The Basic Phone Dialer  (or Easy Dial-up) can be reached by selecting ORDER TOOLS and PHONE DIALER (BASIC) from the Menu Bar.  The Easy Dial-up dialog box also appears whenever you click on a DIAL button beside a phone number.

In order to use the dialer, you'll need to get your phone and modem set-up in Basic Set-up.

Dialing a Number. To call a phone number, pick up the phone receiver and click the "DIAL" button.  When you click on this button, the appropriate communication (COM) port is opened.  The open port is indicated by a red light besides "Modem On."  Once the port is opened, the modem dials the number in the phone number blank.

Dialing Problems.  If you have any trouble making the phone call, be sure to test your modem.  AnyPO! has a built in test procedure found in Basic Set-up.  If your modem passed the test, but for some reason won't dial the processing center, try restarting your computer.  Sometimes other software products will change the settings on your modem.  Restarting the computer will often solve the problem.

Pre-Call Access Numbers.  A pre-call access number is a number that you use to access an outside line.  Or it may be a billing number that you need to enter each time you make a phone call.  You can indicate whether or not you have an access number in Basic Set-up.  If have such a number, a "Pre-call Access Number" checkbox will be present on the dialog box.  If not, the checkbox will not be present.

When the phone dialer is used, pre-call access numbers will be dialed first and then after a short pause, the phone number will be dialed.  In some cases (perhaps when making a local call), you may not want the access number to be dialed.  To prevent it from being dialed, remove the checkmark from the "Pre-call Access Number" checkbox.

In Basic Set-up, you can also direct the Phone Dialer to stop after entering the access number and before dialing the phone number.  If you've chosen this option, the word "Pre-Call" will appear on the "DIAL" button.  After the access number has been keyed-in, "Pre-Call" will change to "DIAL."  This feature stops the dialer after the pre-call access number has been dialed, allowing you to key-in any additional information.  When you are ready to continue, click on DIAL and the phone number will be dialed.

Auto Disconnect of Modem.  If you have selected the auto shut-down feature in Basic Set-up (the program default), the modem will automatically disconnect after placing the call.  This is handy since you can concentrate on the call and not worry about shutting down the modem.  It's done for you.  If for some reason, you don't want the modem to disconnect, you can turn off the disconnect feature by removing the checkmark from the "Auto Disconnect" checkbox.  (Note that the Auto Disconnect checkbox is not present if you have turned it off in Basic Set-up.)  You also have an opportunity to stop the shut down of the modem when the Disconnect dialog box appears.  If you want to keep the modem on, press <ESC> to cancel the shut-down.

Switching to Advanced Dial-up. If you press the  [ > ]  button on the right hand side of the dialog box, the Advanced Dial-up dialog box will appear providing you with more dialing features.