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From: covert@castor.DEC (John Covert)
Newsgroups: net.dcom
Subject: PTT monopolies, modems, and computer cultures
Message-ID: <6036@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 4-Mar-84 11:49:58 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.6036
Posted: Sun Mar  4 11:49:58 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 5-Mar-84 01:16:16 EST
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 46

Maybe what I wrote wasn't clear.  I wasn't talking about the U.S. or
Canada.  mprvaxa!tbray writes:
 
>Re: Acoustic coupling and the CCITT - WHAT?!?
>
>Whaddayamean you can only get direct-connects on a rental from the
>phone company?  I can buy an ok little 300 jack-compatible for
>very little money, and a really nice 1200 Rixon or Hayes for
>(sigh) quite a bit of money.
>
>Now, I don't TELL the phone company what I'm doing.  Why ask for trouble?
 
In the U.S. or Canada, this is true.  And you can legitimately connect your
modem, so there's no reason in most places not to tell the phone company what
you're doing.
 
However, in most of Europe, the PTT has an absolute monopoly on providing
all aspects of telecommunications service.  You won't find jack-compatible
modems for sale anywhere in those countries which enforce the monopoly.
In fact, jacks are quite rare, and where they do exist, they are country
specific.  (The RJ11 is unique to North America!)
 
You could smuggle a modem past customs, but a 300 bps modem from North
America won't talk to the 300 bps modems in common use; the frequencies
used by the CCITT standard V.21 modems are not the same as the frequencies
used for low speed modems in the U.S. and Canada.  If you smuggle in a 1200
bps modem designed for North America it will work in originate mode only
(CCITT Recommendation V.22 differs in the handshaking procedure) unless you
are in Holland, the only country in Europe which permits the North American
1200 bps standard to be placed on the network.
 
And if you are caught with a modem, you'll be required to disconnect it,
and you can guarantee you'll be watched from then on.  You may lose your
telephone service if you persist.
 
As to tbray's comments about the reliability of acoustic connections,
they are not slower! -- Yes, they are less reliable.  But they were quite
heavily used here for years while direct connection to the telephone
network was not permitted (or was difficult), and they helped the growth
of the computer culture we all take for granted.
 
In Europe, general purpose terminals and communicating personal computers
in homes are extremely rare, primarily because of the lack of public access
to modems.
 
John Covert	...{decvax, allegra, ucbvax}!decwrl!rhea!castor!covert