) should be in the "Area Code" box, and the seven-digit phone number for your ISP should be in the "Telephone Number" box.  Click "OK" to close this window. 

Double click your dialup networking icon to open it.   A little window will open showing (among other things) the number that will be dialed.  (In Windows 98: If instead of this window, you simply get a message window which says the connection is being dialed, click "Cancel" and to do the following:  In Dial-Up Networking, you should click Connections/Settings then check the "prompt for information before dialing" box and click the OK button.   Now double click your connection icon again.)

Below the "Phone Number" box is another box labeled "Dialing from".  It probably says something like "Default Location" or "Home".  To the right is a button labeled "Dial Properties".   Click it!  (in Windows 98, this button may be disabled and doesn't do anything, in which case you'll need to enable it as follows:  In Dial-Up Networking/Connections/Settings, check the "prompt for information before dialing" box and click the OK button).

In the Dialing Properties window which opens, click the "New" button.   You will be asked for a name for the new location.  You can choose any name.   I suggest naming the location "Calling Card" as a reminder that this "location" is for use anywhere that you need to use the calling card.  The Area Code box should contain your home area code.  The "I am in box" will say "United States of America, and should be left at that value - it will work for Canada too, since both use the same International Code.  Click the "Dial Using Calling Card" box, and leave rest of the entries at their default values (tone dialing should be selected). 

Take a look at these other entries however - someday you may need to change some of them.  If you'll be making many calls from a place which requires you to dial a "9" for an outside line, here is where you would tell the dialer to enter the 9 automatically for that location.  You could temporarily change this entry in your existing "location", or create a new location called "hotels with a 9" for future use in such places.  This is also where you can tell the system to automatically disable call waiting - a problem in some home systems.

When you click the "Dial Using Calling Card" box a new window will ask you what calling card to use.  If you have one of the major cards like ATT (not a pre-paid card), you may be able to simply select it from the existing menu, enter the 14 digits of your card number and PIN in the box provided,  and you are finished.  

Escapees Card:  Since the Escapees card is not on the built-in list, you'll need to click "New" and enter the name of the card. The name can be anything - it's just a convenient label to help you remember which card is to be used.   I created two new cards - one called "Escapees" and another called "Escapees-Canada" (since a different phone number is used in Canada).  Now click the "Advanced" button and enter some additional information in the "Dialing Rules" box which appears.   The following is specific to the Escapees card.  (Elsewhere in this document is information that will help you customize this for a card with different procedures). 

{The following procedures are specific to Windows 95.  I'm told that the Calling Card window in Windows 98 uses a somewhat different setup procedure, although the general idea is the same - perhaps it's similar to Windows ME, which I've previously described.  Can someone tell me?}.

In the "Call within the same area code" box type "G"   (capital G without the quotes).  In the "Long distance calls" box, enter "1 800 220 6848 $H ,,T1FG" (again, without the quotes).  Leave the "International calls" box empty (this card wor't work from anywhere except the US and Canada).  Click "Close" to close the Dialing Rules window.   Enter your calling card number and PIN (concatenated as a single 14-digit number) in the Calling Card number box.  Click "OK" to close this window, then click "OK"  to close the other Windows you've opened. 

Sam's Club AT&T Prepaid Card:  Since this card is not on the built-in list, you'll need to click "New" and enter the name of the card. The name can be anything - it's just a convenient label to help you remember which card is to be used.   I simply used "Prepaid Card".  Now click the "Advanced" button and enter some additional information in the "Dialing Rules" box which appears.   The following is specific to the Sam's Club AT&T Prepaid Card:.  (Elsewhere in this document there is information that will help you customize this for a card with different procedures). 

{The following procedures are specific to Windows 95.  I'm told that the Calling Card window in Windows 98 uses a somewhat different setup procedure, although the general idea is the same - perhaps it's similar to Windows ME, which I've previously described.  Can someone tell me?}.

In the "Call within the same area code" box type "G"   (capital G without the quotes).  In the "Long distance calls" box, enter "1 800 506 9511 ,,,,,,1,H ,,,,,,,1,,TFG,,1,,1" (again, without the quotes).  Leave the "International calls" box empty (this card wor't work from anywhere except the US and Canada).  Click "Close" to close the Dialing Rules window.  Enter your calling card number and PIN (concatenated as a single 14-digit number) in the Calling Card number box.  Click "OK" to close this window, then click "OK"  to close the other Windows you've opened. 

More General Information:

The Quick-and-Dirty Way:  If you just want to dial with a calling card a single time, or simply to verify that it works, here's the easiest way:   Open whatever dialup networking connection icon you usually use.  (If you don't keep a copy of this icon in your desktop, go to My Computer/Dial-Up Networking and double-click the icon for your ISP).  A little window should open showing (among other things) the number that will be dialed.  (In Windows 98: If instead of this window, you simply get a message window which says the connection is being dialed, you need to do the following:  In Dial-Up Networking, you should click Connections/Settings then check the "prompt for information before dialing" box and click the OK button.   Now double click your connection icon again.)

You are going to edit the number that appears in the Phone Number box.  Don't be afraid to change it - this edit is only in effect temporarily. As soon as you close and re-open this icon, the original number will re-appear. (In some Windows versions, when you change the number and click "Connect", a window will pop up asking if you want to make the change permanent.  If this appears, click "No").

Note the number in the Phone Number box.  Typically, this is the local number you call from home to reach your ISP.   You now want to call it long distance - so you'll add a "1" and your home area code.  as an example let's say that the original number in the box (the ISP number you call from home) is 654-3210, and that your home area code is 987.  So to call it long distance, you would dial  1-987-654-3210.   Write this number down on a piece of paper.  Also write down the 800 number you use to dial your calling card. For the Escapees card in the United States, this is 1-800-220-6848.  Also write down your personal calling card identification number (ten digits) and PIN (four digits), run together as a single 14 digit number.  (For the example, I'll use the fictitious number 12345678909999). 

You'll also need to know in what order to enter these numbers for your particular calling card.  If you haven't used your card for a while, call it now and listen to the instructions while you enter the requested numbers.  For the Escapees card, you dial the 800 number, wait for a prompt, enter your 14-digit calling card number and PIN, wait for another prompt, and enter the number you wish to call (including the "1"  long distance prefix.)   Your computer needs to go through this same sequence.  To try out your Escapees card, enter the following numbers into the Phone Number box in your Dialer window (spaces are optional, added for clarity - you can either type them or leave them out.  All other numbers and symbols must be typed exactly as shown below.) You, of course, will substitute your own ISP number and calling card number for the fictitious numbers in the string below.

1 800 220 6848 ,,,,,, 12345678909999 ,,1, 987 6543210

Similarly, the following string should work for the Sam's Club AT&T Pre-paid Card

1 800 506 9511,,,,,1,1234 5678 9012,,,,,,,1,,987 6543219,,1

(where "1234 5678 9012" is to be replaced with yor 12-digit PIN and "987 654 3210" is to be replaced with the area code and 7-digit phone number for your ISP).

After entering the above string, click "Connect".  You will hear your computer dial and connect, and after the automatic log-in process is completed, you can open your EMail software or your Internet Browser and do whatever you normally do to retrieve mail. 

It is possible to avoid the whole setup process for calling cards by entering one of these strings permanently in the "Phone Number" text box of the Dial-Up Icon.   In Windows XP, a pop-up window offers to make this change permanent.   In earlier Windows versions, you'll have to right click the dialup icon and click "Properties", then  make the change in the "Phone Number" text box.  Also uncheck the "Use country code and area code" box, since you've already included these codes in the string..

The above works, and  as indicated above, once you have a dialing string that works, you can simply enter it permanently in the phone number field of your dialup icon.   But this is somewhat inelegant, and difficult to understand if you need to change it at some point in the future.    So in general, it's better to follow the complete setup procedures as given previously for your particular Windows version.

Customizing for Other Calling Cards: Not all calling cards require the sequence of dialing events given above.  The AT&T card, for example,  requires your calling card number to be dialed after the number you want to call, and does not use a "1" in front of the long distance number  - just the opposite of the Escapees card.  Using Dialing Properties/Change (calling card)/Advanced, you can view the dialing sequence for a long list of well-known calling cards. If your own card isn't listed, you may be able to use these strings as examples in choosing one that works with your card.  Or simply call your card manually and take notes as to the specific instructions and delays between instructions, which will let you construct dialing instructions.  Use the instructions given above for the two example cards as a guide in creating your own. To customize a Windows 95 dialing string to match your card, you'll need to know what the various codes mean.   Here is a list of the common codes, with a brief explanation of the meaning.   Most of these codes are fairly standard, but a few may not be understood by some brands of modems.  In most cases, you can get by without any of these codes except the comma and the dialing numbers.   These codes may also work in Windows ME and XP - I haven't had occasion to try them (except for the comma, which works as described).

Dialing Rule Characters

0-9 Specifies number to dial
ABCD Characters used on some tone dialing units to control certain features
E Specifies country code (the leading "1" for US long distance)
F Dials area code
G Dials number as a local number
H uses specified calling card number
* Auxiliary Tone dial digit (used to control special features)
# Auxiliary Tone dial digit (used to control special features)
T Dial following number with Tone Dialing
P Dial following number with pulse dialing
, Pauses dialing for a fixed time (set with modem commands; default is 2 sec. for my 3Com modem)
!  Send a hookflash (1/2 sec. on hook, 1/2 sec. offhook)
W Wait for second dialtone
@ Wait for quiet answer from receiving fax, which is a ringback followed by five sec. of silence.
$ Pauses until calling card prompt is finished.
? Prompts for user input before continuing dialing.

For completeness, the following dialing commands are available for my 3Com modem, but may not be standard for other brands. (You're not likely to need this - this is primarily for my own reference).

R Call an Originate Only Modem
; Remain in Command Mode After Dialing
" Used to Dial Alpha Phone #'s
@ Wait for an Answer (X3-X4)

When initially troubleshooting a dialing string for a new calling card, and also when the automatic dial-up process fails for various other reasons, it's very helpful to be able to hear everything that is happening on the phone line.  Some modems and computers enable you to hear everything. To get your speaker to work, you may have to set a modem parameter by adding a command to your modem initialization string.  This is done as follows:  right-button-click your connection icon in the Dialup Networking folder; click Properties/Configure/Connection/Advanced.  Under "Extra settings" you may see a string of characters, beginning with "AT".   Every such modem command string must begin with "AT" to get the modem's attention.  You can add any additional commands to the end of the existing string. If the string is empty, just type "AT" followed by the commands you want.  For example, for my 3COM modem,  L2 sets the modem speaker volume to medium and M1 sets the speaker to stay on until a connection is established with the remote computer.   For my modem, this is the default behavior, so I don't actually have to enter these parameters.  These commands may be different for other brands of modem - read the user's manual for your modem.

With my laptop computer and PC Card modem, the modem itself doesn't have a speaker and the modem doesn't do a good job of reproducing sounds from the phone line on the PC's tiny speaker.  Modem tones can be heard, but voices (for example, a recorded voice from the  telephone company explaining that you've dialed improperly) can not be understood.  For this reason, when I'm setting up a new connection, I keep a phone line splitter and a small telephone handy.  I connect the telephone in parallel with the computer modem, and I can pick up the phone and listen while the computer tries to dial and connect.  This can be extremely useful when trying to figure out why a dialup isn't working properly.

Other Hints and Suggestions:

To make the dial-up connection icon for a local number always ignore any calling-card setting: Uncheck "use area code and country code" in the properties of the "local" connection, then include the area code and/or "1" prefix in the phone number box if needed.  This way,  this card will always dial this number, whether or not you have a calling card selected in some other connection. (the calling card choice seems to be global, unfortunately).

Don't set your EMail or browser software to dial automatically:   If you are used to having your EMail software or Internet Browser dial your ISP automatically, you may find it more convenient on the road to turn off this automatic behavior (how to do this varies with which software you are using - look through the "preferences" or "Options" for that software.  The reason is that when you travel to a new place, you'll want to manually modify your dial-up connection before dialing - to enter the new local number, or to use a calling card.  You may, for convenience have set up several Dial-up Networking icons - one permanently set up with the calling card and a remote local number for your ISP, and a different icon to be used for entering a new local number when you are in a place that has a local number.  I have yet another icon set up to work with my ISP's 800 number, for use only when the pre-paid card isn't working properly. 

After entering the above string, click "Connect".  You will hear your computer dial and connect, and after the automatic log-in process is completed, you can open your EMail software or your Internet Browser and do whatever you normally do to retrieve mail.  You may be used to having your Internet or EMail software automatically do the dialing.  However, when you start the dialer manually, your other software will notice that you are already on line and will skip its own dialup procedures.

Calling cards may occasionally not work:  Most of us who travel extensively have experienced at least one place in the country or one particular pay phone  where a calling card won't work at all.  The pre-paid cards seem more like to have this occasional failure mode, and this failure most often happens with old phone systems in very rural areas.  Thus, it is advisable to maintain more than one way of accessing your ISP.  I have the following:

How (and Why) to put a Dial-Up Networking Icon on your Desktop:  Your various Internet applications (EMail, Internet Browser, etc.) generally are set up to dial automatically when appropriate, and to hang up automatically when the connection is no longer needed.  If you use an all-in-one Internet application for all of your Internet tasks, you may find that this works fine.  However, if you use several different programs which each need to access the Internet, having each application dial and then hang up is a nuisance.  You can minimize the time you spend on-line (often important for RVers) by manually initiating the Internet connection, using the Dial-Up Networking icon.  Each separate application will then notice that a connection is already available, and will not try to dial and will not hang up the connection when finished. Two or more applications can even access the Internet simultaneously, and this is usually faster than waiting until one is finished before initiating the next application (one application can be transferring data while the other is waiting for a response from its remote server.  (I generally download current prices for my stock and mutual fund investments at the same time that I am downloading EMail - and it does not significantly increase the total time compared to doing just EMail).  The various applications are polite and know how to share the Internet connection effectively).  You will "hang up" the connection yourself when finished with your on-line session. (Don't forget!)

If you intend to manually initiate an on-line session, it is convenient to have the Dial-Up icon always visible on your desktop (along with icons for your other commonly used applications).  Another option is to put this icon at the top level of your "Start" menu.  These icons are called "shortcuts" and can be placed anywhere you find convenient - on your desktop, in the Start menu, in your My Documents folder, etc.  To put a shortcut icon for Dial-Up Networking on your desktop, do the following:

Click Start/Settings/Dial-Up Networking  (in Windows ME) or Control Panel/Dial-Up Networking (in Windows 95, 98),  or Control Panel/Network Connections (in Windows XP).

Note that several Dial-Up Networking icons may be displayed.  Identify the one you usually use.  Put the cursor on this icon, press the right mouse button, and while continuing to hold down the right button, move the cursor to an empty space on your desktop (this is called "dragging" an object to a new position).  When you release the mouse button, a pop-up menu will appear.  in this menu, click on "Create Shortcut Here".  A new icon will appear on your desktop at the point you selected.  You can later drag it to somewhere else on your desktop, or into the "Start" menu, or into a folder if you like.  It will be labeled something like  "Shortcut to AOL Dialup".   If you want to rename it to something shorter or more memorable, just right-click on the icon, then click on "Rename" in the menu that appears.  Type any name you like. (I usually just remove the "shortcut to" portion of the name and leave the remainder as-is.) 

You may want more than one Dial-Up icon on your desktop.   I have  three - one which dials the 800 number for my ISP, one which I modify at each new location to contain the local number for my ISP (if one exists), and a third containing one of my ISP's local numbers somewhere else in the country. This latter one is used with a calling card, and it doesn't matter which of the ISP's local numbers are entered.  I experiment until I find one that works well (fast connection with no busy signals) and then leave the icon set permanently for that number.

For the Escapees calling card, the $ symbol ("wait for tone") seems to do the right thing (after the initial dial while waiting to enter credit card code.) It may not work right for the pause before dialing the number to be called, where I'm currently using commas.  This needs more checking.  This is defined in Windows 95.  It's not clear to me whether the "wait for a voice message to complete" in Windows XP is the same as the "$" in Windows 95.  In any case, I've had poor results with "wait for voice message to complete" in Windows XP, and I now use only fixed delays.  One person said that the "W" command in Windows 95 will also work for the credit card beep with some modems.

Troubleshooting:  I strongly suggest you test your calling card at home, or in a location where you have free unlimited phone useage, before you hit the road.  If it doesn't work after doing all the above, listen carefully to what is happening on the phone line while your computer tries to dial.  With some computers, you can hear everything on the internal computer speakers - the voice prompts, the dialing tones, and the chirps and buzzes as the local and remote modem begin to interact.  On other computers, this sound is garbled or missing altogether.  In this case, listen on a phone connected to the same phone line, while you tell your Dialer to connect.  (buy a line splitter - a little blob that lets you hook your modem and a phone both the the same line. It's a couple of bucks at Radio Shack or any other store that sells phone accesories). 

By listening during the dialing process, you will probably be able to determine what is wrong.  Typically, one of the specified delays is too short, and you will hear numbers being dialed slightly before the voice on the other end asks for them.   Sometimes, it's ok to enter numbers before the voice stops talking. If so, the voice will immediately stop when a number is issued.  If the voice continues and the numbers being dialed aren't accepted, just increase the number of seconds of delay after the previous step.   Another possible problem is that the entire sequence of actions takes so long that the modem gives up before the process is completed.  In this case, you need to lengthen the time-out parameter in your modem configuration. 

To change modem configuration:  In Windows 95/98,  go to Control Panel/Dial-Up Networking, right-click on your Dial-Up icon, and select "Properties".  In Windows ME , it's easier to open the Dial-Up icon on your desktop and click the "Properties" button.   Either way, you get to the same place.  In the lower part of the window that opens, you'll see a window showing which modem you currently have selected (with a drop-down menu which lets you select other modems in your system, if any).  Below this is a "Configure" button, which you should click.  Now click the "Connection" tab Look for a check box labeled "Cancel the call if not connected within".  The default is for this box to be checked, and for 60 seconds to be entered in the box after the label.  When using a pre-paid card, with its extra dialing steps, you might find you have to lengten this time to, for example 90 seconds.  (The only time I've had to change this number is when I'm using a very slow acoustic coupler.)

In Windows XP,  the above parameter is well hidden. It's at  Control Panel/Phone and Modem Options/Properties. Click the "Modems" page; Click Properties; Click the Advanced page; Click "Change Default Preferences".   Now you'll see the see the text box for "Cancel the call if not connected within XX seconds"

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