For everyone who might be following this thread:

I can get into other CenTel servers, Cameron and Easton, but not Savannah (local phone call!). What I concluded is that the modems fail to properly negotiate baud rate & protocol and I'm dead in the water. CenTel uses standard PAP-CHAP authentication, which I've used successfuly on all my other ISP services, and two of their servers.

How can I convince their WINDOWS-driven narrow minds to accept my answer? Maybe someone might know of whomever maintains their equipment and I can contact them.

What I would like to do is experiment with other Linux users who could use my login & password on their systems to see if they might have problems. If interested, contact me offlist ghldbrd AT ccp DOT com

Gary Hildebrand

John, Miller wrote:

Gary, You might try doing a 'tail /var/log/messages' immediately after dialing. This will let you see the commands your modem issues and if there are any errors. You might also call up CenturyTel tech support and see if they can tell you what sort of authentication they use. If they only support Windows, you might have to fake things a little bit....

John Miller john@jorymil.com