Practice Connecting Manually

Another skill that you should practice before you set out on your trip is that of making a manual connection through your modem. In other words, you dial the call yourself (rather than letting the modem autodial) and then use your software to connect the modem manually once you hear the carrier tone. See the phone at the left? While this looks like (and indeed is) a relic of the past, it was nevertheless encountered at an otherwise posh and modern resort in South America in early 1996! While most software and modems can be set to use pulse dialing when using old rotary systems like this, the setup at this hotel presented a special problem. International calls had to be placed through the switchboard. To obtain a local outside line, I had to press the button to the lower right of the dial (a task which required a surprising amount of physical effort). The only way I was able to make this work was to 1) pick up the handset and give a hefty push on the outside line button, 2) dial the local access number for my provider myself using the rotary dial, and 3) connect the modem manually with my software and hang up the phone once I obtained a carrier tone. Had I not had a local access number, I would have had to have the switchboard place the call, and then connect manually. (Before any of this could occur, I might add, I had to practice basic wiretapping as described and shown above.)
Even if you never encounter a phone system as unusual as this one, you still might find situations that require making a manual connection. If you are trying to work through a digital phone system, you might find that you are unable to autodial using either a digital connector or acoustic coupler. The solution will be to connect manually. Even the public “data phones” I've seen in the U.S. expect you to make a manual connection after you've dialed the call.
Fortune may smile on you, and you may never encounter a situation that requires connecting manually. However, if you want to increase your chances of connecting successfully from virtually anywhere, become familiar with hooking up manually by practicing at home before you leave. It will save you frustration (and the expense of many fruitless phone calls) if you should unexpectedly run into a situation that requires it.