How to Setup and Configure a TAP Carrier (Modem)

Video Transcript

Welcome to the video tutorial on how to configure PageGate to use modem-based TAP. In this tutorial, we'll be going over how to configure PageGate to use a modem with connected phone line to deliver messages with the TAP protocol. Before we begin, virtual machines can't typically interact with physical hardware, like modems. There are, however, serial and COM port virtualizers that can provide virtual machines access to physical hardware.

To communicate with a TAP terminal, you'll need three things:

• The COM port assigned to the modem
• The phone number of the TAP terminal
• The Baud Rate, Data Bits, Parity and Stop Bits required by the terminal

To determine the COM port of the modem, you can go in to the Phone and Modem section of the Control Panel in Windows, then go under the Modems tab. Once you have the relevant information, open the PageGate Admin. Next, expand the Connectors section. Expand the connector you want to tie the modem to and go to the Settings sub-section. Set the "Serial Port" field to match the COM port of the modem. Click Apply.

Now that we've told PageGate how to talk to the modem, we can add the carrier. Right click on Carriers and select 'Add'. Give the carrier a name. Set the Protocol to: TAP. Set the 'Phone Number' field to the phone number of the TAP terminal you need to communicate with. Set the Baud Rate, Data Bits, Parity and Stop bits to match the receiving TAP terminal's requirements. The industry standard for TAP is 1200 baud, even parity, 7 data bits and 1 stop bit. Leave the 'Init String' at auto. The 'Max Chars' field: for SMS set to 160, for pagers set to 240. When finished, click Apply.

Now all that remains is adding a recipient. Right click on the Recipients section and select 'Add'. Give the recipient a name. Set the carrier to your modem based TAP carrier. In the ID/PIN field, enter the pager number or 10 digit cell phone number. When finished, click Apply. This concludes the video tutorial on how to configure PageGate to use a modem to deliver the TAP protocol.