networking over a phone line

[derekpayne]

I am looking for some software that enables 2 computers to network over a phone line by one calling the other, is there such a program available that allows this without connecting to the internet?

Idealy it should allow video conferencing.

It should also allow one computer to call the phone line that the other is connected to, and the other computer to answer the call, the reason being is that one phone line cannot call out and can only accept incoming calls at the moment

Many thanks

Derek

[Variable]

Your not going to be able to do video conferencing over a dial up connection.

[derekpayne]

I used to be able to do video conferencing over a dial up connection before we got broadband so what is the difference?

[Variable]

Hmm, if you have done it before, then I guess it works fine. You just need to set up a dial up connection through the set up wizard and follow the bouncing ball. There are a few tutorials that show you how to set it up but, here is one that has pictures.

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-6346_11-5034594.html

A standard VPN would be more secure but it may be too much overhead on a dial up connection because of the encryption. However, you could use no encryption option. Once the two machines connect they will be on the same network. So whatever application you used for the conference would need to be run locally on the "host" machine. I would check out Netmeeting.

On XP,
Go to Start, Run and type conf and hit enter.


There are many other apps that will do the same thing.

[yawningdog]

If you're using Microsoft...

Two computers that are connected to the internet with a dialup connection should be able to communicate with little trouble. Although video conferencing over dial-up does sound a bit far fetched. Telephone lines are notorious for being old, break-prone, and noisy. Which is why DSL sucks compared to cable and fiber.

But if you don't want to use an ISP and want to dial from one computer directly to another, you'll need Windows server software. You'll also need to install Microsoft Routing and Remote Access to make the server a dial-up server. Setup isn't too complicated and a PPTP tunnel can be integrated easily, in fact I think it's the default config. It's also a good idea to spend some extra money on a decent hardware modem.

Dialing up to Linux server is possible (and a lot cheaper) but takes a little savvy and requires the aforementioned hardware modem in almost all cases.

As far as third party software is concerned, I was unable to find any. But my search was brief and it might be worth it to spend some time looking. God luck.

[Variable]

DSL does not suck compared to cable :p the equipment that connects dial up and the equipment that connects DSL is different. The only bit that is the same is the copper wire from the home to the nearest punch panel. That is why DSL techs test your line prior to installing. In some cases they may need to run a new wire from your home to their nearest panel. Depending on where you live DSL or cable can be better. If you live in a large urban area with many connected users cable modems can suffer from usage overload. DSL would provide more consistent bandwidth. This is because of how the back end is connected, with Cable being more akin to a LAN. Here is more information for those interested in the topic:

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/dslvscablemodem/a/dslcablecompare.htm

As for connectivity:
The link I provided shows how to set up a VPN/dial up connection on XP Pro. RRAS is not server software per se, it is simply a service, and in this case, is available for free to XP users.

[yawningdog]

Good call on the dial-in service V. I totally missed that detail in my XP training. That's what I get for sleeping through it I guess.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Roadrunner cable is only offered in my area at 5mbps.

DSL (my preferred choice) through GWI (.net) is available with several different packages from 3mbps to 20mbps and tech support speaks Mainah... Ayuh ;) We can even talk about lobsta's... :D

[derekpayne]

Hi

Having talked my daughter on the phone through setting up Windows XP as a remote access server she has encountered another problem as follows:

"Incoming connections depend on the routing & remote access service which was unable to start, for more information check the system event log"

We were unable to set it up for the above reason.

Firstly: How do we acces the System Event Log?

Secondly: how can we overcome the problem?

Many Thanks

Derek

[Variable]

Right click My Computer, click Manage, Expand Event Viewer. You should see the System log. IT is probably a service that is needed to run RRAS is set to manual or disabled, could be Telephony or another service. The error message in Event Viewer should be more specific. When you see the error message copy it to a google search and it may be helpful. But it sounds like a service is not running that needs to be running.

[derekpayne]

Went into administration tools>computer management>services & applications>services>routing & remote access properties and then tried to start the service, it wouldn't start.

the error message was:

Error 1068: dependency service or group failed to start.

This PC is running windows xp pro with SP2 and as far as I can make out has full admin access.

any ideas?

Cheers

Derek

[Variable]

Yea,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888016

[derekpayne]

Hi

I have tried the above fix for Error 1068 using the advice on the Microsoft support but it still does not want to know.

The system log reads as follows:

Event ID 7002
The routing & remote access service depends on the netBIOSgroup group and no member of this group started.

I checked the difference between the two computers in the Administrative tools section and the only difference is the other computer does not have .NET installed, would make any difference?

I look forward to more ideas to resolve this problem, the only thing is the other computer has no access to the internet at the moment.

Cheers

Derek

[Variable]

Well your making progress. Look at the Properties of the network card. Routing and Remote Access require the NetBIOS interface to be running, it tells you the services it needs to run under Dependencies. Right click Routing and Remote access service, Properties and then Dependencies.

NetBIOS
Right click My Network Places, Properties, right click your Local Area Connection, Properties, scroll down and click Internet protocol TCP/IP, Properties, Advanced, WINS, and click enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

Now go back to the Management MMC, right click Routing and Remote access service and click start. If you get a new error post it, if it is the same look at a firewall blocking. Disable any firewalls, try to start the service.