Thanks for the reply, Peter. I was thinking of proceeding like this --
1: Set up the account the night before I take the Mailbox to my folks' apartment;

2: Send a few emails the same night (which I believe would then be held in the Presto queue?);

3: Initially, set it up to dial in at, say, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 p.m. -- the hours when I plan to be there; so that it will attempt to dial in while I am there and I can see if it's working properly;

4: After I have it installed in my father's room, and while I am still there, if it's working as desired, it will deliver the emails I sent the night before, yes?

Is there anything wrong with this idea? It seemed to me a good way to get it all checked out asap. Also, it would be fun for me to see my mother's reaction when the first emails come through.

So, again, does this method of proceeding seem feasible? have I overlooked anything??

Peter R. said: Emails sent to a Presto account will be held up to a week for delivery. I wouldn't wait, set up the Presto Account right when you order the Printing Mailbox (your credit card won't be charged until the mailbox "connects" with the Presto Mail Service. Also, you can set the dial-in times as you suggest, but I would instead set up the connect times to whatever you want them to be long term and then use the following procedure to test mail delivery: To force the Printing Mailbox to dial in at your command, do the following: 1. Press and hold the "Stop" button (marked "X") 2. While continuing to hold the "Stop" button down, press and release the Volume Up (+) button twice 3. Then, release the "Stop" button. You should hear a Presto chime which indicates the command was accepted. If you don't hear the chime, you may have initiated a "force-dial" while the mailbox was already dialing or someone was already on the telephone. If all went well, in about 2 to 5 minutes (depending on the amount of mail waiting), the Printing Mailbox will print out waiting mail. I hope this helps.

Okay, thank you.  This seems a little in conflict with your caution that the Mailbox would be trying out various "dial-out" procedures until it found the right one.    I wanted to give it a chance to try some out over a period of an hour or two, or even more.   I understand that I can "force-dial" but it's not clear how well that will work on the very first call made under the "dial-9" protocol of the retirement home.  

Well, again, my concern is focused on your warning in your first reply, above - "Just be patient the first 24 hours because the mailbox will attempt a number of different prefixes until it finds one that works."

My wish is *not* to be patient. So I am trying to find a way, perhaps by sending some emails in advance of installation, of finding out whether the dial-out process is working before I have to leave my parents' apartment.

All of this began, as you will recall, with the concern about the machine having to dial "9" before dialing the assigned Presto local number. I don't want to have to wait 24 hours to see if it has succeeded in contacting the mail queue.

On the one hand, you have recommended that I wait for 24 hours. On the other hand, you have recommended forced-dialing. There does seem to be a contradiction here.

Well, Peter, I am sorry to say that my first eight-hour effort to install the Presto printer was a wretched failure.

The biggest problem was Customer Service. I'm sorry to tell you that I have nothing good to say about Customer Service.

They gave me misleading information that cost me literally hours of time.

They promised to return calls "right away," but still had not done so more than an hour later.

They were rude and obnoxious.

So, my  first experience was perfectly horrible.

- - - - - - - - - -

UPDATE: It took quite a while, but eventually everything was made to work properly and my parents now receive emails on a daily basis. On the whole, I am very pleased with the Presto printer and with the Presto service.

The ultimate success of this venture was made possible by the cooperation and helpfulness of several people at the Presto company. I am very grateful to them for going the extra distance and making this work.

As stated, the second time turned out to be the charm for me.

My parents are very pleased with their new email service. And so am I.