This page describes features of certain modems that should be kept in mind when using VentaFax.

USR Sportster and 3COM Modems

Various modems with Rockwell/Conexant Chips

Multitech modems

Various modems with Lucent (V253) Chips

Modems detected as ST Soft Modems

SmartLink

1. USR Sportster and 3COM Modems

By voice command set, these modems are defined by the program as being one of the following types:

USR Sportster Vi - usually quite old modems that do not support speakerphone mode.
USR Sportster Voice and USR Sportster Voice (2) - modern modems of various types and names.

The difference between the two types, from the program's perspective, is in the speakerphone mode activation method, i.e. if the modem has been identified as USR Sportster Voice and this mode does not work, try setting the USR Sportster Voice (2) voice command set.

USR Voice: Mix of V.253 & IS-101 - new modem versions (winmodems).

Despite their diversity, all these modems share the common drawbacks described below:

1.1. The modem frequently terminates fax reception at 9600 baud rate and higher because of slight noise in the telephone line. (See the section Only part of a document can be received.)

1.2. These modems cannot start facsimile message transmission as they cannot detect the remote fax initial whistle (pilot tone). If you use one of these modems, then with manual transmission you should start sending earlier so that the modem does not miss this tone (whistle). For automatic transmission, you should probably select the Disable voice mode when sending out a fax setting under the Fax - General tab, since when detecting fax answer in voice mode the modem switches to fax mode and misses the remote fax response. Switching to fax mode after fax answer detection takes a certain amount of time. This time is time is made up of the time spent processing the command for switching from voice to fax mode (which cannot be reduced) and the time interval set by the modem's S6 register. The latter can be reduced by replacing the setting value in Command for starting fax transmission in established connection under the Modem - Properties - Fax tab with

ATS6=0X3D

For this setting to work, you need to set an appropriate country code in the modem. Many country codes prohibit setting an S6 register value lower than 2, which corresponds to 2 seconds of delay. The modem can return OK for a lower value, but in fact this value will not be set. In any terminal program, try typing the command

ATS6=0

and then

ATS6?

If the modem returns 0, there is no need to change the country code; if it returns a value other than 0, the country code needs to be changed. For example, replacing a country code with 0 (USA/Canada) will set the S6 register to 0. At the same time, problems with detection of a busy signal with other programs may arise.

WE HAVE NOT TESTED THE SEQUENCE OF ACTIONS CITED BELOW ON ALL USR/3COM MODEMS. IT MAY HAVE UNDESIRED EFFECTS ON YOUR MODEM. WE CANNOT ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUCH EFFECTS. IF YOU ARE CONFIDENT YOU KNOW YOUR MODEM, TRY IT AT OUR OWN RISK.

Quote from 3COM/USR FAQ:

17. First of all, see what your modem returns upon the ATY14 command. If it is a single number, consider yourself lucky: the country code can be changed directly using the ATC10=XX command, where XX is a country code.

After a country code has been changed, it is recommended that you execute the following commands:

ATGBOOT5
ATGM

1.3. USR Sportster Voice and USR Sportster Voice (2) voice command set types. The difference between these two types with regards to the program is in the speakerphone mode activation method. If the modem has been identified as USR Sportster Voice and this mode does not work, try the USR Sportster Voice (2) voice command set, and vice versa.

2. Various modems with Rockwell/Conexant Chips

Based on voice command set, these modems are defined by the program as being one of the following types:

• Rockwell
• Rockwell (Variant 2)
• Rockwell (Variant 3)
• Rockwell (IS101)
• Rockwell (V.253)

2.1. For many modems with these chips, modem voice data formats with an 11025 Hz sampling rate are not recommended. Many of them cease detecting DTMF, busy, fax and other signals at this frequency.

2.2. Rockwell and Rockwell (Variant 2) voice command set types. The difference between the two types with regards to the program is in the speakerphone mode activation method. If the modem has been identified as Rockwell and this mode does not work, try the Rockwell (Variant 2) voice command set, and vice versa.

2.3. Rockwell and Rockwell (Variant 3) voice command set types. The difference between these two types with regards to the program is in the sound volume control method. If the modem has been identified as Rockwell and the volume of standard announcements in a telephone line is low, try the Rockwell (Variant 3) voice command set and use the volume control.

2.4. By default the program selects the PCM/8bits voice data format for Rockwell (V.253) voice command set modems because it is supported by the majority of modems with this command set. However, in some modems with the Rockwell (V.253) voice command set, this data format is not well-supported. If your modem supports such formats as A-Law and uLaw (you can find out by trying them), you should use these instead. It is quite possible that sound quality will improve greatly.

3. Multitech modems

For the majority of Multitech modems, the Bit order setting under the Fax - General - Advanced tab must be set to Multitech modem style. A characteristic indication of incorrect setting is when fax reception starts normally, but the received fax contains:

- Only a few vertical bands (if the Replace garbled lines on the screen setting under the Fax - General tab is set to Full);
- Multiple horizontal strips (if the Replace garbled lines on the screen setting is set to None) and the page contains no useful information.

You probably need to change this setting if the fax contains either of these.

4. Various modems with Lucent (V253) Chips

By voice command set, these modems are defined by the program as being one of the following types:

• Lucent (IS-101)
• Lucent (V.253).

4.1. Modems at our disposal have the following bug: after voice mode operation with an 11025 Hz sampling rate the modem is unable to establish facsimile connection. In other words, if you are going to use the modem in combined mode (fax and voice), do not select voice data formats with this sampling rate.

4.2. Winmodems detected as Lucent (V.253) do not support speakerphone mode.

5. Modems detected as ST Soft Modems

With these modems, voice mode must be switched off for fax transmission, because after voice mode operation the modem is unable to establish an outgoing facsimile connection.

6. SmartLink

The facsimile message transmission features of these modems are the same as those of US Robotics modems (see item 1.2 of this section).

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