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From: jbs@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (Jeff Siegal)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc
Subject: Re: Re: Pending FCC ruling threat to modem users
Message-ID: <4334@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU>
Date: Thu, 18-Dec-86 17:21:28 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.4334
Posted: Thu Dec 18 17:21:28 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Dec-86 00:30:38 EST
References: <1575@brl-adm.ARPA> <126@dvm.UUCP>
Reply-To: jbs@eddie.MIT.EDU (Jeff Siegal
Organization: MIT, EE/CS Computer Facilities, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 26

In article <126@dvm.UUCP> frank@dvm.UUCP (Frank Wortner) writes:
>In article <1575@brl-adm.ARPA> OCONNORDM@ge-crd.arpa (OCONNOR DENNIS MICHAEL) writes:
>>First: MODEM calls DO NOT cost the phone company the same amount as
>>other calls. They tend to be longer, and don't tolerate noise as well.
>>... If the phone company always
>[...]
>I also don't see (hear?) the company striving to make sure that my modem
>calls receive a better connection than my voice calls.  [...]

You're both wrong.  Modem calls do cost the phone company more and length
has nothing do do with it.  

When you call your friendly BBS (or your grandmother), the phone
company's equipment does not simply throw a few switches and connect
you.  Your call gets routed over inter-office trunks, which are shared
between many calls.  One of the ways they make finite trunk capacity
go further is by multiplexing calls.  For example, in the time between
the words "hello" and "Granny", someone else is using the channel
you're not using (because you're being silent).  For normal
conversation, this "silent time" is a substantial percentage of the
call time.  With modem calls, there is no idle time.  Even when no
data is being transfered (and data is often transfered continuously
for long periods of time), the channel is being used by the modems
which need to exchange carrier signals.

Jeff