James Byrne writes: >I believe that all modems that respond to the Hayes command set >will recognize [evil string omitted (GS)] as a switch to local >command mode instruction, but only after a predetermined time >of inactivity. Hayes modems look for the sequence: <DELAY> <PLUS><PLUS><PLUS> <DELAY> where the delays ensure that the modem does not false trigger on data that happens to include three '+' characters in a row. Up to a certain date, all "Hayes Compatible" modems do the same thing. Unfortunately, Hayes went and *PATENTED* the delay part of this protocol. They then went around to all modem manufacturers demanding royalties for the use of this feature. Around the same time they ran a series of weird ads in Computerworld etc. which seemed to imply that users of modems that had not licensed Hayes technology would actually come to some physical harm (really bizarre stuff). People who didn't want to pay royalties to Hayes were forced to remove the "infringing" feature from their products. I find Hayes behavior in this matter so annoying that I will no longer consider the purchase of any product they make. On the other hand, I have no sympathy for anyone who uses a modem that is so stupid as to believe that interpreting you- know-what in a datastream without delays on either side this way is acceptable. Actually, I believe that typically what they look for is something like <evil string><CR>, so you will only have a problem with a record that *ends* in '+' characters (as the .sig in question probably did). G.