Reference number: CH000266

How to enable / disable call waiting on computer.

Issue:

How to enable / disable call waiting on computer.

Cause:

You may want to enable call waiting for users with one phone line. This will disconnect the computer from the phone line when a call comes through. 

It may be required that call waiting be disabled to ensure it is not causing the computer modem to not function.

Solution:

Enabling call waiting

Before attempting to enable call waiting you must ensure that the phone company has enabled this extra feature on your phone line. If this feature is enabled and the phone line does not have this feature, it is likely that the modem will not work. Below are steps for Windows 95 and 98 users to ensure that call waiting is not enabled on the computer.

1. Click Start / Settings / Control Panel
2. Double-click Modems within Control Panel
3. Click the dialing properties button
4. Verify that the box for 'disable call waiting' is not checked.

Disabling call waiting

The below steps on how to disable call waiting. It is important to remember that if you have one phone line and you disable call, waiting no one will be able to reach you.

MS-DOS and Windows 3.x users can enable call waiting by following the below steps:

1. When dialing a BBS or Internet number, place one of the below prefix codes in front of the phone number. This is usually *70 but may vary in your area.
   
   The available numbers are:
   
   *70
   #70
   1170
   
   To separate this number and the phone number, a comma is usually required. Below is an example of what this may look like:
   
   *70,18011231234

Windows 95 / 98 users can disable call waiting by following the below steps:

1. Click Start / Settings / Control Panel
2. Double-click Modems within Control Panel
3. Click the dialing properties button
4. Check the box to disable call waiting
5. Select the appropriate code to disable call waiting, this code is usually *70