Contents
Table of Contents

Search

Recently Used Numbers

Prefix/Suffix

Session Settings

The PAL.INI file

Adding Unlisted Numbers

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting


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Selecting a Phone Number
Access Number Search Panel

Country

Set this first.  PAL displays phone numbers for one country at a time. Tip: Shrink the list by typing the first few letters of the country name. "USA" is an acceptable abbreviation for United States.

No. Items

This field indicates the number of entries that match the search criteria.  You can reduce the list to something manageable by entering information in the City, State, Area code, and Min. Speed fields.

Searching by City

Start by selecting a country.  Then fill out enough of the city and state fields to home in on the city you want.

Searching by Area Code

If the city you want isn't in the phone directory, you may want to list the points of presence that are in the same area code.  Start by selecting the country, and then fill out the area code field.

Using Abbreviations in the State List

You don't have to wade through that list of 50 states with the mouse! Just type the 2 letter postal code for the state.  If you don't know that postal code for a state, you can type the first few letters of the state's name.  The country list works the same way.  If a country has an abbreviation, it will be shown next to the country name, in parenthesis.

Minimum Speed Filter

Some partner networks have large numbers of low speed points of presence.  Many people will prefer to filter these out of the list using the Minimum Speed Filter.

The Surcharge Flag ($)

A "$" next to the city indicates that a communications surcharge may apply if you use that number.

Calls to CompuServe through partner networks usually result in a communications surcharge.

The actual amount of the surcharge varies depending on whether you are connecting to the CompuServe Information Service, or to some other host on the CompuServe network.  Volume discounts may also apply.

The "Might Not Be Local" Flag(*)

In some cities, the call to the nearest CompuServe Communications Center may or may not be a local call, depending on what exchange you are in and what service plan you have negotiated with your service provider.  PAL tags such entries with the (*) flag.  Check your local phone book for more information.

Please note that there is a distinction between "local" calls and "toll-free" calls!  Local calls do not require that you dial "1" first. Local calls are usually, but not always, toll free.

In most cases, if the entry is not tagged with an (*), the call will be a toll free, however this is not a guarentee!  If you want to be absolutely certain that the call will not be a toll call, you must check with your local service provider.

Optional Prefix/Suffix Button

The Prefix/Suffix button might not be visible.  Administrators can remove it with a setting in the PAL.INI file.  If you have a Prefix/Suffix button, you can use it to edit the prefix, suffix, or force a call to be dialed long distance.

The phone number to the right of the Prefix/Suffix button shows the selected phone number, with the prefix & suffix applied.  If your administrator has removed the Prefix/Suffix button, the dialing string won't be displayed either.

Some Sample Queries

* Enter "MI" under "State" to find all CompuServe Communications Centers in Michigan.

* Enter "517" under "Area code" to find all CompuServe Communications Centers in the 517 area code.

* Don't know how to spell Cincinnati?  Enter "Ci" under "City", and "OH" under "State".

* Select ISDN as the minimum speed.  The list will then show only the Communications Centers capable of receiving ISDN calls.

* Canadian users -- set your country to Canada first!  The state list will change to display only Canadian provinces.

Add Button

Use the Add button to add an unlisted number to yourlist of Recently Accessed Numbers.

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


Recently Used Access Numbers

Overview

This panel lets you pick a phone number from a short list of recently used access numbers.  Each time you connect, the number you choose will be added to the top of the list.

Optional Prefix/Suffix Button

Your remote access administrator may have tailored PAL so that this button will not appear

You can use it to edit the prefix, suffix, or force a call to be dialed long distance.

The phone number to the left of the Prefix/Suffix button shows the selected phone number, with the prefix and suffix applied.

The Add Button

You can add your own entry to the list of recently used numbers.  Be aware that entries which you add may eventually get bumped off the bottom of the list.

The Surcharge Flag ($)

A "$" next to the city indicates that a communications surcharge may apply if you use that number.

Calls to CompuServe through partner networks usually result in a communications surcharge.

The actual amount of the surcharge varies depending on whether you are connecting to the CompuServe Information Service, or to some other host on the CompuServe network.  Volume discounts may also apply.

The "Might Not Be Local" Flag(*)

In some cities, the call to the nearest CompuServe Communications Center may or may not be a local call, depending on what exchange you are in and what service plan you have negotiated with your service provider.  PAL tags such entries with the (*) flag.  Check your local phone book for more information.

Please note that there is a distinction between "local" calls and "toll-free" calls!  Local calls do not require that you dial "1" first. Local calls are usually, but not always, toll free.

In most cases, if the entry is not tagged with an (*), the call will be a toll free, however this is not a guarentee!  If you want to be absolutely certain that the call will not be a toll call, you must check with your local service provider.

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


Adding Unlisted Numbers

Overview

This dialog allows you to add phone numbers to the Recently Used Numbers list.  Enter the City, State, Country, Area Code, Phone Number, and Provider in addition to the baud rates supported.

State Field

The state list may be greyed out because the country chosen does not have States or Providences.

Provider Field

The provider list may be greyed out if your version of PAL does not support providers other than CompuServe.

Baud Rate Ranges

Please choose the baud rate or baud rate range that the phone number you would like to add supports.

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


The "Setup Session Settings" Panel

This panel allows you to set up the modem for transfer of a new phone directory from CompuServe.

Connector List

Select a specific modem and communications port.  If your operating system supports the Telephony interface you can use that instead (recommended, see Using the Telephony Interface to Download a New Phone Directory).  Windows-95 supports the Telephony interface out of the box.  Most Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 systems will not have a Telephony interface.

Baud Rate

This specifies the speed at which your computer interacts with the modem.  If you are using a very old computer, you may want to reduce the speed.  Older computers may not be able to keep up with data flows at 57600 or 38400 bits/sec.

Network

Americans and Canadians should leave this set to "CompuServe".  You will be dialing an 800 number that leads directly to CompuServe's network.

See also Updating the Phone Book Outside North America.

Dial Type

Select one of "Tone", "Pulse".  Do not use "Direct" or "Manual".

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


Prefix/Suffix
Prefix/Suffix Panel

Overview

This panel allows you to customize the parameters of the phone number to be dialed.

Dial Prefix

If you click the checkbox you are then able to enter the dialing prefix. This number is the number to be dialed before the main phone number. You will not be able to enter a dialing prefix unless you have checked the box first.

Dial Suffix

If you click the Suffix checkbox you are then able to enter the dialing suffix.  This is the number that will be dialed after the main number. You will not be able to enter a dialing suffix unless you have checked the box first.

Use Area Code

This is to be used when you need to dial long distance within the same country. The country code will also be appended to the front of the number when the dialing rules for that country apply.

Use Country Code

This is to be used when dialing to another country.  You MUST enter the country you are in for the application to use the appropriate dialing rules for that country.  You do not have to choose Use Area Code also because the program will know when the area code is needed to dial.This field may be greyed out if your version of PAL does not allow international dialing.

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


Using the Telephony Interface to Download
Using the Telephony Interface

to Download a Phone Directory

The Network Assistant's installation program helps you select a modem setup for downloading new phone directories.  The design of this part of the setup program was unfortunate, since it didn't make use of the telephony interface built into Windows-95.

If your modem isn't in the list of supplied modems, or you are having trouble downloading a new phone directory, then you should try using the telephony interface for the download.

To change over to the telephony interface do the following:

    * Start the download with the "Update" button.
    * Hit the "Modem Settings" button.
    * Change the "Connector" field to "Telephony"
    * Hit the "Telephony" button to confirm your modem selection.

Alert: Pulse Dialing + Telephony Interface

Due to a bug somewhere, you can't override the dialing mode by including a "P" in the prefix string while downloading the database.  To work around this:
         * Start Button
         * Settings
         * Control Panel
         * Modems
         * Dialing Parameters
         * Select Pulse

Note: you may have to change this setting back to "tone" later, if you move to another location.

Using a "P" in the prefix string works fine elsewhere.

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


Troubleshooting Tips

Debugging Phone Directory Download Problems

You can have the PAL print a log of characters written to, and read from the communications port during the update sequence.  To do this, use NOTEPAD edit a file named "pal.ini", located in the directory into which you installed "pal.dll".  Add the following:

       [Debug]
       WriteLogFile=1

Then, try to connect again.  If it fails, view "commport.log", which will be in the same directory as "pal.dll" and "pal.ini".

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents


Frequently Asked Questions

Switching Between Tone and Pulse Dialing

Long Distance Calls From Locations Outside North America

Updating the Phone Book Outside North America

See Also

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


Switching Between Tone and Pulse Dialing

Most phone dialers default to touch-tone dialing.  Most businesses will have touch-tone service.  If you are dialing from a private residence, you may need to use pulse dialing.

You can change to pulse dialing for selected call setups by placing a "P" (without the quotes) at the start of the prefix string.  Actually, you can place a "P" for pulse or "T" for tone anywhere in the prefix, suffix or phone number.  This feature may be useful if you need to switch back to tone dialing to enter a credit card number.

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


Long Distance Calls Outside North America
Long Distance Calls Outside N. America

Different countries have different long distance and international dialing rules.  For example long distance calls in Norway start with "0", rather than with "1" as in North America.

PAL knows the dialing rules for most countries.  When you check the "Use Area Code" and "Use Country Code", PAL will apply the appropriate dialing rule for the selected country.

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


Updating the Phone Book Outside North America
Updating the Phone Book

From Locations Outside North America

If you are calling from a location outside the United States and Canada, the 800 number normally used to download a new phone directory may not be a toll-free call, and it might not connect at all.  At a minimum, making a trans-atlantic call to download a new phone directory won't be a very cost effective proposition!

If there is a CompuServe Communications Center close to you, you can use the following procedure:

* Use the phone search panel to find a CompuServe communications center that is relatively close to you.

* Just before the download takes place, change the phone number to point to the near-by communications center.

If you have to use a partner network.

* Use the phone search panel to find an access number near you.  Note the phone number and the service provider.

* Use the Session Settings panel to change the the phone number and the network provider before the download takes place.

This method presumes that you have access to the Session Settings panel through the Modem Settings button.  Depending on how your remote access administrator has configured PAL, you may or may not have access to the Session Settings panel.

See Also

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

Table of Contents


The PAL.INI File
The PAL.INI File.

Attention end users: The following settings were intended for use by your remote access administrator.

[Debug]
WriteLogFile=1

[Compatibility]
ConnectButtonMode=Connect
ShowDialOptions=1
UsesGetLastPhoneNumber=1
AcceptPartnerNetworks=0
ShowAddButton=1
GreyUsePrefixSuffix=0
;;;;AllowDownloads=12/31/1996


Writes "commport.log" -- which can help you diagnose problems with phone directory downloading.  See Troubleshooting Tips.


The connect button may be hidden (Hide), or converted to button to download a new phone directory (Update).


The Prefix/Suffix button and the prefixed phone number can be hidden from the end user.


Set this to zero if your main program doesn't call "GetLastPhoneNumber()".  PAL will hide all phone numbers with area codes longer than 3 digits, or local numbers longer than 7 digits.


Lets the end user see phone numbers of partner networks.  Do not enable this unless your program can handle the scripts needed to log in through partner networks.


Enables the "Add" button on the search panel.


Forces the "Use Prefix" and "Use Suffix" check boxes to be greyed on the Prefix/Suffix screen.


Gives end users a meaningful error message if they try to download a new phone directory before CompuServe's Phone Directory server can be programmed to distribute phone directories in PAL v2.00 format.

If you omit this parameter, phone directory downloads, both automatic and manual, will be disabled.