CompuServe Messages

John, Certainly I see what sort of thing you are talking about, but I am not aware of anything which does this at the present time. One of the ongoing problems currently is trying to get a modem/software program to recognize that an incoming call is FAX, DATA, or VOICE. I am sure there might be some way of doing this, but everything I have seen is a Kludge and makes some assumptions which will from time to time be wrong. Another thing which will make the sort of thing you are talking about really difficult will be the conflict between SPEED and the convenience you as asking for. Most of the current microcomputers in the installed base cannot consistently handle serial data at the rates being presented by the current high-speed EC/DC modems. Another thing that stands in the way of the 'pinging packet' approach to deciding which thing is going to do what with the resources, is that currently the telephone line just rings and the modem does not know who is on the other end or what they want. If the modem must decide, then it must know. If the computer must decide, then there needs to be an 'arbitrator' to handle this decision. For universal connectivity, this would mean that there must be STANDARDS. And that may or may not happen in our lifetime. <g> – Paul 02/26 06:57