When communicating with a modem for use of the telephone, the line status represents whether a telephone call is active - that is, whether the modem is communicating with another modem at the other end of the telephone line. It is "online" if the modem is connected to a telephone call, "offline" if there is no active call and the modem is in command mode.

When working in Communications Mode with a modem, the line status at any time is shown at the beginning of the WintextCom status line. It shows "Online" if the status is online (connected to an active telephone call).

If the modem is offline, the notice at the start of the status line depends on the Interactive Offline Communications setting, which is off by default. When the

Interactive Offline Communications setting is off, you cannot type characters to the modem in command mode, only when it is online. This is WintextCom's

Typing Mode, and the status line shows "Typing Mode" at the beginning, preceded by an asterisk ("*") to verify that communication with a modem has been established. The modem is actually offline, but the status line information indicates the actual state of WintextCom.

If the Interactive Offline Communications setting is on to enable interaction with the modem in command mode, the word "Offline" is displayed at the beginning of the status line when the modem is in command mode as opposed to connected to a call.

The status line display is useful when working with a modem or using WintextCom as a textphone, since it shows you immediately when the call status changes, verifying that a call has been connected or hung up, and letting you know right away if the line disconnects unexpectedly during a telephone call due to a fault. When you go from online to offline, especially if this is unintentional due to the connection being lost for any reason, it is often referred to as the line "dropping".

Technically, Windows Text Communications follows the modem's online/offline state by reading its DCD BIT (Data Carrier Detect) in its internal communication register. DCD is "high" corresponding to online, "low" corresponding to offline. Because line status is not available when connected to another computer rather than a modem, it would not ordinarily be possible to send information from the directory to the remote computer, only type to it and receive information, since automatic data transmission is only available online. For this reason, it is possible to set Windows Text Communications to always report the line status as high or low, so that one can enable or disable automatic data transmission.

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Line Status