DR> From the FAQ in the email message to ibm.net customers:
 DR>
 DR> Q15. Does AT&T WorldNet(r) Service offer an OS/2 dialer?
 DR> A15. No. The AT&T WorldNet(r) Service does not offer an OS/2 dialer.
 DR>      If you are an OS/2 customer, please click here 
 DR>      http://www.ibm.net/whatsnew/att_choose.html to remain a customer 
 DR>      of AT&T Business Internet Services and to continue to use your 
 DR>      OS/2 dialer. 

In other words, the FAQ was written by a marketdroid with little understanding 
of the issue to address a question asked by users who *also* don't seem to
understand the issue.

The question is predicated on the incorrect assumption that diallers are
linked to ISPs.  They aren't, of course, as anyone who has used the "Dial
Other Internet Providers" dialler will know.  Diallers are generic, because
protocols such as PPP and CHAP are generic.  But a naive user who has only
ever been exposed to the custom dialler that IBM provides for OS/2
specifically for its *own* ISP service could well form the mistaken idea that
diallers *are* linked to individual ISPs.

The answer is predicated on the incorrect assumption that AT&T needs to offer
a dialler to replace the custom IBM dialler supplied with OS/2 otherwise OS/2
users cannot access it service.  It doesn't, of course.  All that AT&T needs
to supply to any customer using OS/2, business or residential, is the
information about protocols, telephone numbers, IP numbers, and hostnames to
plug into the "Dial Other Internet Providers" supplied as standard with OS/2.  
Indeed, since the information, once entered, is contained in %ETC%\TCPOS2.INI, 
they could even automate the process of entering the configuration information 
with a relatively trivial REXX script.  But it's easy to see how AT&T could,
from being told how OS/2 customers connected to IBM's service, mistakenly
deduce that it *would* have to supply its own dialler.

 ¯ JdeBP ®

--- FleetStreet 1.22 NR
114/441