Greetings all;

I've got a puzzler for the list.  I have two computers which refuse to
share the same phone line.  By that I mean my wife's computer (Win95a;
P-133; 33.3 modem) is constantly used by her for surfing.  Her dial up
connection to our ISP on our second, dedicated PC phone line goes
through without any problems.  Recently, I set up my PC in another
room.  (Win95SR1; P-100; USR 28.8 Sportster.)  My PC is also connected
to the second dedicated line.  In other words, from the second phone
service box outside, I have two phone lines going to both computers. Our
computers are not networked together (yet).

Now I knew when my wife was surfing on her PC the phone line would be
unavailable, but I have discovered I cannot connect to my ISP from my PC
when her PC is on, though her dial up connection is terminated.  When
her computer is on, but without an active dial up connection,  I try to
dial up to the same ISP  (we both have accounts) using the same phone
number and phone line from my PC.  I hear a dial tone, the modem tries
to connect, and I hear a repeated handshake, but I never get logged on.
The handshake goes on for several minutes, until I get a message saying
the remote computer does not answer.  When I power down my wife's PC
completely, I can then dial up OK and get logged on to the ISP from my
PC without difficulty.

Is her PC capturing the phone line merely by being turned on?  Though we
both seldom surf at the same time, it can be annoying to have to shut
down her PC just to get my email.  I could connect my PC to our first
phone line, but that is impractical for certain reasons.

What is going on with these selfish little PC's?  How do I teach them to
share?

Robert Cunningham

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